By: Dr. Kristen Barnes-Holiday, Contributing Columnist
A few months ago, I was texting with my seminary besties and one of them mentioned that St. Mark–the one who wrote the Gospel of Mark–was a Black man. I was stunned, and said, “What a minute!” She replied confirming what I questioned, with a simple “yes.”
As African Americans, we have grown accustomed to our history being whitewashed SO in some cases we’ve accepted and even embraced the white washing of our history. Christianity is not any different. As a People who were detained and forced into a foreign land, we were force-fed the White Jesus, White saints and even a Bible that was manipulated by our White slaveowners.
As a school-aged girl, who attended Catholic school, I was taught that all the saints were White; this method didn’t happen directly but in a very indirect way. The White Jesus hung in the classroom. The beautiful stained glass on the church visually represented a multitude of saints who were all White. So, at a young age , I rationalized that Jesus was White, despite my parents’ attempt to teach me that Jesus was born in a region where darker-skinned and texture-haired people existed.
And eventually I grew to embrace the Black Jesus, not just because I was Black and therefore I was reflected in the image of Jesus. BUT Jesus was darker-skinned, because I now had a better understanding of the historical and regional context in which Jesus lived. Therefore, Jesus had to be Black.
But understating Mark within this same context was different. Once again, I had to disrupt my own preconceived misconceptions and years of beliefs and thoughts to understand the lineage of Mark just as I had done when examining Jesus’ ethnic roots.
And to my surprise, I unveiled many truths.
Let’s start here.
According to theologians who study the lineage of Mark, Mark’s family left Cyrenaica (eastern Libya) for Palestine due to civil conflicts and wars. When they fled, it is believed that Mark and his mother first encountered and then made acquaintances with Jesus Christ. Mark and his family were African, messianic Jews from a mountainous yet inland region in Libya where international trading was the communities’ source of sustenance. Though Cyrenaica was a multiethnic region, occupied by Greek colonists, Romans and Nilotics, amongst many other ethnic groups, the indigenous population was the Berber tribe–who were people of North African descent.
John Mark was his birth name given by his mother, Mary. Mary was a wealthy, influential woman who devoutly supported early Christianity and the institution of the church. She’s the woman that we read about in Acts 12:12. And Mark was a byproduct of his mother–a man deeply rooted in Christianity, and the culture-transforming movement of the early church. Mark also became the first disciple to write about the good news regarding Christ’s coming, particularly informing non-Jews about Christ.
I’m inclined to believe that being reared in a multiethnic community, as a man of color, deeply influenced Mark’s perspective on Christ and his tolerance plus acceptance of those who were reluctant to believe in the church or the coming of Christ. Mark remains the first witness of Christian faith in Africa, and continues to be held in such esteem even today.
So next time you hear one perspective regarding the ethnicity or cultural background of a biblical saint, know that there often are many truths (and facts) to support each claim.
Perhaps this conversation should be continued but until next time…
Love and blessings,
Dr. Kristen Barnes-Holiday, Ph.D., is a professor of English at Wayne County Community College District, a second-year divinity student at Duke University, and a Christian blogger. In addition, she is a teacher, preacher, and lifelong student of the Word of Jesus Christ.
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