I. Consider first the apostasy of John Mark. It was not a departure from Christ, but it was a departure from very plain duty. And if you will notice the point of time at which Mark threw up the work, you will see the reason for his doing so. The first place to which the bold evangelists went was Cyprus. Barnabas was a native of Cyprus; therefore, no doubt, partly, the selection of this place to begin their assault on heathenism. For the same reason, because it was the native place of his relative, it would be very easy work for John Mark as long as they stopped in Cyprus among his friends, with people that knew him, and with whom, no doubt, he was familiar. And, as soon as they crossed the strait that separated the island from the mainland, and set foot upon the soil of Asia Minor, so soon this man turns tail, like some recruit that goes into battle full of fervour, but, as soon as the bullets begin to "ping," makes the best of his way to the rear. How like this story is to the experience of hundreds and thousands of young Christians! Let us all ponder the lesson, and see to it that no repetition of the apostasy of this man darken our Christian lives and sodden our Christian conscience.
II. Look next at Mark's eclipse. Paul and Barnabas differed about how to treat the renegade. Which of them was right? Barnabas' highest quality, as far as we know, was a certain kind of broad generosity and rejoicing to discern good in all men. He was a "son of consolation." The gentle kindness of his natural disposition, added to the ties of relationship, influenced him in his wish regarding his cousin Mark. He made a mistake. It would have been the cruellest thing that could have been done to his relative to have put him back again without acknowledgment, without repentance, without riding quarantine for a bit and holding his tongue for awhile. He would not then have known his fault as he ought to have known it, and so there would never have been the chance of his conquering it. Mark's eclipse teaches us the lesson that the punishment for shirking work is to be denied work.
III. Consider the process of recovery. There is only one road, with well-marked stages, by which a backsliding or apostate Christian can return to his Master; and that road has three halting-places on it, through which our heart must pass if it have wandered from its early faith and falsified its first professions. The first of them is the consciousness of the fall, the second is the resort to the Master for forgiveness, the third is the deepened consecration to Him.
IV. Notice the reinstatement of the penitent renegade. Even early failures, recognised and repented of, may make a man better fitted for the tasks that he once fled from. The past is no specimen of what the future may be. The page that is yet to be written need have none of the blots of the page that we have turned over shining through it. God works with broken reeds, and through them breathes His sweetest music.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth,Dec. 23rd, 1886.
References: Acts 13:16-21. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 490. Acts 13:19; Acts 13:20. Expositor,1st series, vol. vii., p. 198. Acts 13:24. Homiletic Magazine,vol. ix., p. 99. Acts 13:26. Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts,p. 189. Acts 13:32. J. Aldis, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvi., p. 353.