Here again we all are unreliable sometimes, but each of us can name a one another that, for whatever reason, is hardly ever reliable. This is the one another that lets us down time and time again. They say they will help clean up after the fellowship lunch on Sunday, but leave before clean up even begins. They say they will come early on Sunday morning to practice with the praise team, but arrive just ten minutes before the service starts. They offer to help clean out the shrubs on workday Saturday, but spend more time chatting than working. You get the idea.
I suppose there are some folks who actually plan to behave this way, but most of these “unreliables” mean well. They just don’t execute well, and boy do they get on our nerves. Before we realize just how annoying they are, we are setting up barriers. We exclude them from church planning, task forces, and committees. Next, we find excuses to not ask for their help. Finally, we go out of our way to avoid them and eventually a relationship is lost. As weeks, months, and even years go by, we scratch our heads when we learn this one another has left the church and walked away from fellowship with God and ask, “Why?”
Our reactionary barriers may have eased some of our stress levels, but it didn’t preserve the relationship levels. In short, we set up the barriers without loving these one anothers because the loving part requires more effort and a great deal more personal investment than simply building walls. Even the great Apostle Paul took the easy road on this one. Does that surprise you? It did me.
Often I put Paul on some demigod pedestal assuming he never sinned or fell short even though Paul declared that was not at all the case (Romans 7).
After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.
Acts 15:36-39
Here is his dilemma. Paul suggests to Barnabas that they should go back through every city where they had preached and follow up. Barnabas thinks this is a great idea and suggests they take John Mark with them. That’s where the impasse begins.
John Mark had proven to Paul, probably over and over again, that he was unreliable. In fact, Mark was so unreliable that he physically left the work. For Paul, desertion was inexcusable. We aren’t told why Mark left the work. Obviously God didn’t think it was pertinent to the truth being presented. However, I imagine doing ministry with Paul was hard and grueling work. After all, he was a workhorse and a strong personality. Most likely he expected a strong work ethic from those around him. Maybe Mark didn’t think he measured up. Or maybe he felt overwhelmed and didn’t feel qualified. Or maybe he was just exhausted. Whatever the reason, Paul had enough.
One Another Living 