Was there a streaker in the Garden?
[I apologize, but due to the content of this article there will be no picture
]I was asked a few Sunday nights ago about the following passage…
And a young man followed, 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]
So who was this streaker in the Garden? Was he a maniac? Was he some strange person gone mad? Oddly enough, many commentators say it was Mark himself.
William Lane in his commentary on Mark writes:
Several Fathers of the Church conjectured that the young man was Mark himself, who is known to have been a resident in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) and in whose house, it was held by tradition; Jesus celebrated the [Passover] meal. If this is correct, Mark was an eyewitness to the transactions in Gethsemane. His primary purpose for including this vignette, however, appears to have been to emphasize the fact that all fled, leaving Jesus alone in the custody of the police. No one remained with Jesus, not even a valiant young man who intended to follow him. (The Gospel According to Mark, 527-528)
Makes me wonder if at the cross there was a man in the crowd holding up a John 3:16 sign?
Pastor Wes
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