Mark
John, as he was known in Hebrew, had Marcus added to his name and is known more commonly as Mark, the writer of the second Gospel in the New Testament. He is also known as the son of a prominent woman follower of Jesus, as a friend of Simon Peter in Jerusalem, and as the cousin of Barnabas.
discussion question
What is Mark's connection with Simon Peter?
Mark is believed to have been Peter's interpreter in Rome. From that experience, having often heard Peter's accounts of the life of Jesus, he wrote his Gospel, which many believe to have been written first of the four.
Though an early source says that Mark was not himself a follower of Jesus (joining the apostles later), others feel the source is mistaken. Some believe that Mark is alluding to himself in his Gospel, 14:51–52, when soldiers come to Gethsemane in the night to arrest Jesus: “And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body; and when the young men laid hold on him he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.”
