The Birthday Suit in the Bible

I’m a huge fan of the 2001 movie, A Knight’s Tale. It’s a playful, suspend -your -disbelief story of a peasant rising above his circumstances through guile, jousting tournaments and sheer determination. The main character, Will, meets a naked man named Geoffrey Chaucer * trudging along the road. Geoff is a compulsive gambler and has lost his clothes to a bad bet.  Will and Geoff form a friendship based on mutual need. Geoff’s immediate needs are clothing and food. Will needs Geoff’s masterful writing and forgery skills.

A memorable scene is when a pair of debt collectors have come to take their payment from Geoff, but he cannot pay. These are the same men who have his clothes. They carry wooden clubs and insist that they will physically beat Geoff in lieu of payment so that he can “Understand that gambling is a sin.”  Will saves Geoff by promising payment. Geoff’s clothing – and dignity – are restored by his compassionate liege.

After receiving payment, the debt collectors immediately tempt Geoff by offering him another round of gambling. He says he will have no more to do with them except to exact his revenge upon them. They laugh and ask him, “What could you possibly do to us?”

Geoff’s epic reply, “I will eviscerate you in fiction. Every pimple, every character flaw. I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity.”

As I am writing this, it’s Holy Week, when Jews and Christians ready their hearts for Passover, the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, Good Friday and Easter.  I decided to re-read the four gospel accounts of these events in order to remember that Jesus suffered far greater troubles than I will ever have. Through his atoning death for my sins on the cross, I will have permanent communion with God instead of eternal separation.

No matter how many times I read the Bible, there is always something that surprises me. As in A Knight’s Tale, there is a naked young man in the story of holy week. I was stunned. I asked myself, “How on earth have I missed this?”

In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled. (Emphasis mine.) Matthew 26:55-56, NIV

Followed by – “A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.” Mark 14:51-52, NIV

Wait, what???  There’s just some random anonymous dude running around naked right after Jesus got arrested. Yeah, I’m pretty sure no one ever mentioned this in Sunday School.

 This discovery led me to more questions.

Who was he?  I’ve been searching for answers on the man’s identity and the short answer is – no one knows for certain. We know he was NOT one of the disciples because all the disciples deserted Jesus and fled before this young man appears. Many scholars believe that Mark (the author of the book of Mark) was the young man. There are a lot of clues to support this.

In the book of John, the author (John) doesn’t refer to himself by the first person at all, but as, “The disciple whom Jesus loved.” (John 13:23) It seems that it was not customary or polite to use one’s own name, as that would be showy and detract from the real ‘star of the show’ – Jesus. So, if Mark was our boy in the birthday suit, he wasn’t going to say so.

 Where did he live? Most likely nearby the garden of Gethsemane with his mother – who was probably a widow, as her husband isn’t mentioned. His mom’s house in Jerusalem was a meeting place for early believers. She was a homeowner and had at least one servant, so she most likely had some wealth.  Mark’s mother’s house was a frequent enough stop for the disciple Peter that the servant girl recognized him by voice alone. (Acts 12:12–14). 

 How old was he?  The Greek word used here for “young man” is neanias – which translates to a man in his prime, roughly under 40 years of age.

When did this happen?   I was looking for the time of day, the temperature. John 18:3 elaborates a little further than Matthew – “So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.”   

If they are carrying torches and lanterns, we know it was very dark, probably in the very wee hours of the morning.  John 18:18 records after Jesus’ arrest, “It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.”

A quick web search confirms that 2,000 years later, the current temperature in Jerusalem is a brisk 47 degrees F/ 8 degrees C.

First century homes didn’t have very large windows – more like portholes. In the warm weather, they would be covered with lattice or shutters, in the cold weather the holes were covered with woolen batting to retain heat.

What do we know about this young man’s choice of clothes on a cold night?  The Greek word for linen here is ‘sindon’ –  ‘a thing made of fine cloth / of a light and loose garment worn at night over a naked body.’ Fine linen is made from the flax plant and talented weavers can make linen seem as soft as silk. No scratchy pajamas for this young man!

So, from the clues I gathered, it seems Mark lived in the neighborhood of the Garden of Gethsemane. A mob was walking by with torches, lanterns and weapons. There is a good chance he was woken from sleeping comfortably in a soft loose nightshirt type garment. You may be thinking it was cold outside, shouldn’t our young man be wearing something warmer?  Women have a lower metabolic rate and feel the cold quicker. Men have more muscle mass and generate more heat. He was probably very comfortable in what he was in. If someone you loved was being arrested outside of your house in the middle of the night by an angry mob, would you take the extra minutes to put on pants? Every second counted – and this young man didn’t waste a single one.

Why was he there?  The scripture tells us he was ‘following Jesus.’  Jesus says “Follow me” in eleven different ways in the four gospels.  This young man was probably a ‘follower of Jesus’ as well as literally following behind Him when Jesus was arrested.

Why was his embarrassing moment recorded in the Bible?  Why does his story even matter?

  We know that ‘he fled naked.’    This usage of ‘fled’ is the Greek word pheugo and in this instance means, “to be saved by flight, to escape safe out of danger.”  The young man got away – giving the soldiers the slip, leaving them with nothing but a handful of a loose-fitting garment, while he ran through the cold dark streets of Jerusalem with nothing on.

I believe Mark was there when Jesus got arrested. I believe he was writing his own story. As the author, he had complete liberty to twist his words to turn the reader’s heart just so.  But he did the opposite of what Geoff Chaucer does in A Knight’s Tale.  He doesn’t eviscerate the soldiers who arrested Jesus so he can look cool. Mark paints himself honestly – with his pimples and character flaws – and writes himself naked for all eternity.

I wondered why this scripture affected me so much. How did it apply to my life?  I realized I’d rather be naked and nameless, humiliation laid bare for others – if my story points others to Jesus, my compassionate liege. The young man doesn’t give his name as it would take away from the Name Above All Names – Jesus. His story matters because it is part of God’s story.

May your story glorify Him.

Wishing you all a Chag Sameach and a Happy Easter! 

* For those who enjoy a twist – the real English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, which include a short story titled, The Knightes Tale.

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