Passion Sunday

This coming Sunday we listen to the story of Christ's passion and death as told by St. Mark.

One unique detail in Mark's Gospel is found at chapter 14, verses 51-52.

At the time of Jesus' arrest, soldiers tried to seize one of his followers—a young man wearing nothing but a linen cloth.

Terrified, the man left the cloth behind and ran away naked.

There is an old tradition that claims the young man might have been Mark himself.

No matter who he was, the story conveys how frightened Jesus' followers were and how desperate and confusing the situation was.

Whether he was telling on himself or someone else, Mark clearly was saying,

"Try to imagine how awful all of this was!"

You'll notice, too, that in Mark's version, the high priest's servant loses his ear, and Jesus does not heal him as he does in the Gospel of Luke.

We are offered no relief from the pain and violence of this awful scene.

We must face what our sins have cost.