The Gospel of Mark tells us nothing about its author. He does not seem to be an eyewitness of the events he narrates, and he is not a character in his story like Matthew and John seem to be in their gospels. Most of what we know about the man, John Mark, must be gleaned from his appearances in Acts.
He accompanies Paul and Barnabas (Mark's cousin) on their first missionary journey,but for unknown reasons, he leaves early to return to Jerusalem. Barnabas defends this decision, but Paul refuses to take Mark along on the second tour, "because he had deserted them... and had not continued with them in the work" (Acts 15:3.
Mark understood what it meant to fail, to be labeled a quitter. In his gospel the disciples are pictured as failing to understand the mission and message of Jesus. At the moment of Jesus' arrest, "everyone deserted him and fled" (Mark 14:50). The first of the four gospels to be written, Mark is traditionally viewed as the remembrances of Peter, who also experienced the searing failure of disowning Jesus in the hour of his greatest need.
