August 31, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Thursday, August 31.
On this day, in 1990, something happened in Major League Baseball that had never happened before. A father and son started for the same team. Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. batted back-to-back in the first inning, each hit a single, and each scored, leading the Seattle Mariners to a win. A memorable moment.
The Bible is full of memorable father-son combos. Abraham-Isaac, David-Solomon, Zechariah-John the Baptist, just to name a few. And then there are the father-sons that weren't related by blood, but by spirit, like the Apostle Paul and John Mark. Their story is a story of potential, failure, and redemption.
John Mark, who Paul saw great potential in, accompanied the Apostle on one of his early missionary journeys, at least for a while. Acts 13 tells us that John Mark abandoned the group to return to Jerusalem. This failure disappointed Paul and caused him to lose faith in his young protege. In Acts 15, Barnabas suggests giving John Mark a second chance. But Paul angrily refuses, a decision that leads to a bitter separation from Barnabas.
But in 2 Timothy we find redemption. Paul wrote this letter in a Roman dungeon, awaiting his execution. And there, in his last days, he makes a single request - "Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me." After potential and failure and redemption, in the end there was love.
And that's a pattern played out by fathers and sons through the ages.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
