|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
And a young man followed him [Jesus], with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked (Mark 14:51-52, ESV).
After Jesus was arrested, a young man following Jesus and the disciples was grabbed by his linen cloth (bed clothes), and being a flimsy garment, it probably tore, allowing the youth to run away naked.
Why include such a story (albeit humorous) in the Gospel of Mark?
A man referred to in the New Testament as John Mark (Act 12:12), the son of Mary, a wealthy woman living in Jerusalem (not Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, or Mary the wife of Clopas, who all stood next to the cross in John 19:25) is commonly accepted as the youth without clothing.. Tradition holds that the Last Supper was held in the upper room of Mary’s house. We know from Acts 12:12 that Mary was the mother of John Mark, and that her house was used as the place where the church prayed when the Apostle Peter was imprisoned.
Now, back to the Lord’s Supper.
It’s easy to imagine John Mark having been told to go to bed early. As Jesus and the disciples arrived for their Last Supper, like most curious teenagers, he didn’t go to bed but hung around, eavesdropping, hiding behind a curtain or in another room. Then, when Jesus and the disciples left quickly to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, in John Mark’s haste to follow, he didn’t get dressed properly and followed them in his pajamas.
Those who arrested Jesus at night, not wanting too many witnesses, saw John Mark lurking behind an olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane and grabbed him. But he struggled free, leaving his garment in the hands of a soldier. He fled naked southwest from the Mount of Olives (the Garden of Gethsemane is located at the bottom of the Mount of Olives), up the Kidron Valley (located between the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem), passing the Pool of Siloam, then through the Water Gate to Mt. Zion in the upper part of Jerusalem.
The distance between the Garden of Gethsemane and his house in Jerusalem would be about 1.5 miles. Quite a run for John Mark, without clothing, and considering his circumstances, probably more of a sprint than a jog. Fortunately, the Pharisees and Sadducees were too occupied with Jesus to give chase. Arriving home huffing and puffing, he snuck into his bed with no one realizing that he had just run naked through the holy city of Jerusalem.
Until, of course, He blabbed on himself in the Gospel of Mark.
Uh, yes, this “running naked youth” authored the Gospel of Mark and used this autobiographical story (found only in the Gospel of Mark) as a sort of humble confession of his running away after witnessing the arrest of Jesus.
Many Jewish boys were given two names, and John Mark was no different: a Hebrew name (John) and a Roman name (Mark). Courage seemed lacking in John Mark, as he not only ran from Jesus but, in Acts 13:13, we read, “John left and returned to Jerusalem,” having abandoned both Paul and Barnabas on the first mission trip of the Apostle Paul.
Two strikes against Mark, but God’s grace changed him as he eventually traveled with Peter, who called him a figurative son (1 Peter 5:13). In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul (while in a Roman prison) requested his presence, and around A.D. 65, he was writing the Gospel of Mark!
From a youth fleeing in the Garden of Gethsemane, to a witness of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Fortunately, his middle-of-the-night adventure and failed mission trip didn’t keep Jesus from using him to significantly impact Christianity.
Let’s emulate Mark — not his midnight run — but his example of receiving God’s mercy.