Young John Mark followed Jesus and his men from the family home, likely in the Upper City, into Gethsemane. There he edged closer to the action, while standing apart from the larger group being surrounded by hostile forces. Transfixed by the maelstrom surrounding Jesus, Mark didn’t see a temple soldier eye him, covet his linen sheet and grab for it, leaving him naked and fleeing in terror.
Note: the soldiers had strict instructions to arrest JESUS of Nazareth. But not any of his disciples. The Sanhedrin knew JESUS as their enemy, and considered the disciples helpless with their LEADER removed. Thus, we conclude that the most Mark could have lost was his linen sheet, nothing more. Which he did. Which has a lesson for our discipleship. With exceptions, life in Christ has the same routine for believers, as C.S. Lewis wrote. We still eat, sleep, bathe, hold jobs, rear families, visit with friends and neighbors…and those all-important bathroom calls. Still…as Ken Idleman found as a teen, when his dad accepted Christ, all liquor disappeared from the family fridge, replaced by soft drinks. As Hardy Sledge told this preacher, once baptized, he threw away the pack of cigarettes he carried. As Ben Merold discovered, transitioning from a former military Drill Instructor to a Christian, cost him one-half of his vocabulary. We can’t say what his close call cost Mark. But he at least may have learned caution in making decisions. If so, he had plenty of time to deliberate when, 17 years later, Barnabas invited him to accompany him and Saul of Tarsus on their first missionary journey. In evaluating their life, all Christians can find ways that being in Christ has saved them from troubles afflicting companions without his grace. Nearly all of them will be intellectual, moral, spiritual, or a combination of all three. And that will be worth knowing Christ, as Paul detailed in I Corinthians 2:1-16. Next…how shall we respond when we cannot escape problems endemic to life or discipleship? End Part II
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|