Saint Mark & The Naked Guy

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist. Modern Scripture scholarship claims that Mark was the first Gospel to be written and thanks to that premise we study all the Gospels from a “Markan Perspective.” It seems clear that the other two Synoptic Gospels made use of Mark as one of their common sources.

Far more intriguing to me however is a little scene that takes place during Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The crowd comes to arrest Jesus, there is a dramatic encounter between the Disciples and the crowd, and then they all flee as Jesus is taken away. In the midst of this chaos we read: “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” (Mark 14: 51-52).

What a peculiar incident, and an interesting one for the purpose of our meditation.

The agony Jesus experiences in the garden marks the beginning of his passion. It is in this moment that he takes upon himself the burden of the sins of all the world. As he feels this unimaginable weight upon him he prays to his Father in heaven for strength. It says he “fell to the ground” so heavy was the weight of this suffering. As we know, for Jesus the suffering had only just begun.

Perhaps this young man stands in the garden on behalf of all of us.

We spend a lot of time in the course of our years on earth trying to put our best face forward: to cover that which we find unsightly, applying emotional mascara to cover the scars of our sins. We struggle with trauma perhaps due to the sins of others. Some struggle with addiction, or unhealthy relationships, as potential ways to treat our wounds. Yet before God, and in this moment in the garden, all of humanity stands naked before the Lord. There is no cover up. There is no putting on a “best face.” The Lord sees each and every one of us exactly as we are: and he loves us with such a passion that he takes our sinfulness upon himself.

In order to grow in our relationship with the Lord we have to lay out for him our true selves: the good and the bad. He has seen it all already, and he has taken it all upon himself in his passion. However to grow in relationship we have to step out and become vulnerable: we have to learn how to trust. We offer him even all of our sinfulness, not just so that it can be forgiven, but also so that it can be transformed. We bring him our trauma, our hurts, our addictions…everything. We stand naked before him.

Later in Mark’s Gospel we again hear about a young man. This time the incident occurs when the women come to the tomb on Easter morning, and find that the Lord has been risen. The evangelist writes: “On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you” (Luke 16: 5-7).

This young man is not naked and running, but rather he is radiant with the light of Easter, clothed in a white robe. What a beautiful image of what the Paschal Mystery is all about: transformation and change…glorification.

My friends if we are to one day be clothed in glory we must first stand naked before him. If we are to have a share in the glory that he won for us, we must first admit how far we are from it!! We can’t achieve it on our own, we need his help!

Intimate relationships are built when we trust the other person enough to become vulnerable with them. This Easter Season, let’s all make that brave move and allow ourselves to be spiritually naked before the Lord: completely vulnerable, honest, and true. May he transform us again and again: so that one day we may share in his glory, and likewise become clothed in the white robe of radiant joy!