Free Paid In Full: An In-depth Look at the Defining Moments of Christ's Passion by Rick Renner Page B

supernatural help that was available to Him. Why? Because He knew it was time for Him to voluntarily lay down His life for the sin of the human race.
    Learn a lesson from Jesus and from the apostle Peter. Jesus didn’t need Peter’s undersized, insignificant sword to deal with His situation. What good would a single sword have been against all the troops assembled in the Garden that night anyway? Peter’s actions were a perfect example of how the flesh tries in vain to solve its own problems but cannot. Jesus had all the power that was needed to conquer those troops.
    As you face your own challenges in life, always keep in mind that Jesus has the power to fix any problem you’ll ever come across. Before you jump in and make things worse by taking matters into your own hands, remember the story of Peter! The next time you’re tempted to “grab a sword and start swinging,” take a few minutes to remind yourself that Jesus can handle the problem without your intervention. Before you do anything else, pray and ask the Lord what you are supposed to do. Then after you receive your answer and follow His instructions, just watch His supernatural power swing into action to solve the dilemma you are facing!

    When we think of the potential power available to Jesus through angelic assistance alone, it seems almost laughable that Peter thought his little sword offered protection. Yet all of us have made similar mistakes at times in our own lives.
    The same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is within you, and the same power available to Him is also available to you. What pitifully inadequate substitutes for God’s power have you attempted to rely on in the past when you faced a difficult situation and were in need of divine help and deliverance?

    Man’s natural tendency is always to try to solve his own problems. Consider your own patterns and history of natural attempts to solve situations. In what ways could you have looked to the Lord and allowed His power to resolve what you could not?

    If you are a believer, you already have all the power at your disposal to fix any problem you’ll ever come across. Consider the greatest challenge you’re facing at this moment. Pray and ask God for His supernatural assistance. Then “put away your sword” and follow His instructions.
     
    Chapter 13:
Who Was the Naked Boy
in the Garden
of Gethsemane?
    Just about the time Jesus finished healing the ear of the servant of the high priest named Malchus, the Gospel of Mark tells us a naked young man was found in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark 14:51,52 says, “And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him: and he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.”
    Who was this young man? Why was he following Jesus? Why was he naked? Why was he draped in a linen cloth instead of wearing normal clothes? And why was the Holy Spirit so careful to include this unique story in Mark’s account of the Gospel? What is the significance of this event?
    The key to identifying this young man lies in the “linen cloth” he had lightly draped about his body. The particular Greek word that is used for this “linen cloth” is used in only one other event in the New Testament — to depict the “linen cloth” in which the body of Jesus was wrapped for burial ( see Matthew 27:59, Mark 15:46, and Luke 23:53). Thus, the only reference we have for this kind of cloth in the New Testament is that of a burial shroud used for covering a dead body in the grave.
    Some scholars have tried to say this naked young man was Mark himself. They assume that when Mark heard about Jesus’ arrest, he quickly jumped out of bed and dashed to the Garden of Gethsemane. But the Garden was remotely located, and no one could have run there so quickly. It is simply a physical impossibility.
    Others have speculated that Mark threw off his clothes in an attempt to shock and distract the