There is one more of Christ’s friends and followers we must take a “brief” look at.  I use the word “brief” because we only get a fleeting glimpse of this person in the dimly lit Garden the night Jesus was accosted and arrested.  Only Mark’s Gospel gives us a succinct two verse summary of how one of Christ’s followers fled that night. He literally makes a very quick “streaking debut” across the stage of the passion!  Watch quickly or you will miss him…

“A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind” (Mark 14:51-52).

That’s a graphic description of real terror on two feet!  This young disciple literally “ran out of his clothes” because of fear!  At times of acute danger there are two conflicting emotions – fight or flight!  For this young man it was flight with all his might!  And many Biblical scholars believe that this is a veiled reference to Mark himself, the writer of the First Gospel.

Three things we quickly notice about this anonymous person:  He was a “young man.”  He was wearing a “linen garment.”  And he was “following Jesus.”  The very fact that the narrator mentions that this young man was “…wearing nothing but a linen garment,” would strongly suggest that he was from a wealthy prominent family in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12).  Linen garments were a fashion statement for the well-to-do men in that day.  They were not the clothing materials of the peasants and “blue color workers.”  Certainly none of the other disciples of Christ wore linen robes!  It was not the clothing of fishermen, farmers and common workers.

The very fact that some in the arresting crowd “seized him” clearly indicates that this young man was a follower of Christ.  In their minds he was clearly identified with Jesus, along with the other disciples.  Since he was not with them – he was definitely with Him.  This crowd had only two sides that night.  Therefore, he was a viable target for arrest. 

As we have already seen, Jesus and His disciples had just concluded the Passover meal by singing a hymn together.  Then they left the “large upper room” where they had spent the last few hours together eating and sharing.  They then took the short walk from the City proper through the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives – no doubt with Jesus in the lead (Mark 14:26).  After spending time with His disciples, He now sensed a great need to spend time with His Heavenly Father in one of His favorite places of solitude and prayer.  There His passion would intensify beyond human comprehension.

Because this young man followed Jesus and His disciples from that upper room, he may have been an attendant at that Passover Meal.  He could have even been the son of the “owner of the house” that the disciples had contacted earlier about having the Passover there with the Lord Jesus.  This home owner was obviously someone known to the Lord.  The disciples had asked Jesus: “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”  In response Jesus said:

“Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.  Follow him.  Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: ‘Where is My guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’  He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready.  Make preparations for us there” (Mark 14:12-15).

If you “read between the lines,” it is quite clear that this was something that Jesus had previously arranged.  These were no whimsical or magical meetings.  They had been carefully planned by the Master.  He specifically told His disciples where to go and what to look for.  They were to find and follow “a man carrying a jar of water” – which was not the normal thing for a man to do.  Carrying water was the normal duty of women.  So a man carrying a clay jar of water would have been easy to spot.

Upon seeing this man, they followed him to a very specific house that was clearly known to the Lord.  The “owner of the house” obviously knew who Jesus was as “the Teacher.”  No doubt he was also a follower of Christ because you do not open you home to strangers – especially on the high and holy night of Passover. 

And upon finding the owner of the house, they were to say to him what Jesus had told them: “Where is My guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”  No doubt Jesus had been to this house before and used the “guest room” for His personal use.  In response to these clear questions, the owner took the disciples to “a large upper room, furnished and ready.”  Perhaps this young man in our story had helped to “make things ready” for Christ’s last Passover meal with His disciples.  And after the meal and evening was concluded, he followed Jesus and his disciples from the house to the Garden of Gethsemane.   

That young man could never have imagined what was awaiting Christ and the disciples that night in the Garden.  Nor could he ever have anticipated what would happen to him!  It would be a defining time in his life he would never forget.  It would mark him for life.

Probably because he was younger and smaller, he was an easy prey for the soldiers of the high priest that night.  For this vigilante mob, a smartly dressed young man was an obvious “mark” that would stand out from the other followers of Christ.  So they “seized him” in an attempt to take him to trial along with Jesus.  But in his youthful zeal he struggled loose and literally “sprinted out of his linen robe” as he fled!

There is every possibility that this was indeed the same young man who would later become the temporary traveling companion of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 12:25). This incident in the Garden of Gethsemane may also be an early insight into the life-long struggle that John Mark had with the problem of “fear and flight.” Just as he fled from Jesus in the Garden that night, he would later flee from Barnabas and Paul in the midst of the difficulties of missionary service (Acts 13:13; 15:36-39).

But since I have spent much of my life working with teenagers, I am encouraged to know that there was definitely at least one young person in the Garden that night who was a known follower and disciple of the Lord Jesus.  This reminds us that Jesus not only attracted men, women and children – but also teenagers!  So whether you are young or old…male or female…rich or poor – Jesus will accept you as His disciple.  It matters not to him whether you are wearing linen like this young man – or faded jeans and a cotton T-shirt, there is a place for you as a follower of Christ!

So after this fleeting appearance on the stage of the Passion of the Christ – presumably by a young John Mark, Jesus is now left totally alone.  It is a lonely place to be – even for the Son of God!  It is incomprehensible to us to even begin to fathom how the Second Member of the Triune Godhead could be alone during these hours of His passion.  He who had eternally known nothing but the absolute love and unity of the Trinity is now increasingly being cut off from fellowship with His Father and the Holy Spirit.  The hours are rapidly approaching when God would make “…Him who had no sin to be sin fur us” (II Corinthians 5:21).  Humanly speaking, He is now at the mercy of the club-yielding-blood-thirsty mob – and mercy is definitely not on their minds!  They are not interested in justice or mercy – only revenge and murder. 

And day after day, the newspapers and nightly news reveal that man’s nature has not changed from that night in Gethsemane.  Whether the First Century or the Twenty-First Century, the evil in man’s heart knows no bounds.  That’s why our world continues to be filled with warfare, terrorism, tribalism and genocide.  Hatred, murder and bloodshed abound on every hand and in every country and culture.  And the angry mobs that are hostile to Jesus continue to roam and rule from our streets to our classrooms to our courtrooms – arresting any and every manifestation of the Passionate Christ!

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