A Streaking Frat Boy In the Bible

"...And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. ~Mark 14:51-52

Although I always viewed this passage with quirky amusement it is not to be taken too lightly. It deals with the seriousness of salvation, human nature. Its Jesus' arrest. This incident would have actually been very funny in just about any other context but because it portended the most horrific miscarriage of justice in history the imagery must be tempered with solemnity. So why does it appear to be almost a comical aside placed directly in the middle of Jesus' arrest?

I pondered this for a couple of days. The placement of this passage itself is impulsive in its usage...just like the incident itself. Regardless, we know from reading the rest of the Bible that nothing is an accident in God's world. God is not impulsive. Impulsivity is a human trait. Everything has its reason and is part of God's plan even man's impetuousness and lack of forethought. God knew this dude was going to sprint au naturel into the cover of twilight.

We are never told who he is. Likely because the personal identity isn’t relevant to the theology or the story. It is his associated identity that is important. He was associated to Jesus Christ and other disciples at the time of His arrest. This naked dude was the same as all the others that had followed Jesus. They either betrayed, denied or deserted Him. Judas, Peter, and…a dude in his birthday suit in a garden in the middle of the night. You’d think this was the end of a frat party being busted by the cops. 

This unidentified man henceforth referred to as Streaking Frat Boy (SFB) is interesting because he had no identity and comically, no clothes. He was representative of all that followed Jesus though. Flawed, sinful, broken and naked to sin in this world. If it wasn't for fancy footwork and physical dexterity, he would've been nabbed by the authorities. If Christ didn't come to die for his sin he would've been nailed by his sin. Picture if you will...a streaker running from security at a baseball game. What was it that made SFB hotfoot it into the night at Gethsemane? 

Fear. Pure unadulterated terror.

The Way, The Truth and The Life had been apprehended and was being arrested by the world. It made no sense to any of them. It defied their understandings of who & what they thought Jesus was and what he was on Earth for. It so bamboozled Peter that he denied Jesus three times. It is clear from SFB's wardrobe malfunction that he was not expecting to be accosted or assailed for said association to Jesus and what any perplexed frightened man would do... he sprinted into the darkness naked as a jaybird.

Sadly, this mindset was in all the followers of Jesus at this point. All of them, in spite of the fact that Jesus had told them explicitly and explained to them thoroughly what was going to happen next. They didn’t listen. They didn’t believe. They relied on their own judgment. Their own understanding. 

Peter's denial was told to Peter. Jesus predicted Judas' betrayal in front of Judas. Jesus foretold his own persecution and death. They didn’t see it coming. They had believed everything else Jesus had said in his ministry but why not this? 

Simple. 

They didn’t want to. They were incapable because of their sin. 

What this reveals is how completely sin can blind us to truth. They didn't/couldn't accept what The Truth said was the truth. They doubted and were incapable of comprehending it. Even after the Crucifixion and Resurrection had taken place they remained confused (Road to Emmaus ring any bells?). Even after all the prophecies had been fulfilled. The very prophecies they had been raised with since childhood as Jews and learned as believer's of the Old Testament. 

Do you really suppose SFB wanted to be immortalized in the Bible as the "naked guy" sprinting through Gethsemane? To be remembered forever in  Christian history as "that guy". I don't think so. Like other examples of believers and followers we see an unflattering image in our minds of human failing to the point of absurdity and stupidity. 

The only thing unique and fantastic about SFB is his inherent failings and inabilities. His and our most startling feature is just how common an archetype of human fallibility we are. The only good thing about us is our association with Jesus. In SFB we see humanity, warts and all. 

We see us.

What else stands out in this context? Jesus does. Specifically, His foreknowledge and foretelling of these events. The other startling attribute is His unflappability. He exudes an unshakable composure as the world disintegrates around Him. He doesn't run. As a matter of fact, by his demeanor He controls the anxiety and disruption leading to His arrest (Peter, Malchus’ ear being healed). By His outward behavior He controls the "tone" of His own arrest. He is distinguished by His remarkable poise. He is the measure of resoluteness and the image of calm during the storm of events. This is in stark contrast to the scatterbrain behavior and disarray all around Him. His presence even holds sway over His captors.

"Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, "Whom do you seek?" They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am he." Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, "Whom do you seek?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus answered, "I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go." This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: "Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one." ~John 18:4-9

Alone Jesus is left to face His enemies just like he would bear the weight of the world's sin.

What do we learn from this?

We need to trust in the Lord and what He says is true. What the Lord lays on our hearts is to be taken deeply, reviewed and understood to the best of our ability. If we ignore His commandments we do so at our peril. Left to our own devices to try and extract ourselves from what is often a dilemma of our own making we become a comedy of errors like SFB. Inevitably, the means of escape and path we need to take to extricate ourselves may get quite embarrassing at times. In the case of Peter it dealt a catastrophic blow to his psyche. In the case of Judas it ended in death. Fortunately for SFB he was relegated to being mortified.

Turning our backs on God will lead to chaos and disarray. The light he gives us for our lives illuminates our path. When we walk away from this light we head down an unclear path, tripping and groping….forced to stumble around the darkness like a drunken frat boy bereft of clothes.