Colossians 4:10-11 - Leaders need encouragement too!

"Aristarchus is greeting you, the fellow prisoner of me, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions, if he should come to you, welcome him)...and Jesus the [one] being called Justus, the [ones] being out of circumcision, these only co-workers unto the kingdom of God, who came to be to me an encouragement.’ 

-So three guys mentioned here.  All jews.  And all working with Paul.  He says they are the only co-workers, but we know there are other workers - he mentions three more in the next verses.  These must then have been his only Jewish co-workers (which is why most versions translate it that way).

-Aristarchus is from Thessalonica (Acts 20.4).  We meet him in Acts 19.29, where he and Gaius are almost beaten in Ephesus.  Mark we know - yes, he is the same one who prompted the infamous split between Paul and Barnabas back in Acts 15.36-41.  We actually meet John Mark back in Acts 12.12, but we learn here that Mark is Barnabas’ cousin, which could help to explain why Barnabas was so remiss to leave him behind on their second missionary journey.  But the good news is that while Barnabas in now nowhere to be seen, Mark is now a welcomed and valued member of Paul’s entourage (cf 2Timothy 4.11).  Jesus Justus for his part is mentioned nowhere else in the NT. 

-But Paul tells us how these guys had become a source of encouragement to him.  The word means to comfort or sooth or exhort in such a way as to help someone keep on going.  Everybody needs encouragement.  Even leaders.  We don’t often think in those terms.  Our tendency is to put people like Paul (leaders, celebrities, etc) up on a pedestal.  We idealize them, and we forget that they are regular folks with real needs just like us.  We view our leaders in terms of our own needs, of what they can do for us.  But even folks like Paul have needs.  They have struggle.  They can be prone to discouragement.  Especially when and if they get thrown into prison like paul.  And these three guys who understand and share Paul’s cultural background have ministered to him somehow.  They have helped him to keep going.  It’s lonely at the top.  Be at the ready to let the Lord use you to help someone who leads you keep going...