Scholars are conflicted: some see Mark as the earliest of the four Gospels, while other view Mark as an epitome written after the others had been fixed. Richard Lenski writes:
Mark is first mentioned in Acts 12:12, where he is named only incidentally to distinguish his mother Mary from the other Marys mentioned in the New Testament. Peter, released from prison by an angel, went to the house of this woman, which seems to have been near by. This was in the spring of the year 44, at the time of the Passover. The fact that this is called her house indicates that she was a widow at this time, but how long her husband had been dead, or what name he bore, is not known. Mark was very likely present among the many who prayed for Peter. It is worth noting that here, where we first hear of Mark, it is in connection with Peter; the last we hear of him, when he wrote the Gospel in Rome, shows him again in closest association with Peter.
Because Mary’s house is mentioned in Acts, some readers have assumed that a special significance is to be attached to it. Is Mary’s house in Acts, mentioned with its “upper room,” to be identified with “upper room” narratives in the first five books of the New Testament?
Yet there must have been, at that time and in that region, thousands of houses, and other buildings, which had “upper rooms.” Probability is against the identification, even if we reduce the field to those in and around Jerusalem.
Much has been made of this house of Mary’s. It is made the house in which Jesus ate the last Passover and instituted the Holy Supper; likewise, the house to which the eleven returned after the ascension of Jesus, and where ten days later the Spirit descended upon the assembled disciples (Acts 2:1, 2).
There are two different words in play. In Mark 14:15, one Greek noun is used for the upper room; in Acts 1:13 a different noun is used. Some English translations obscure the fact that two different words are used; other translations make it more obvious.
Both words mean “an upper room,” and in the latter passage the article refers to this room as one that was well known. The man bearing the pitcher of water is supposed to be Mark’s father. Mark is said to have been present at the Lord’s last Passover and at the institution of the Supper. He is also supposed to have followed to Gethsemane, with only a linen cloth cast about him (Mark 14:51). All this is ingenious enough but hardly convincing. We cannot believe that, if Mark had been present fully dressed in the upper room with Jesus, he would have left the house and gone through the streets out to Gethsemane clad only in a linen sheet. Every detail in the story of the last Passover leaves the impression that no one was present in the upper room except Jesus and the disciples. Mark was not there to wash the feet of the guests, Jesus himself had to wash the feet of the Twelve.
Does any doctrine or article of faith hang on the question about these rooms? Probably not. Mark’s narrative is known for its speed. Would it be in Mark’s character to introduce subtle allusions? If Mark wanted to draw our attention to the upper room, would he have given it a more prominent role in his narrative?
Perhaps it is worth noting that an upper room was usually quieter and less likely to be disrupted. Both in Mark 14:15 and in Acts 1:13 (and possibly Acts 12:12), God placed the followers of Jesus, not in a busy market square in the center of town, but in place appropriate to His plans for them.
