Young Man at Gethsemane

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I always find that if a detail is included in Scripture, it is there for cause. And yet, for the life of me, I cannot see the value – or the interpretation – of the following passage from tomorrow’s Passion reading from St. Mark, immediately following Judas’ betrayal of Christ:
Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.
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Such a seemingly odd and random detail . . . and yet . . .

Thanks to anyone for sharing your knowledge on this passage . . . (I did try to search in case this had already been answered a dozen times, but found nothing.)
 
The citation is from St. Mark’s account of the Gospel, and the general consensus among comentators is that the young man was John Mark himself.

DaveBj
 
I lovingly refer to this fellow as “Towel Guy”, since for some odd reason, he gives me the mental image of someone who was taking a bath and on hearing the racket outside in the garden, got out to see what was going on. St. Thomas More wrote a whole little meditation about “Towel Guy” in his last book, “The Sufferings of Christ” (I think that was the title).
 
Maybe it is Saint Mark’s way of signing his Gospel. None of the others were aware of the episode.
 
Why would St. Mark (or anyone else, for that matter) be in the garden undressed when it was cold enough at night for Peter to be warming himself by a fire? Isn’t Gethsemane kind of remote; not like he could have been the guy next door who got out of bed hearing the commotion . . .
 
IrishAm said:
Why would St. Mark (or anyone else, for that matter) be in the garden undressed when it was cold enough at night for Peter to be warming himself by a fire? Isn’t Gethsemane kind of remote; not like he could have been the guy next door who got out of bed hearing the commotion . . .
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Good point! I understand that this was an allusion to a custom among the Romans or Jews (but I think it was the Romans). If a guard was caught sleeping on duty, he was stripped of his clothing and sent home “au natural’”.

The Apostles and Disciples were required to stay up and “Watch”, notice how many times “Watch” was said by Jesus in the Garden scene. This was from the Passover custom where the Jews were told to stay awake all night. I heard Tim Gray mention this on his “Gospel of Mark” audio series on EWTN.
 
Ok- now don’t kill the messenger but I’m going to put out a theory I read in one of biblical scripture magazines. The author states the man in the linen could have been Lazarus- still wearing the fine linens a rich man had when put in a tomb.-He immediately left his grave and followed Jesus to Jerusalem so he had no time to change and put tidy- whiteies on!
 
Traditionally, this person was thought to be the writer of the 2nd Gospel, John Mark. As you remember from the Acts of the Apostles, John Mark temporarily drew the ire of St. Paul when the former wanted to go back home in the middle of a missionary journey (they eventually reconciled).

At least one of the Early Church Fathers (I don’t know which one) saw a symbolic meaning here: the white garment stood for the garment a disciple recieves at baptism when he is born to new life and pledges his loyalty to Christ. When the young man in the story ran off and abandoned Christ, he abandoned his baptismal promises, leaving them behind.
 
I dug a little deeper online (by the way, you have to be very careful what you pull up when the words “naked” and “young man” are being searched, even if you include “Gethsemane” :eek: ) and saw the explanations that it was Mark or someone else who came to warn Jesus. However, I also saw several that made the following point:
The particular Greek word that is used for this “linen cloth” is used in only one other event in the New Testament - to depict the “linen cloth” in which the body of Jesus was wrapped for burial (see Matthew 27:59, Mark 15:46, and Luke 23:53). Thus, the only reference we have for this kind of cloth in the New Testament is that of a burial shroud used for covering a dead body in the grave.
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That particular quote above was the most clear, and it was here if anyone wants to look at it . . . crosswalk.com/devotionals/Sparkling%20Gems/11599865/

Anyway, some using that argument saw it as Lazarus, and the link I listed felt it was another resurrected person from a nearby cemetery.

Whatever the truth or reason may be, I can’t help but to think there is some meaning to the specific use of the word.

It’s all very interesting – I will have to keep my eyes open for authoritative Catholic answers!
 
IrishAm said:
I dug a little deeper online (by the way, you have to be very careful what you pull up when the words “naked” and “young man” are being searched, even if you include “Gethsemane” :eek: ) and saw the explanations that it was Mark or someone else who came to warn Jesus. However, I also saw several that made the following point:
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Ahhhhh, filters are wonderful, when properly used!
IrishAm said:
That particular quote above was the most clear, and it was here if anyone wants to look at it . . . crosswalk.com/devotionals/Sparkling%20Gems/11599865/

Anyway, some using that argument saw it as Lazarus, and the link I listed felt it was another resurrected person from a nearby cemetery.

Whatever the truth or reason may be, I can’t help but to think there is some meaning to the specific use of the word.

It’s all very interesting – I will have to keep my eyes open for authoritative Catholic answers!
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My only problem with the Lazarus excuse is that the dead haven’t risen yet, during this part of the story.
 
NotWorthy said:
Ahhhhh, filters are wonderful, when properly used!
My only problem with the Lazarus excuse is that the dead haven’t risen yet, during this part of the story.
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Note that Lazarus was resurrected several days earlier.
 
IrishAm said:
I always find that if a detail is included in Scripture, it is there for cause. And yet, for the life of me, I cannot see the value – or the interpretation – of the following passage from tomorrow’s Passion reading from St. Mark, immediately following Judas’ betrayal of Christ:

Such a seemingly odd and random detail . . . and yet . . .

Thanks to anyone for sharing your knowledge on this passage . . . (I did try to search in case this had already been answered a dozen times, but found nothing.)
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There is no consensus on who this is. Many scholars think it was Mark. Others think it was the owner of the garden or son of the owner who came to see what was happening when the soldiers arrived.

To me the naked part is easy to explain. The young man was wearing a linen cloth so he was not naked to start with. The soldiers seized him so the only way to escape was to leave the soldiers holding the cloth so he could run.
 
thistle said:
There is no consensus on who this is. Many scholars think it was Mark. Others think it was the owner of the garden or son of the owner who came to see what was happening when the soldiers arrived.

To me the naked part is easy to explain. The young man was wearing a linen cloth so he was not naked to start with. The soldiers seized him so the only way to escape was to leave the soldiers holding the cloth so he could run.
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I believe the strongest tradition among early Christians is, as noted by someone else earlier, that it was Mark. Not rock-solid evidence, by any means, but still the best we’ve got.

But, on a side note, doesn’t this seen sound incredibly familiar to Joseph (in Genesis) having his towel stolen as he runs away from Pharaoh’s wife? I can’t seem to make any stronger relation, other than to comment that this is a strikingly familiar incident.
 
NotWorthy said:
I believe the strongest tradition among early Christians is, as noted by someone else earlier, that it was Mark. Not rock-solid evidence, by any means, but still the best we’ve got.

But, on a side note, doesn’t this seen sound incredibly familiar to Joseph (in Genesis) having his towel stolen as he runs away from Pharaoh’s wife? I can’t seem to make any stronger relation, other than to comment that this is a strikingly familiar incident.
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Good catch!🙂
 
I think the Baptismal analogy is the best fit. even though Joseph has not sinned he loses a bit of his innocence when he leaves his kilt behind.Baptismal boy leaves the innocence he had attained at baptism behind with the cloth
 
Why was it so important as to be put in the Gospel? What purpose does it serve?
 
Comic relief? j/k 😃

Seriously, I was contemplating this very question today while listening to the reading of the Passion (as well as once again pondering on God’s sense of humor ;)) and was thrilled when the priest decided to make it the subject of his homily.

This priest went with the baptismal garment theory, and it did make a lot of sense.

One great thing about the Bible—there is never a dull moment!
 
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