John Mark (7) - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2025

A certain young man followed Him with a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men seize him; but he, leaving the linen cloth behind him, fled from them naked.
Mark 14:51-52

John Mark (7)
No doubt this unique and enigmatic verse refers to Mark himself. Like the other Gospel writers, he does not draw attention to himself, but when he records the Lord's disciples "left him and fled," he feels bound to record he did the same (v. 50). He was quite young that cold night he followed the little band to Gethsemane, but whatever drew him onto that dangerous path—curiosity or attraction to the Lord Himself—he was hardly dressed for the occasion. Have we not been in situations for which we were not prepared and had to flee rather than stand for the Lord? But the grand lesson is not that he fled, or later, that he failed in his service, but that God would ultimately use him to write the second Gospel. He would write the Gospel that records the Perfect Servant, our Savior and Lord. This implies a wonderful change later in his life.

The imperfect servant, who fled in the garden, and who fled from the mission field, would be "serviceable" (2 Tim. 4:11) and be used by the Spirit of God to write the Gospel which describes, in fast-paced detail, the Perfect Servant. What grace, and what a voice to us who also are imperfect servants.

Simon Attwood
Still sweet 'tis to discover, if clouds have dimmed my sight,When passed, eternal Lover, towards me, as e'er, Thou'rt bright.O keep my soul, then, Jesus, abiding still with Thee;And if I wander, teach me soon back to Thee to flee,That all Thy gracious favor may to my soul be known;And, versed in this Thy goodness, my hopes Thyself shalt crown.

J. N. Darby