He Fled Naked - Mark 14:43-52
June 19, 2011

Some of us recall the NBA finals between the Heat and Mavericks and if you're anything like me, you were rooting for one of the two teams while the people around you were rooting for the opposite team. And if your friends are anything like mine, you would have heard a lot of banter about which team is better and why and which players are better and why.

But one thing I'll never forget about this past year's finals is the final game of the east coast conference finals between the Heat and the Bulls. For the few of you who may not know, the Chicago Bulls recently picked up a point guard named Derrick Rose who is a very talented player. But during this last game, people left and right were let down by Rose's poor performance: friends of mine were bashing on how horribly he chocked during throughout the game and especially in final few minutes but the thing is, if you watched how Rose played, you could tell he was playing very hard and very diligently -- he was doing his very best while all the fans and people on the sidelines kept bashing on him, talking about what he was doing wrong and what little he was doing right.

And the horrible thing about this image is that you not only see this in basketball but you see this with virtually every sport, whether it be football, tennis, or soccer -- but not only does this occur in sports, worse yet, this also occurs at church.

Many of the Christian friends I have, who I know are truly born again Christians, have this sport-like mentality when it comes to their being a Christian: they are like fans and judges on the sidelines who have a lot to say about Christianity and a lot to say about Christians but they aren't playing the game themselves.

They often look the part and follow the steps, coming to church or praying before meals or refrain from this or that but deep down inside, they are just fans -- they just like watching Christianity from a distance, criticizing elements of it they don’t like and praising elements about it that they do like but all the while, they aren't trying to live out the Christian life themselves.

How many of us today are fans of Christ or fans of the Bible but we're not players -- we're not actually in the game, diligently working and pursuing victory but just spectators from the outside, ready to harp on a Christian when he or she makes a mistake or is ready to praise a Christian when he or she does something you really like?

Well, if you think about this idea, you'll notice two things: (1) That many of us here today, when we really gauge where we are at in terms of loving Jesus with all we do, all we think, and all we say and love His church with all we do, all we think, and all we say, we're more like fans than players and there's more spectators or commentators than there are actual athletes, diligently playing the game. (2) And secondly, what you'll notice, in light of our text today, this problem is especially horrible because while it is a problem for some of us in this room, it was also a problem for Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus the Son of God.

Our story here today takes place at night after Jesus and a few of His disciples are praying on the Mount of Olives in a garden called Gethsemane. And it is the very early morning before Jesus is to be condemned and crucified. And having made a financial agreement with some of the Jews who wanted to kill Jesus, Judas gathers some armed men and make his way to the garden to arrest Jesus. And upon getting there, Judas does two things: First he calls out to Jesus and calls him "Rabbi," which is what all His disciples were calling Him. And secondly, he kisses him, something only Jesus' closest friends and disciples would have done as it was a sign of intimacy.

In other words, in this moment, Judas is a fan and a spectator -- he has showed up before Jesus and has called him the right name and has addressed him the right manner but in actuality, he doesn't care about Jesus at all and in fact, he wants to use him for financial and personal gain. Judas presents himself like he loves Jesus and is His follower but the reality is that he has come to arrest, persecute, and eventually kill him.

Now, in this moment, Mark does something very profound: he first describes the heart of the spectator and the fan and then he proceeds to describe the heart of the athlete and the follower. Here's what I mean:

Verse 47-49: Remember, the crowd appears to Jesus with clubs and swords and Jesus finds this behavior perplexing because Jesus never appeared with swords and clubs but peacefully with words and in the temple. So why would these people bring swords and clubs to arrest someone so seemingly calm and peaceful? Because that is the nature of the spectator: On one level, like Judas, the spectator just wants to use Jesus for personal gain.

We see this often in the Korean church where parishioners pray for hours on end so that God will bless their business and give them profit. We see this with youth groups where teenagers don’t want to feel lonely anymore or want to become good people so they supposedly receive Christ into their lives We see this with people who've grown up in the church and profess their belief in God but the moment someone stabs them in the back or the moment they can gain some pleasure through sin, they falter and their devotion and commitment to Christ suddenly disappears and they become the worst people to get into an argument with and the worst people to get in a relationship with because they are only spectator Christians who, like Judas, see Christ and Christianity as a means to some ulterior end.

Yet on another level, since these kinds of Christians are only spectators and fans, their true faith lies in the meaning of the sword and club. If you study ancient history of the world, you'll notice a lot of statues, flags, shields, emblems, armor, clothing, and such have a lot of swords or axes or arrows on them because these were signs of power -- cultures simply didn't sculpt their kind with an enormous sword because it looked good but because people understood what it meant to be branded with a sword or to have crossing blades on a shield: it meant personal strength and personal power. The sword meant that this king or this culture is one that will their faith and trust lie exclusively in the power of their own strength. It meant that if they wanted something, then the first and last place to find that something is in the self, not in selflessness.

I once knew a woman at my old church who would come out to every single morning prayer, every single Friday evening Bible study, she would come to church on Sundays early and always sit in the front and when the congregation would pray, she would be one of the loudest praying. Now all that is fine but one Sunday during lunch, out of a miscommunication, the woman got up to do something and my mom took her seat thinking she was done. When the woman came back, she literally cursed my mom out, threw her food away, and went home.

That is a spectator Christian: like Judas, she knows how to come to Jesus and say the right things or look the right part but when it comes down to play the game, she plays the game the world plays -- the game of power, the game of building your own strength, the game of you are the maker of your life and you can do anything on your own because you and you alone have the power.

But that isn't the way Jesus wants you to play the game. In verse 51 and 52, we have an incredibly profound illustration that you can only find in Mark's account of Jesus' life and death and resurrection: a young man who was following Jesus fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

Now the interesting thing is that because these verses are so exclusive, most scholars believe that it's actually Mark and Mark is shamefully telling the reader what he did. But whether it was Mark or not, what we do know is that the word here for linen garment is not a word for clothing or just daily attire -- it is a word that is used only a few times in the New Testament and is used mainly to describe what Jesus was wrapped in after the crucifixion. And scholars believe that what Mark is illustrating here is a dualism: on one hand, you have the way of the world which obtains what it wants through power and the sword, even if that means, as we see with Judas, crucifying someone for our personal gain and throwing someone under the bus so you get to where you need to go. And then there's the way of Christ, which doesn’t look like a sword and it doesn’t look like power: it looks like nakedness and leaving all you have with Jesus.

Revelations 3:14-22 puts this entire concept like this:

To the Church in Laodicea

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. 21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The way of the world and the way of Judas and the way of the spectator is to clothe yourself, to pick yourself up by your boot straps and to do things your way, to think whatever you want, to talk the way you talk because you're you and no one has any right to tell you what to do or not do, right?

Well, the way of Jesus is a bit different: The way of Jesus is letting him clothe you in whatever he wants to clothe you with… and Scriptures tell us it's not with power or physical strength but with righteousness, humility, and love. The way of Jesus is letting him speak through you, not simply for you to speak for yourself… how often do you enter into a conversation and ask Jesus to speak through you or help you to speak like Him? And how often do you catch yourself speaking like a friend or like a sibling? The way of Jesus is doing not just whatever you want thinking you've nothing to lose or that God will forgive you anyway -- that kind of thinking still means you're just a fan of Christ and not a player, you're just a spectator and not an athlete.

The way of Jesus is to become entirely emptied out and naked and bare before your God and let Him have His glorious way with your life, with the actions you choose, with the words you use, with the ways you spend money, with the ways you don't spend money, with the ways you use your time, your energy…

I used to watch hockey (Avalanche) but used to love playing hockey. When you play, you had to gear up and wear pads and skates and etc. because that's what was required to play the game. You couldn't go out without skates or stick or gear.

In the same way, Paul tells the Corinthians (1, 9:24-27):

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Paul is telling the church to play the game, not just be spectators on the sidelines who talk a lot of talk, who look the part and know how to sing songs or go through the motions -- even Judas did that. He is telling them to leave the way of the world and dependency on yourself and rely entirely and submit completely to Jesus Christ and, in doing so, be a player and athlete: run the race not many people even in this room are running and fight the fight very few of us on this earth are fighting.