Butt Naked He Ran

 

Butt Naked He Ran, Mark 14:51:52

Brett A. Todd

There are two odd sentences found in the Gospel of Mark that come out of nowhere, leaving the readers sputtering with eyes crossed, asking, what was that?  Hello?  This is how these two sentences read, “A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.”

These two sentences are found in the story of Jesus’s betrayal and arrest in Mark 14:43-52.  Here, Jesus and his disciples are set to leave the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying and his disciples were dispassionately sleeping.  At that moment, Judas, the chief priest, scribes, elders, and a crowd with swords and clubs show up, and Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss.  Oddly, the story ends with a “certain” young man running off butt naked.

Many Bible readers have never heard these two lines and you may be one of them, so open up your Bibles and take a look–it’s true, there is a young man who runs off naked leaving his linen cloth behind.  What is this all about?

In 1958, a Bible scholar by the name of Morton Smith revealed an ancient Greek letter he discovered that gave context and some explanation as to who this young man was and why he was with Jesus.  According to this ancient Greek letter discovered by Smith, Jesus and this young man may have been in a homoerotic relationship. Part of this ancient letter reads:

But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth came to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God.

As it turns out, this ancient letter may be a forgery.  Some scholars believe that Smith himself created this letter and falsely claimed that the letter was real.  

So, where does this leave us as Bible readers?  My guess is that it is describing a disciple fleeing for his life who was sleeping while Jesus was praying, but honestly, we don’t know.  All we can do is make an educated guess.

In our next study, we will look at another ancient Gospel that didn’t make it into the Bible called, “The Gospel of Judas”.  This Gospel brings a surprising twist to Judas’ kiss.