Then everyone deserted him and fled. A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.
Mark 14:50-52
This is a desperate description of where Jesus is. And after the mob moved in, all his friends do the exact opposite. They leave Jesus. They hey move away from Jesus. They back away from Jesus. But they don’t stop there. They don’t just put some space between Jesus and his captors, they turn tail and run away. They run from the people that might arrest them just for being in the vicinity of Jesus.
When they leave and flee from Jesus, they say something about themselves. It’s proof positive where their hearts are. It’s more than what they think. What’s in their heads about Jesus. It goes deep into their hearts and shows exactly what they believe about him.
You see, it’s one thing to talk about Jesus. It’s easy to mimic all the Christian words, phrases, mannerisms. But when the storms of life come, all that Jesus stuff gets up and leaves. It has no solid foundation. No deep root. No foundation.
And that’s where we find the disciples. They first back away. Then they turn. Finally, they run. They made their escape. Moving through the dark as fast as they could.
And then there’s a young man. We don’t know much about him. It might have been the author, a young Mark, who was also following Jesus. Or perhaps it was a boy whose family was guarding the garden grounds that night.
He must have been near Jesus. Perhaps as the disciples fled, they knocked him down. He wasn’t as big as a full-grown man, so it wouldn’t have been unusual for the mature men to bowl over anyone and everything in their path to leave in the dark of night.
In all the confusion and excitement, the same people that grabbed Jesus tried to grab this young guy. Perhaps it was one of the temple guards, or just someone in the crowd. They reached out and grabbed at him, catching him by the linen cloth that he had wrapped himself in. As they tried to get to him, he pulled away and let go of that cloth. He was so scared that he was willing to let go of the only thing he had.
That young man was willing to let go of the only thing that covered him. Protected him. The only thing that gave him warmth and defense against the cold night air. And then he ran naked into the night, leaving his only covering behind.
How scared would you have to be to run naked in public? Imagine his panic. How his heart raced within his chest. Running. Gasping for more air to allow him to run faster. Further.
Some people treat their relationship with God very casually. It’s not smart or sophisticated to get all excited. All emotional. All that committed. All that involved. We want to keep our options open. Keep everything at arm’s length so it’s not too close. So we can control it and it doesn’t control us.
But we’re not supposed to be that way. We were made to have a deeply personal, intimate relationship with God. Only he can fill us. Make us whole. Complete us. Fulfill us.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind
Luke 10:27
We’re like a mixer. Blenders weren’t made to stay in the box. Or to just sit on the shelf. No, they were made to be filled. And once filled, they were made to mix up everything that fills them. Mixers were made to be together with something from the outside.
And we were made to be with someone from the outside. And that someone is God. The one who made us to share an eternal, loving, deeply intimate relationship with him.
And only that relationship with God can satisfy the deep longings and needs we feel inside. That emptiness will not be filled with people. Things. Anything from this world. Only someone from outside this world can satisfy us.
That’s why it’s so important to run to him. Ask forgiveness for our feeble attempts at replacing him. We need to depend alone on God for more than our daily bread, but for our daily conversation and power for today.
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