Acts 12:11-19
…he <Peter> went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark. (v. 12) A footnote in my Study Bible indicated that Mary was Barnabas’ aunt – with a reference to Colossians 4:10. Looking there I find Paul referring to Barnabas and Mark as cousins. That lends some understanding to Paul and Barnabas splitting in Acts 15:36-39 when Paul heads off on his second missionary journey. Barnabas wanted to take his cousin, Mark along, but Paul refused; he and Barnabas then went off in different directions. There is substantial evidence later in Paul’s letters that their split was not permanent, but healed over time.
At the beginning of this chapter, Herod (Agrippa) has James killed and Peter imprisoned. Now later in the chapter an angel rescues Peter and Herod has the prison guards killed because his soldiers could not find Peter in the prison. Seems excessively harsh to me, but that was the nature of the man. He’ll get his.
Slava Bohu!
Good points, Fred. Rhoda and all the others were at Mary’s house praying, for Peter as well as other concerns. But when their prayer is answered, no one believes it. “It must be an angel”, etc. When God answers prayer, it isn’t always as we had asked and sometimes we miss or don’t believe His answer! I can, unfortunately, think of some times when I have done that, causing myself unnecessary pain. Faithful praying plus hearing the answer and believing!
I was intrigued that the person who answered the door (okay, didn’t answer the door!) was a servant girl. I don’t know how well-to-do a family had to be before they had servants—seems like Barnabas was able to travel without much worry about finances, and this is (as Fred pointed out) his aunt’s house. But Rhoda is sooooooo excited, she doesn’t even open the door. She must have been a deeply committed Christian, knew Peter from other encounters at the house since it was a place Christians met frequently; perhaps she was converted at the same time as her employers. It may be, however, that she is a slave…?
Just musing about her…
Carol — I’m not sure anyone else will be interested in this topic, but you mentioned musing about Rhoda. I read a book when I was a girl about her — sort of a young adult book — and I believe I have located it on line. It was originally published in 1958 and was called Rhoda of Cypress and written by a Gladys Malvern. So some other people have wondered about her too.