Mary Wife of Elijah Mark

Mary Mark was the wife of Elijah and the mother of John. The Marks were a well-to-do Jewish family and supporters of Jesus’ mission. The large “upper room” of Mary and Elijah’s home, in Jerusalem, is where the “Last Supper” was enacted. Mary’s son, John Mark, was the author of the second book of the Bible’s New Testament, the Gospel of Mark.

Mary is mentioned just once in the Bible, in the New Testament book of Acts, chapter 12. In this scripture, when Peter is freed from prison by an angel, he goes to the “house of Mary, mother of John Mark” where many people are gathered praying. Peter knocks on the door and a servant girl answers. She recognizes Peter’s voice and makes an announcement. Peter is invited in and tells the gathering how “the Lord had brought him out of prison.”

According to The Urantia Book, Mary, and her husband Elijah, permitted Jesus and his followers to use their home on several occasions. Their son, John Mark, was a teenage associate and friend of Jesus. Two days before Jesus was killed, on Wednesday, April 5, 30 CE, John and Jesus arranged a meeting, a dinner, at the Mark home on the following Thursday evening. This meeting came to be known as the Last Supper, Jesus’ farewell ritual with his apostles.

Mary Mark is referenced when Jesus led his apostles to her home to partake in the Last Supper. After the Marks greeted Jesus, his apostles went to an upper room of the house that had been prepared by Mary. There they argued about the seating arrangement. Meanwhile, Jesus stayed and talked with the Mark family then joined his disputing apostles in this upper room. He washed their feet and then shared a final meal with them.

Mary is referenced again, by name, when Jesus and his apostles left the Mark home on the way to their campsite in the Garden of Gethsemane. This was late Thursday night, after the Last Supper.

When the apostles were hiding in the upper room, early on the morning of April 9, the day of Jesus’ resurrection, Mary is mentioned. His apostles received word that their Master had risen from the tomb but refused to believe it. It wasn’t until nine o’clock that night, still at Mary’s home, locked in the upper room, that Jesus appeared before his unbelieving apostles.

Mary’s name is also cited on the occasion of Jesus’ final post-resurrection appearance, the nineteenth such appearance. The apostles had gathered at the Mark home and were about to sit for breakfast in the upper room when the Master appeared. After speaking with them, he departed the Mark home and led his apostles to Gethsemane to bid them farewell. That was early on Thursday morning, May 18, 30 CE, forty days after his resurrection.

Lastly, Mary Mark is referenced when Peter, John Mark, and others sent out a call for the leading disciples to gather at Mary’s home. This meeting took place around ten-thirty in the morning, in the same upper room where the Master had appeared to his apostles earlier that day, May 18. One hundred and twenty disciples gathered in the upper room to hear Peter’s report on Jesus’ farewell message and his ascension. This meeting was the first conference of the Master’s disciples after he ended his planetary career.

In early May of 30 CE, Mary’s husband Elijah Mark died unexpectedly as a result of a hemorrhage in the brain. John Mark did everything in his power to console his mother, and he extended an invitation to the apostles to continue to make their home at her residence even after they had left.

The Mark family played significant roles in the last phase of Jesus’ life. Perhaps Mary’s greatest contribution to Jesus’ mission was her son John Mark. During a day alone with him in the hills, Jesus told John that his early life was shaped by his parents' love and wisdom, which gave him self-confidence, normal feelings of security, and allowed him to have original experiences in the world.

Years after Jesus died, John Mark authored the second book of the Bible’s New Testament, the Gospel according to Mark. John Mark’s record of his life and teachings became the basis for the other three Gospel narratives.