And they all left him and fled.
And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.
And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.
Comment: The disciples were a peaceful group. Admittedly Peter was a bit pugnacious and Simon, the Zealot, was a previously active terrorist but under Jesus teaching they had had many lessons about being peacemakers and peace. Not that there wasn’t a stern side to Jesus teaching. I’m not surprised that they fled, when faced with the powerful and armed Jewish leaders and their temple soldiers. But here we are told of two who having fled followed. I presume that the young man (thought by many to be Mark, the author of this book) who was sleeping grabbed a sheet and started to follow. Presumably a soldier, trying to catch and arrest him, grabbed his sheet but he fled, naked. Not a pleasant experience, but assuming it was Mark the author it did not stop him in the long run being a faithful and effective follower of Jesus. Peter, no doubt with his heart in a turmoil, who came into the very judgement hall was another one who stopped his running and at least came to where he could see what was happening to the One whom he had said he would never deny.
In the meantime Jesus enemies were seeking to manufacture evidence to meet the demands of a Jewish court in order to ‘murder’ Jesus. But the whole gathering as constituted was illegal by Jewish law at any rate! The evidence they obtained lacked believability!
Prayer: Help me as we look at this trial to see the truth underlying it all, O Lord.
As I read it! 
Thank you Barry for your comments on this passage. It is good to see that Mark and Peter did make the effort to be near to where Jesus had been taken, and tried to find out what the authorities would decide to do with him. Even though Mark in the end, fled, and Peter denied knowing Jesus, in their hearts they were wanting to do something. I cannot condemn them, because I am quite sure that I would have fled with the others when the authorities came to arrest Jesus. God bless you.
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