The most obvious example of this of course is the 'truth of the gospel.' The reason that the narrative of the Passion is called a 'gospel' is because it is really about Jesus' announcement of the coming of the messiah.
At one time all the stories of the gospel were in one book which was divided or 'separated' (using a term employed in the oldest Syriac sources) into four canonical texts.
I was asked by Ben Witherington what I thought Irenaeus' motivation was in this regard. I answered that it was to destroy the original SUBTEXT of that single long running narrative - viz. Jesus' initiation and baptism of 'little Mark.'
I think that Mark originally placed himself in his own text (the Muratorian canon agrees with me here). This was done COVERTLY so that Mark couldn't be accused of writing the gospel for selfish reasons (it looks on the surface like an account of Jesus' ministry).
In any event, I have long argued that Zacchaeus is a covert reference (alongside others like 'little one,' neaniskos, bar Abba etc). I will develop this argument more fully in a future post. But take note of this early surviving tradition in France:
Rocamadour is a cliff-hugging medieval village that was built on a limestone cliff rising 490 feet above the Alzou canyon. Along with “St Cirq La Popie”, this is one of the most extraordinary settings in France. Legend has it that the history of Rocamadour began with the arrival of Zacchaeus, husband of St Veronica, who fled to France to escape religious persecution and lived out his last years here as a hermit. When in 1166 a perfectly preserved body was found in a grave high up on the rock, it was declared to be Zacchaeus, known in France as St Amadour.
If you know who I think 'St Veronica' is, it is not hard to see how 'Zacchaeus' is really Marcus Agrippa.
