Bible Q & A

The WWCW would like to thank one of our visitors for the following question.

"In the Book of Mark, a young man who was following Jesus is seized and then runs away naked. What does this mean and why was it put right in the middle of Mark? It doesn't seem to belong in the text."

First let us say that nothing in the Bible is there by accident (2 Tim 3:16). If it's in the Bible, then the Holy Spirit meant it to be there. So what does Mark 14:51,52 mean?

Many commentators select the most apparent reason for the existence this passage. This passage may exist to show that the writer of the book of Mark was a witness to these events. The young man must have been Mark. The only others who could have known about the young man would be those who came to arrest Jesus because Jesus' followers all fled. So either one of people who came to arrest Jesus wrote the book of Mark or the young man did.

Could this passage be more than just a simple "I was there" from Mark? Let's look at similar passages in the Bible...

Earlier in the book of Mark, Jesus talks about "fleeing": "...let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains... Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak." (Mark 13:14,16) This passage talks about the end times, right before the Second Coming of Christ. Interesting parallel.

Remember Joseph? When Potiphar's wife caught him alone he "...left his garment in her hand, and fled...". (Gen 39:12) In many ways Joseph was an OT "type" of Christ. The fleeing in this case is in contrast to what Jesus did when arrested.

Lastly, Satan said something interesting to God about Job: "Skin for skin. A man will give all he has for his own life". (Job 2:4)

How do these other passages tie in with the events mentioned in Mark 14? We are going to let you run with the ball on this one - We're sure entire books can be written on this subject. E-Mail the WWCW and we will post your findings.

Another fruitful study might be to look at the meaning of a few words found in Mark 14:51,52 - "linen cloth" and "naked".

Linen cloth (Strongs number 4616)

This word can describe one of several things. Instead of pajamas, in Jesus' time people wore a only a linen cloth to bed at night. The young man could have been sleeping when he heard a commotion or, since the Bible says that he was following Jesus, perhaps he snuck out of bed because he knew something was going to happen that night.

A linen cloth was also a fine and expensive thing used to wrap the dead in. An interesting foreshadowing.

Naked (Strongs Number 1131)

One of the meanings of this word is "the soul stripped from the body".

In conclusion, what we need to do is to tie all this stuff together. That we'll leave to you. Let the WWCW know what you discover. Remember a good rule of thumb when studying the Bible - if you have difficulty understanding a passage, put Jesus into that passage and see if that passage becomes more clear.

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