Mysterious Naked Runaway in the Gospel of Mark

[DisorientingSneeze]

What can you tell me about this guy? He is mentioned during Jesus’s arrest.

Chapter 14

“51 Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, 52 but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.”

 

[BartholomewB]

Some commentaries suggest it may have been Mark himself.

 

[Naga]

Jimmy Akin was asked this question on an episode of Catholic Answers Live a while back. He said that many believe it to be Mark, but he put forward an argument that identifying him as Mark would be problematic. The gist of it was that at the time, there was no literary precedent to write oneself into the story. Additionally, the person, as I recall, is described as a “young man,” which Mark would not have been described as at the time. Jimmy Akin explained that at the time the Gospel of Mark was written, many people involved in the narrative would’ve still been alive, so to reduce the risk of any reprisals against certain significant people, their identities were kept hidden. He then went on to explain that some now believe it to be Lazarus. He named a scholar who held/holds this belief, but I do not recall the name.

 

[Dan_Defender]

IMO it is likely Mark himself, a young disciple at the time. Only his gospel mentions the episode, so it feels personal and a humble acknowledgement that he too, left our Lord in the hour of need.

 

[Dovekin]

On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. Mark 16:5

This is what happened to the young man who lost his clothes.

Someone suggested it is about Baptism, but I don’t really know.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

This is what happened to the young man who lost his clothes.

So John’s Gospel has 2 in white as angels, but Mark has a young man, possibly the formerly random nude? I guess that fits what Naga was saying about either keeping identities hidden or there being not yet a way to refer to oneself.

 

[LML]

It’s us!..

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

It’s us!..

I forgot, that’s always it!

In our ultimate weakness rather than leave everything to follow Him we leave absolutely everything and run naked into the night away from Him in His suffering.

Idk if Jesus would have wanted Mark or who ever it was to be arrested right along with Him or not.

 

[thistle]

What can you tell me about this guy? He is mentioned during Jesus’s arrest.

Chapter 14

“51 Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, 52 but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.”

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 51. This probably was the owner, or the son of the owner of the garden, who hearing the tumult came to see what was the cause. It must have been a young man from the Greek word neaniskos. (Tirinus)

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

Ya’ll are a great source! I suspect I should look for a bible with better footnotes…or a bible with any footnotes at all. I got excited by the tinyness of the one I use and didn’t worry about its lack of footnotes or how I almost have to use reading glasses with it.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

This probably was the owner, or the son of the owner of the garden, who hearing the tumult came to see what was the cause

That might explain how he ended up so easily naked. What he was wearing that he wriggles out of was more like sleeping clothes as he was on his own property.

 

[BartholomewB]

Ver. 51. This probably was the owner, or the son of the owner of the garden, who hearing the tumult came to see what was the cause. It must have been a young man from the Greek word neaniskos. (Tirinus)

That might explain how he ended up so easily naked. What he was wearing that he wriggles out of was more like sleeping clothes as he was on his own property.

I also remember reading somewhere, though I don’t remember where, that Mark’s mother was the owner of the Upper Room. What the evidence is for that conjecture, I have no idea.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

I also remember reading somewhere, though I don’t remember where, that Mark’s mother was the owner of the Upper Room. What the evidence is for that conjecture, I have no idea.

His version does include a lot about meeting the man with the jar of water and details of the plans to get there. That was another mystery character for me in Mark. I wanted to know more about the jar of water guy who takes them to the upper room.

 

[Dan_Defender]

I also remember reading somewhere, though I don’t remember where, that Mark’s mother was the owner of the Upper Room. What the evidence is for that conjecture, I have no idea.

And I read somewhere that Nicodemus was the owner of the Upper Room, but I don’t have the source either.

 

[Fraevo63]

We know there is a reasoning and message within every detail that is mentioned in the gospel narratives.

“Seek and you will find
Knock and it will be opened”

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

*sigh

This is the part of the Passion narrative where all the nine-year-old boys giggle and poke each other…

 

[Dovekin]

I also remember reading somewhere, though I don’t remember where, that Mark’s mother was the owner of the Upper Room. What the evidence is for that conjecture, I have no idea.

Mark’s mother was the owner of the house where Christians were meeting when Peter ‘escaped’ prison:

When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who is called Mark, where there were many people gathered in prayer.
Acts 12:12

That this was the house with the upper room is not a bad conjecture. Not certain, but likely enough.

 

[Brendan_64]

I also remember reading somewhere, though I don’t remember where, that Mark’s mother was the owner of the Upper Room. What the evidence is for that conjecture, I have no idea.

In the Dolorous Passion account of the visions of Blessed Anne Emmerich, the Upper Room is said to have belonged to Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

 

[Dovekin]

They were utterly amazed!

It is a complex figure, the young man losing his garment and the young man in a white robe. The pair of men in Luke and John seem reminiscent of Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration, though John does not tell that story.

I do not know how to put it together, just pointing to the pieces.

 

[Brendan_64]

I wanted to know more about the jar of water guy who takes them to the upper room.

Again, according to the Dolorous Passion, the man is said to be called Heli, who was the brother-in-law of Zachary of Hebron, in whose house Jesus had announced the death of John the Baptist the previous year.

I know the Dolorous Passion seems to come in for some criticism from some people, but it is probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever read.