Not
long after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, so many people
were becoming
Christians that the leaders in Jerusalem decided that they needed
to act. They had some of
the church leaders put to
death and others, like Peter, were arrested (Acts 12:2).
Late
one night, God freed Peter from the prison (see Acts 12:1-10) and,
once he was
outside, he knew exactly what to do.
“He
went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark,
where many people
had gathered and were praying” (verse 12).
That one little reference raises several points.
First,
how did Peter know where to go? There
are only two answers: either someone told him that they were
meeting at Mary’s
house, or that is where they always met. Either way, in a time when
Christians were
being arrested and even executed, it is remarkable that Mary still
had the
courage to say, “Regardless of what happens, or who finds out, we
can meet
here!”
Second,
note what the church was doing when Peter arrived: They were praying for him
(Acts 12:5 and 12). In all
my years in the church, I can think of
only a couple of times when we have come together to pray about a
specific
problem or concern. That
is odd, is it
not? On the other hand,
Mary seemed convinced
that group prayer would get a response from God. Not surprisingly, it did.
Third,
we
are told that she is the mother of John Mark.
He is the young man that went with Paul and Barnabas on
their first
journey (Acts 13-14) and he is also the one who wrote the Biblical
book called
“Mark”. In other words,
Mary passed her
belief on to her son and then he wrote the first detailed account
of the life
of Jesus. Mark’s gospel
has blessed
millions and, of course, it is still being read today.
It
would be very easy to overlook this woman named Mary. She is not the main character
in the
story. In fact, she is
only mentioned
this one time in this one verse. However,
that one verse tells us that her faithful example had an impact on
those around
her. In fact, it is still
having an
impact today.
Do
what
you can where you are, because little is much in the hands of God.
Comments