And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
This brief, puzzling detail appears only in Mark's Gospel — it is found nowhere else in the Bible. Jesus has just been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, and his disciples have scattered. Then out of nowhere, an unnamed young man wearing only an expensive linen garment appears, following Jesus. When soldiers grab him, he wriggles free and runs away naked, leaving the garment behind. Many Bible scholars believe this anonymous figure may be Mark himself — a quiet personal signature tucked into his own account of the night. Linen was costly fabric, suggesting someone of means, possibly roused from sleep and drawn to the commotion. The scene is raw and unresolved: he followed, he was seized, he fled.
Lord, I've run when I should have stayed — left my garment behind more times than I'd like to admit. Thank you that the story didn't end in the garden, and that failure isn't the last word. Draw me back to where I fled from. I want to follow all the way. Amen.
Nobody knows who the young man in the linen cloth was. The most compelling theory is that it was Mark himself — that this two-verse cameo is the Gospel writer's way of saying: "I was there, and I ran." If that's true, it is one of the most honest things anyone has ever written about themselves. He doesn't explain the fear. He doesn't offer a redemption arc in the same paragraph. He simply records it: when they seized him, he left his garment and ran away naked into the night. The arrest of Jesus scattered everyone — and apparently Mark wasn't spared that shame. There's something important about the fact that this moment made it into the Bible at all. It didn't have to. No theological argument depends on it. But there it is — the story of someone who followed Jesus right up until the moment it became dangerous, and then fled. Maybe it's there so you know that kind of failure is not disqualifying. Peter denied Jesus three times. Every disciple scattered. And yet the story did not end in Gethsemane. If you've ever run from something you knew was right — left your garment in someone's hands and sprinted into the dark — you are in remarkable company. And the story is still going.
Why do you think Mark included this strange, unresolved detail? What does its presence in the Gospel suggest about how the earliest Christians understood and told the story of Jesus' arrest?
Have you ever followed Jesus right up to a moment of real cost or risk — and then pulled back? What did that feel like in the days afterward?
This young man fled and is never mentioned again. What does that unresolved ending suggest about how God handles our moments of failure — does Scripture always demand resolution, or does it sometimes just sit honestly with what happened?
The disciples failed to stand with Jesus in his darkest hour, and yet Jesus still commissioned them after the resurrection. How does that dynamic shape how you treat people in your life who have failed you?
Is there something you've been following Jesus toward but quietly backing away from when it gets costly? What would one small step back toward it look like this week?
A young man was following Him, wearing [only] a linen sheet over his naked body; and some men seized him.
AMP
And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him,
ESV
A young man was following Him, wearing [nothing but] a linen sheet over [his] naked [body]; and they seized him.
NASB
A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him,
NIV
Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him,
NKJV
One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him,
NLT
A young man was following along. All he had on was a bedsheet. Some of the men grabbed him
MSG