Holy Week: meditation on Holy Wednesday

A young man scouted him, covered with a linen cloth on his naked body. They took him, but he, having abandoned his robe, escaped them naked. (Mk 14, 51-52)

How many conjectures about this nameless character, who sympathetically insinuates himself into the drama of the capture of the Lord! Everyone can reconstruct, with his own imagination, the reasons that lead him to follow Jesus, while the diciples abandon him to his fate.
I think that if Mark makes room for him in his Gospel, he does not do so only for the accuracy of a reporter. In fact, the episode comes after the fearful words, which are read in agreement on the mouth of the four evangelists: "And everyone, leaving him, fled." That young man, however, continues to follow him. Curiosity, skill, or true courage? It is not easy to sort feelings in a young person's soul. On the other hand, certain analyzes are of no benefit to knowledge or action. It is honorable for him, and mortifying for us, if he continues to keep up with the Arrested, regardless of the disciples who abandon him and the danger he faces, showing solidarity with those who, according to the law, no longer have the right to solidarity no. The Lord cannot even thank him with a look, because the night swallows the shadows and confuses the footsteps of friends in the noise of the masnada; but his divine heart, which senses every tenuous devotion, anxious and enjoys this nameless fidelity. Haste even made him forget to get dressed. He had thrown a barracano on himself, and regardless of convenience, he had put himself on the road, behind the Maestro. Those who love well do not care for decoration, and understand the urgency without many descriptions or incitements. The heart leads him to action and to distraction, without asking himself if the intervention is useful or not. There are attestations that apply independently of any consideration of practical utility. "Stupid, you don't already save him, the Master! And then, what a beautiful figure, you're not even dressed! If his followers are so equipped! ... ". This is the common sense that speaks, and how to blame him if, a moment later, the discouraged young man leaves the barracano in the hands of the guards, who had grabbed him, and runs away naked? "Nice courage!" You are right, too much reason. However, the others, the disciples, did not even wait for them to catch them to escape. He, at least, gave the enemies of the Lord the disturbing impression that someone loved him and was willing to try something to save him. What must have made them even more disconcerted, must have been finding a sheet instead of a man in hand. Even mockery has its morals, like the fairy tale. And the moral is this: that when a Christian has only a sheet, he is unreliable, while wealthy Christians struggle to disengage, and remain easy prey to the most able, who end up compromising them everywhere. That young man goes naked in the night. He did not save his decorum, but he saved his freedom, his commitment to Christ. The next day, at the foot of the cross near the Mother, the women and the beloved disciple, he will be present, the first fruits of those generous Christians, who, at all times, have given Christ and his Church the most disturbing testimony. (Primo Mazzolari)