Daily Devotion for 25 April 2024 (Easter 4, Thursday)

• Psalm 17
• Psalm 89
• Leviticus 17:1–16
• Luke 10:23–42
• Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration, VIII, 23–30

Festival

Today we celebrate the Festival of St. Mark, Evangelist. Author of the second Gospel, Mark was originally from Jerusalem, where his mother’s home served as the center of the Church in that city. Mark would accompany Paul and Barnabas from Jerusalem to Antioch and then from Antioch on Paul’s first missionary journey. Barnabas would then go on a second missionary journey with Mark to Cyprus. Tradition holds that Mark was instrumental in founding the Church in Alexandria, where he served as the first bishop and died a martyr’s death.