Thursday, December 16, 2010

ID, Please?


There’s an unusual pair of verses in Scripture that occurs only in the book of Mark. While Jesus is being arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, this strange event is recorded:

There was a young man following him who was covered by nothing but a linen cloth. As they seized him, he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.” (Mk 14:51-52)

Traditionally, authorship of this Gospel is credited to John Mark, the now middle-aged attendant to an older Peter. Many commentators over the centuries have speculated that this follower of Jesus is actually a teenaged Mark himself. Thus the seemingly insignificant incident takes on meaning as the author is stating, “This was me! I was there!”

But according to 19th century novelist Lew Wallace, this man is none other than – Judah Ben-Hur, the vengeful charioteer most famously portrayed by Charleton Heston. (See Ben-Hur, Book VIII, Chapter VIII.)

Hmmmmmm.

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