There is one thing I can always count on when discussing Mark's passion narrative with students: they have never noticed the account of the young man running away from the garden after Jesus' arrest. They don't really pay attention until I remind them that the text states that he "ran off naked." Of course, because I attended college in the 1970's, I never fail to describe the practice of streaking, which was all the rage on campuses (and at the Academy Awards) at that time. They usually stare, not understanding at all why anyone would think such a practice was even the least bit cool. I cannot help but agree with them, though I cannot understand in the least why some of them think it is cool to drink beer from a hose! I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
But the story of the young man running out of the garden in his all-together has always fascinated me; why is it there? Why did Mark, and Mark alone, include this account? What can it possibly add to the story? Some scholars believe that he may have been a young man who was asleep in the house whose upper room Jesus and the disciples had just used for the Seder meal, and who awoke and followed them to the garden. If the house in which they met was the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, it may be a bit of autobiographical license by the evangelist himself. Why would he include such an account and what theological purpose could it serve? Perhaps the author is saying, "You can believe this account, because I was there!" It is certainly not the first time an author or an artist has included him or herself in a story or a piece of artwork. It's a way of adding a sense of authenticity to a work. For Mark, it may have been a way for him to reassure the fledgling Christian community that had been demoralized by the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem itself by the Romans that they could believe in what Jesus had promised, because he, Mark, had witnessed the events himself.
Strange as it may seem, I really appreciate this odd little verse in the midst of such a painful story of our Lord's betrayal and death. The little notation about a young man who was probably not prepared for the intrigue that was to occur that night brings the story down to our everyday level. We struggle to understand this faith of ours, no matter how long we have been believers. Christianity requires daily re-examination, because it strains our understanding, and at times, our willingness to believe what was written so long ago. In this vignette about a young man who did not dress properly for what he may have thought was a low-key garden party, we are thrown a tiny lifeline for our faith. Here is someone who may not have really understood what was happening, and who hot-footed it out of there when things became tense. What was initially embarrassing, running away naked, in front of God and everyone, became for Mark, a seal of authenticity. He might have been telling his readers to take what he said as truth, because he was there and saw and heard it all. Who among us would not give all we have for a chance to under-dress for that particular garden party, even if we too ran away?
1 comment:
Thank you for your thoughts! I, too, have often wondered how this odd little story, and am finally trying to see what other people have thought about this.
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