Nudity In The Bible

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The naked follower of Jesus

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There are two short verses about the last man to follow Jesus before he was arrested in Mark 14: 51-52:

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.

My sense is some text was lost or incorrectly translated. One commentator thought the young man was possessed by demons and sought healing. I read the active verbs "followed him" and "let the cloth" and am reminded of Jesus telling a wealthy man to sell all of his possessions. Are there certain spiritual and physical nakedness or child-like vulnerability in following Jesus? A willingness to surrender? Or is this some incidental and crazy dude? Your thoughts?

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RE:The naked follower of Jesus

My "Go To" on line source is Bible Hub. I prefer the "Strong's NASB" version. It allows me to dissect the Greek and Hebrew. It reads as follows:

A young man was following Him, wearing [nothing but] a linen sheet over [his] naked [body]; and they seized him. But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

In the context of the scripture, Judas had just lead the mob to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives to arrest Jesus, betraying him with a kiss.
As they seize Jesus, Peter pulls his sword and starts swinging. In the mayhem, The servant of the High Priest gets his ear lopped of. I assume Peter was trying to take his head off when he dodged the swing. Then Jesus calms the crowd, heals the guys ear and leaves under arrest peacefully. But only after a monumental event. When the mob arrived Jesus asked "whom do you seek" , and they replied "Jesus of Nazareth".

Jesus responds "I AM" which was so powerful that it knocked the whole crowd off their feet! The entire event must have been a crazy moment as the mob of officials scramble back to their feet in an attempt to re-take control of the situation, people grabbing and swords swinging.

The Strong's version allows for each word/phrase to be analysed in the original Greek.
When broke down, I may be more literally translated " a young aide in his company, wrapped in a fine linen throw", when grabbed, fled leaving his garment behind.

I believe the young aide may have been Mark himself. Other studies I have done lead me to believe this as a possibility as he was much younger than the rest an would likely have been an aide to Jesus at the time, (giving him first hand knowledge). But this is just my opinion. Why else would Mark (and only Mark) include this extra, (somewhat irrelevant) event in his account.

With the chaos of the event, Mark wanted out! If he was an aide, he would likely to be grabbed as well. As an agile youth, with their hands on his garment, he slips away leaving it in their hands and runs off, especially with Peter next to him swinging! Likely to then hide in the shadows to watch the rest of the events unfold and thus writing it in his Gospel.

So that's my take for what it's worth. Hope you all enjoyed the bible lesson!

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RE:The naked follower of Jesus

My "Go To" on line source is Bible Hub. I prefer the "Strong's NASB" version.The Strong's version allows for each word/phrase to be analysed in the original Greek.When broke down, I may be more literally be translated " a young aide in his company, wrapped in a fine linen throw", when grabbed, fled leaving his garment behind.I believe the young aide may have been Mark himself. Other studies I have done lead me to believe this as a possibility as he was much younger than the rest an would likely have been an aide to Jesus at the time, (giving him first hand knowledge). But this is just my opinion. Why else would Mark (and only Mark) include this extra, (somewhat irrelevant) event in his account.With the chaos of the event, Mark wanted out! If he was an aide, he would likely to be grabbed as well. As an agile youth, with their hands on his garment, he slips away leaving it in their hands and runs off, especially with Peter next to him swinging! Likely to then hide in the shadows to watch the rest of the events unfold and thus writing it in his Gospel.So that's my take for what it's worth. Hope you all enjoyed the bible lesson!

Thanks for the great feedback! The brevity of the text makes it seem irrelevant, but I question that. Whether it's Mark or an anonymous aid, and whether the linen throw was pulled off or allowed to fall off, here's what I find significant: 1) there is no shame associated with being under-dressed or naked 2) the altercation ended not with wounds but naked vulnerability and 3) the last record of Jesus' follower, just like the first man Adam and Jesus facing execution were all free of textile interference. Nudis Veritas = the Naked Truth.

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