Missionary Training and the Gospel of Mark

by Bill Thornton

When journalist Lee Strobel first met a shy and soft-spoken Leo Carter, he was a seventeen-year-old veteran of Chicago’s grittiest neighborbood. His testimony had put three killers in prison and he still carried a .38-caliber slug in his skull—the grisly reminder of a horrific saga.

When journalist Lee Strobel first met a shy and soft-spoken Leo Carter, he was a seventeen-year-old veteran of Chicago’s grittiest neighborbood. His testimony had put three killers in prison and he still carried a .38-caliber slug in his skull—the grisly reminder of a horrific saga.

Leo saw Elijah, then a sixteen-year-old delinquent with thirty arrests on his rap sheet, slay a grocery store-owner outside of his store. Elijah knew that the only way to avoid prison would be to somehow prevent Leo Carter from ever testifying against him in court and so, he and two of his pals went hunting.

After they had tracked down Leo, they dragged him at gunpoint to a darkened loading dock nearby. Elijah then pressed a pistol to the bridge of Leo’s nose and yanked the trigger. The gun roared; the bullet penetrated at a slight angle, embedding itself in his head and permanently blinding Leo in the right eye. When he crumbled to the ground, another shot was fired. This bullet lodged twenty centimeters from his spine. Yet, against all odds, Leo Carter lived.

The bullet, too precarious to be removed, remained in his skull. Despite searing headaches that even strong medication couldn’t dull, Leo became the sole eyewitness against Elijah Baptist at his trial for murder. The jurors believed Leo. Elijah was sentenced to eighty years in prison (Strobel 1999, 21).

Eyewitness testimony can be compelling and convincing. It is just as crucial and powerful when investigating historical matters, even the unique claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. John Mark’s eyewitness account of the life of Christ is no exception; he brings credibility and accuracy to the witness stand. It is believed that not only did he chronicle the life of Christ but that Mark also recorded Peter’s sermons while the apostle conducted outdoor crusades in Rome. Interestingly, Peter’s sermon in Acts 10:34-43 stands as a table of contents to the basic structure of the book of Mark. So credible is Mark’s understanding of historical events that New Testament scholars believe Matthew and Luke relied upon his account in forming their own Gospels. Although Mark had a passion for world missions, his earlier experience of serving on a short-term mission’s team was disastrous. As a result he chose home assignment over cross-cultural ministry. Here’s his story.

Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas when they returned to Antioch from Jerusalem after the famine visit (Acts 12:25). This missions committee of two approved the new appointee, and Mark was recruited to assist them on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:5). Unfortunately Mark did not have much to write in his prayer letter home since at Perga, in Pamphylia, he deserted the team and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). Paul was so disappointed with Mark that when his cousin Barnabas proposed giving Mark a second chance, Paul flatly refused (Acts 15:36-39). Unmoved, Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. No further mention is made of them or their missionary endeavors throughout the Book of Acts.

However, years later Mark is seen with Paul in Rome at the time of the writing of Colossians. From Rome, Paul wrote to Timothy: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). Mark’s life is a testimony to God’s willingness to offer second chances to his followers—a feature which Mark is quick to apply to the continual failure of Christ’s disciples (e.g. 4:13, 34; 7:18; 8:27-10:52).

Mark’s presentation is not simply a matter of cutting and pasting episodes from the life of Christ into neat chronological order. On the contrary, the writer selected and arranged the received tradition pertaining to the study of Christ to the special needs of the original readers through the narrative genre. The witness in the first half of the document reaches a point of climax with the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi that Jesus is the Messiah (8:29). The climax to the second half of the gospel is provided in the confession of the centurion in charge of the Crucifixion that Jesus is the Son of God (15:39). Through the vehicle of these two confessions, one uttered by a representative of Israel and the other by a spokesperson for the Gentile world, Mark is the first to bear witness to the reality of the gospel for all people. “If there is a genuinely Markan equivalent to the Matthean Great Commission, the centurion’s confession would certainly qualify” (Köstenberger and O’Brien 2001, 80).

What does the Gospel of Mark have to say to us today regarding the advancement of missionary endeavor? What teachings from the life of Christ caught Mark’s attention and created that passion within for cross-cultural evangelism? Whether we are planning to be involved in short-term or career missions, church planting or local evangelistic ministry, Mark has some pertinent principles for appointed representatives to carry in their travel bag.

Take the Sickle along with the Seed (Mark 4)
Although Jesus did not invent parables (they were used in the Old Testament and in the writings of the rabbis), he used them in a way and to a degree unmatched before his time or since. Parables are often confused with allegories but can be distinguished by a simple principle: while parables stress one main point allegories introduce several points.

Let us examine the three parables of chapter four—the sower (vv. 1-20), the secret growth of the seed (vv. 26-29) and the mustard seed (vv. 30-32) to discover their current impact to today’s emissaries for Christ. The dominant theme is one of encouragement. The Lord’s appointed delegates are encouraged to persevere because the kingdom harvest is coming. Although difficulties face God’s kingdom, it supernaturally and mysteriously grows, ultimately producing an abundant harvest. This emphasis can be clearly seen when examining these sequential parables in context.

Commencing with the parable of the sower, Mark purposely structures his record to draw the reader’s attention away from the various types of soils toward the central act of sowing. New Testament scholar William Lane notes:

The Kingdom of God breaks into the world even as seed, which is sown upon the ground. In the details about the soils there is reflection on the diversity of response to the proclamation of the Word of God, but this is not the primary consideration.” (1974,154)

As seen against the backdrop of many obstacles, the climax of this parable strongly emphasizes the glorious character of the harvest, the thirty-fold, sixty-fold and hundred-fold yield. In spite of Jesus’ veiledness and the opposition that was encountered, the harvest will come in accordance with the sovereign will of God. While this parable has definite relevance to the need of the unregenerate to respond with a fertile heart to the gospel, its primary application is directed to all professing disciples, calling them to faithfully sow the seed while trusting God to cause the growth (1 Cor. 3:6).

Mark is the only New Testament journalist to cover the parable of the secret growth of the seed. He also reports Jesus as saying,

This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-29)

His emphasis here is different than in the parable of the sower. Whereas the importance of the proper soil and the success of the harvest are stressed in the first parable, here he focuses on the mysterious power of the seed itself. The germinal power of the seed to produce a harvest is assured in spite of the sower’s passivity. Why should this parable be included in every missionary training manual? Because Mark regarded this parable as providing hope to each farmer who is dedicated to planting the seed of the “gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). This is of special encouragement to those who work in “soil” where the germination period is painfully long.

The trilogy of kingdom parables concludes with the parable of the mustard seed. Again Jesus said,

What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. (Mark 4:30-32)

In keeping with the mindset of his day, Jesus spoke proverbially of the mustard seed as the smallest of all seeds when in fact it wasn’t (the seed of the black orchid is smaller). Unlike the previous parable, there is no reflection upon the progressive growth of the seed. Instead it is the contrast between the smallest of the seeds and the tallest of the shrubs that Mark brings to our attention. It is important to note that the kingdom is not likened to the mustard seed, but to what happens to the mustard seed. Though insignificant in its beginning, the matured mustard seed provides strength and protection for those who come within its shade.

It is clear to see that these parables are intended to motivate Christ’s representatives and prevent them from misjudging the promised result of gospel witness by the size of its beginning. This truth is typified in Bible translator Cameron Townsend. His goal was to translate the New Testament into every language on earth. He was a slender, shy, ordinary-looking farmer of medium height with a broad, open, freckle-covered face. He had no flash or sophistication, yet by the end of his life his accomplishments had caused him to meet the presidents of forty countries.

He truly believed that translating the Bible was the highest calling a person could have. After twelve years of arduous labor in Guatemala, Townsend presented the first book ever published in Cakchiquel, the New Testament, to the president of Guatemala. Townsend, however, wasn’t satisfied with his accomplishment. At least five hundred tribes in South and Central America had no written language. As a result, in 1934, at the height of the Depression, Townsend returned to the United States to start the first course in what would later become the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Two students showed up. However, by 1946, over a hundred volunteers had signed up with his newly founded Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Today six thousand Wycliffe linguists and support personnel work in over seventy countries, with 1,100 language groups, entering a new language group every nine days. In fact, of all the languages in the world which have the Bible, half received it during Cameron Townsend’s lifetime (Graham and Yancey 1986, 34).

Take His Presence along with His Pronouncement
According to Jesus’ syllabus, the time for the disciples to discover field education had arrived, so he authorized them to be his delegates—his representatives in message and deed—in Galilee.

Then Jesus went round teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his instructions:

“Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (Mark 6:6b-13)

It should be noted that the restrictions associated with this commission are limited to the first-century disciples; they were intended to be temporal not permanent. The prohibition against packing supplies was a matter of special authorization within a local context.

An interesting inclusion to this commission was the instruction related to billeting. The directive was as follows: Whenever the disciples were given free room and board they were to accept it—and with gratitude. They were not to dishonor their hosts by accepting a better offer down the street. Yet, whenever they approached a house without a welcome mat, they were to shake the dust from their feet as a warning against the villagers and go elsewhere. This custom in itself was not new; pious Jews who traveled outside of Israel removed the dust collected upon their apparel from the alien lands before they re-entered their home. For the Jews, heathen dust was defiling. The significance here was that it declared the place to be heathen and made it clear that even Jewish heathens who rejected the message would answer to God on the judgment day.

The point of the rigorous commission is simply this: Sent ones are to trust his presence not their provisions. These emissaries were to take only what they had on their backs—including their staff and sandals. However, no “bread” (food of any kind), no “bag” (beggars bag) and no “money” (small copper coin), nor a second tunic (to keep out the night chill) were allowed. Basically Jesus instructed his trainees to entrust themselves to God’s ability to “show off” himself as Jehovah Jireh—the God who provides.

God is still challenging his emissaries to take his presence instead of their provisions. One Saturday, Mr. Nybakken spent part of the afternoon building crates for clothes his church was sending to an orphanage in China. On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what had happened. The glasses had surely slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had then nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China! The Great Depression was at its height, to lose twenty dollars was significant.

A year later the director of the orphanage was on furlough and wanted to visit all his supporting churches, so he visited this small church in Chicago. The missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage. “But most of all,” he said, “I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my co-workers and I were much in prayer about this. Then your crates arrived. When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top.”

The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued: “Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom-made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that” (Stewart 1997, 42). The same result awaits today for those who see the invisible and believe God for the impossible.

Take the Cross along with the Cost
The crescendo of Mark’s orchestrated theme of the cost of discipleship—to be rejected by family and friends—is found in the following passage:

Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:28-31)

Mark warned traveling ambassadors against holding to a false view of a continuously triumphant Christian life. He made it plain that persecution awaits Christ’s representatives whether at home or abroad. If Christians were to be strengthened and the gospel effectively proclaimed, it would be necessary to exhibit the similarity of situation faced by Jesus. Peter’s concern was clear (and predictable): In contrast to the rich young man who valued his wealth more than eternity, he and the others had abandoned everything to follow Jesus (1:16-20, 2:14). It’s hard not to imagine a tone of self-congratulation from his lips.

Mark includes the phrase “and with them, persecutions” (10:30) because of its heightened meaning to those who met together each Sunday morning at the Roman Community Church. Suffering for one’s faith in Christ had become a regular occurrence for these committed saints. The recipients of Mark’s letter desperately needed to know that their pain was worth the gain and that it was to be expected. Mark brilliantly wove Christ’s experience into theirs. As their lives had been reduced to a catacomb existence, they read of the Lord who was driven deep into the wilderness (1:12). The detail of wild beasts being present in the wilderness —a feature only recorded by Mark (1:13)— would have special significance for those who had witnessed defenseless believers entering the arena with wild beasts under Nero’s watchful eye. Like them, Jesus had been misrepresented to the people and falsely labeled (3:21,30).

It is unfortunate but true that it was through persecution that the members of this spiritual family would find their deepest realization of unity. Jesus did not withhold the cruel truth that brother would betray brother, the father his child or children their parents, and that his followers would be hated by all kinds of people simply because they represented him. According to the new kingdom principles, this call to suffering would bear witness for him (3:1-13). Christ’s warning is a sobering reminder to missionary candidates that they must first choose death to self before choosing to live for him.

Richard Wurmbrand, an evangelical Lutheran pastor of Jewish origin, was born in 1909 in Romania. When the Communists seized his native land in 1945, he became a leader in the underground church. In 1948 he and his wife, Sabina, were arrested, and he served fourteen years in Red Prisons, including three years in solitary confinement in a subterranean cell, never seeing the sun, the stars or flowers. He saw no one except his guards and torturers. Eventually in 1964, Christian friends in Norway purchased his freedom for ten thousand dollars. Wurmbrand writes:

I remember my last confirmation class before I left Romania. I took a group of ten to fifteen boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to a church, but to the zoo. Before the cage of lions I told them, “Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. Know that you also will have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to deal with men who will be much worse than lions.

“Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ.” They had tears in their eyes when they said, “Yes.”

We have to make the preparation now, before we are imprisoned. In prison you lose everything. You are undressed and given a prisoner’s suit. No more nice furniture, nice carpets, or nice curtains. You do not have a wife any more and you do not have your children. You do not have your library and you never see a flower. Nothing of what makes life pleasant remains.

Nobody resists who has not renounced the pleasures of life beforehand. (Piper 1993, 79)

The road to the kingdom is the Calvary road; it comes with many tribulations. So Mark is quick to remind Christ’s chosen workers that persecution is an occupational hazard.

In conclusion, the Gospel of Mark has some clear statements regarding the advancement of missionary endeavor. Whether planning to be involved in short-term or career missions, church planting or local evangelistic ministry, a working knowledge of the Gospel of Mark should be included in any ambassador’s basic training. So, on your mark, get set, go!

References
Graham, Billy and Philip Yancey. 1986. “Unforgettable Uncle Cam.” Reader’s Digest. September.

Köstenberger, Andreas J. and Peter O’Brien. 2001. Salvation to the Ends of the Earth. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.

Lane, William L. 1974. “The Gospel of Mark,” in The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.

Piper, John. 1993. Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Mission. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker.

Stewart, Cheryl Walterman. 1997. “A Perfect Mistake,” Christian Reader. September.

Strobel, Lee. 1998. The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.

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Bill Thornton currently serves as associate pastor at Springvale Baptist Church in Southern Ontario. He is enrolled in the doctoral program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. He is married and has four, count ‘em, four daughters!”

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