Testament Tuesday- Sometimes We Don't Know Why

This has been a weird week to say the least.  I spent the first part taking care of Jack and then I put Ruthie in the car and drove to Dallas for her surgery and spent the end of the week taking care of her and still some of Jack.  I stressed today over what I would write here because nothing really stood out to me this week except for my role as nurse and this one verse:


Mark 14:51  A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, ⁵² he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.


I know- completely random! How do you write an entry about a naked guy? That is exactly why it stood out though.  


Picture something with me.  You are at a stage production of The Passion Play and they are wrapping up the 2nd Act with Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss just before He is captured and led away.  You are preparing for intermission when just before the curtain closes one of the characters drops his clothes and runs naked across the stage.  I don't know about you, but I am not going to turn to the person with me and say, "You know that is Biblical".  No, not at all.  I am going to wonder, "What in the world just happened?"


I can't stop asking myself why God and Mark felt it was necessary to conclude the story of Judas' betrayal with an account of a random naked man.  I am sure there are a lot scholars out there who "think" they know why this is there.  Actually if you google this passage you can find all kinds of opinions, but the truth of why this is included is probably one of those things that we won't really know UNTIL WE ARE MEANT TO.


That revelation came to me a few moments ago and it hit me that this verse is not so random after all and might just say something to you and me if we let it.   I have a lot of why questions and at times have asked myself what in the world was happening.  Why do children have to be born with tethered cords?  Why do little girls have to be orphaned in China and with special needs? Why do the people of  Haiti have to suffer an earthquake, a cholera outbreak, and now maybe a hurricane all in one year?  Really?  Is that necessary?  What is happening?


But there is One who knows the answer.  He knows why sweet little Chinese girls have to die from heart defects that would be reparable in the States.  He knows why others die prematurely.  He knows why He hasn't given you that deep desire of your heart.  And He knows who the random naked man was in Mark 14:51 and why we needed to just know he was there.  I think we will know all of this one day too - when we are meant to.