Common Sense Reborn

Deserted

⁵⁰Then all His disciples deserted Him and ran away. ⁵¹One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, ⁵²he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked. (Mark 14:50-52, The Life Application Bible)

Yesterday I had a chance to get caught up on my 9-month Holy Bible plan. I am finishing up reading the Book of Mark in The Life Application Bible (LAB) and these verses jumped out at me thanks to the footnotes included in the LAB Bible. This mysterious young man, who appears out of no where and runs away “naked”, has never garnered much of my attention. But in the footnote in the LAB, the authors state that “tradition says that this young man may have been John Mark, the writer of this Gospel” (LAB footnote 14:51-52, pg 1700). What an interesting truth! Here was a young man who, hearing the commotion of Jesus’ arrest, jumped out of bed (not bothering to grab clothes-it was common in those times to sleep naked), and when all the Disciples had deserted Jesus, this young man stayed close to Him. This young man stayed close to Jesus longer than the men who walked with Him for the last three years!

It is impossible to know what this young man knew or had seen of Jesus before this night, but what is true is he stayed as close to the Son of God for as long as he was brave enough to. But when the crowd tried to grab him, he slipped away and ran off. If this was John Mark, this moment was so powerful, he made it his life mission to write his Gospel, for the world to know the truth of who Jesus is.

But let’s get back to the Disciples. While each Gospel focuses on Peter’s denials, nothing is written of what the other 10 are doing while Jesus is being judged. But the world will soon see, thanks to the brilliant minds behind The Chosen series. They have released a teaser trailer for Season 4 and it looks like they are inching closer to the season of Jesus’ crucifixion, which will either come in Season 5 or 6. I have included the preview below, and while I am not sure where Season 4 will take viewers, it is obvious that this season will include the execution of John the Baptist. When the show does tackle the Last Supper and the night in the Garden, it will be their most challenging season to all us fans, because we are going to see all our favorite disciples completely disappoint us, just as they must have disappointed Jesus that fateful night. Despite the Disciples deserting their beloved Rabbi, Jesus loved them, forgave them, and redeemed them for the mighty work ahead.

While there may be times in your life where you have deserted Jesus, where you have lived in sin or in the ways of this world; Jesus will never desert you. He is always waiting to forgive you, to welcome you back with loving arms, and to empower you with that same Holy Spirit that He would equip His Disciples with. Jesus is with you in your darkest moments to lead you into a new life and a new light.

Ben Fuller knows that truth more than most of us. His new album is a blistering biopic of the struggles he has faced, with songs like “Proud”, where he sings about his struggles as a young man to earn his earthly father’s approval; to “Other Plans”, where Ben reveals the intimate moment in his youth, when he almost took his life due to the loneliness he felt in his own family. Ben’s story is quite inspirational and his music is just as powerful. Whatever you do this week, take an hour to put this playlist on and listen to the words. Just like Jesus can redeem a cocaine addicted, wayward youth to singing songs of Glory to the world, just think what He can do with you! I bet He can set you on fire.