Arrival at Pisidian Antioch, John Mark leaves Paul and Barnabas.

Acts 13:13-14

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“Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.” Acts 13:13-14

“Paul and his party” included Barnabas, Luke [writer of Acts], and John [John is known as John Mark and wrote the Gospel of Mark sometime later].

 There were two Antiochs, one called Pisidian Antioch, and the other called Syrian Antioch. As seen on the map below. Pisidian Antioch is seen to the far north, circled in yellow, and Antioch in Syria is seen towards the east of the picture, also circled in yellow. The “Great Sea” is also called the “Mediterranean Sea”. Nazareth [the hometown of our Lord Jesus Christ] is seen to the very bottom of the picture and is north of Jerusalem. Perga in Pamphylia is south of Antioch in Pisidia and north northwest of Paphos and Paphos is on the island of Cyprus to the far west. Perga in Pamphylia is where John Mark left Paul and Barnabas to return to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas continued to Antioch at Pisidia after John Mark left them.

Later, it is written that Paul saw Mark as being undependable to the missionary work, and probably as unfaithful to God in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as quoted, “Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.” Acts 15:36-41

Later, Paul and Mark reconciled, and Paul wrote this, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:11 Paul also calls Mark a fellow worker, “…Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers.” Philemon 1:24

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are on a journey in this world to share our born-again testimony, which is the Gospel of Christ written on our heart. On the way, there will be some brothers and sisters in Christ who will change their mind and prefer not to join us on that journey. They will part ways with we who are active [where we can be] in spreading the Good News in this atheistic culture, which is global. Even then, those same people who do not join us now, may become a witness later [apart from our ministry] and are able to write about our Lord Jesus Christ. We may not be able to go door-to-door in today’s atheistic culture, but presently, we can write about our Lord Jesus through blogs and other social media sites.

In Antioch of Pisidia: Paul, Barnabas, and Luke went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. What happened next is described in the next post on Acts 13:15-41, where the Holy Spirit opened the way for Paul to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Old Testament scriptures. As followers of Jesus Christ, sometimes it is best to set silently and wait for someone to ask for our opinion or solicits us to speak in one way or another. When that happens, this is an opportunity to say a word for the testimony of Jesus.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11