IN PAMPHYLIA
A Missionary Returns.
From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed northward to Perga in Pamphylia. At this place something happened about which we wish we knew more. All that Luke says about it is this:
"And John departing from there returned to Jerusalem."
We know that later, this circumstance became a matter of sharp dispute between Barnabas and Paul, but just why John wished to return we are not informed. Perhaps he had not intended to travel so far; or it may be that matters at home needed his attention; or he might have been over sensitive, and felt that "two were company but three were a crowd;" but whatever the cause Paul and Barnabas had to continue their journey without the young man Mark. Later, he resumed his missionary work traveling with Barnabas. There is no record of his traveling again with Paul; although the latter wrote of him later as "a comfort, and a fellow worker unto the kingdom of God."