Day 35- Mark 14:43-65 (Tuesday, March 30)

As we read this passage, we see a rather odd person temporarily enter the story in v. 51-52. At first glance it seems that we have a streaker at the most inopportune time! Who is this young man who turns and runs away naked to avoid capture? Well, we don’t know for certain, but one guess is that this is actually Mark, our author, anonymously putting himself into the story. This might be similar to a director of a movie putting himself in one scene just to put his ‘signature’ on the film. For example, in ‘The Passion of the Christ’, Mel Gibson films his hand holding the nail driven into the hand of Jesus Christ in order to show his participation in the death of Jesus.

If this is truly Mark, it is worth noting that he does not write himself into the story as some type of hero, or as one who stood firm to the end. Rather, he shows himself to be one who turned and ran, just like all of the rest of the followers of Jesus. It is fitting in Mark’s Gospel that the only true hero is Jesus Christ. Even though Jesus’ disciples went on to do amazing things for God after the resurrection, they are shown to be authentic humans who were scared to death. In the same way, may we think of ourselves with great humility, recognizing that if we were there, we probably would have ran also. Yet, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are empowered to live—and to die—for him.