Am I the Only One Who Thinks that ALL the Canonical Gospels Have Fragmented Narratives?

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this. I think most people who study the gospel were born into accepting it the way it is. 'Critical thinking' is certainly NOT encouraged by communities that START with the idea that the gospel represents the unsullied WORD OF GOD and work backwards from there.

Of course when you stumble across Irenaeus' testimony that "No man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son has willed to reveal" was in originally found in the Gospel of Mark [AH iv.6.1] and furthermore the specific reading "No man KNEW the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son has willed to reveal" was in a parallel heretical gospel text related to Mark (all gospels being outgrowths of Mark's original composition directly or indirectly) they can only do one of two things:

either (a) try to ignore the evidence or (b) pretend that Irenaeus was somehow 'mistaken' (which is utterly impossible given the specificity in the original report.

So with this discovery - and the parallel discovery of Morton Smith that such a 'longer Gospel of Mark' did indeed exist in Alexandria in the late second century - any normal person would ask themselves "where did this fragment 'go' within the original lost gospel of Mark?

Of course as I already noted there aren't many 'normal' people in the study of the New Testament. Sadly, most academics just follow the pack wherever it goes.

Even if a question can't be answered with any degree of certainty this doesn't mean the original question should be asked.

In any event, I would argue that we should expect that there is no evidence that JUST the sentence appeared in the Gospel of Mark but rather the whole 'saying' which is 'retained' by Luke and Matthew.

Of course it is difficult to tell what the CONTEXT was for the saying in Mark. Luke and Matthew present two very different contexts. In Luke, strangely enough, the words appear as part of a proclamation after Jesus sees the manifestation of the Holy Spirit among the newly commissioned seventy two disciples. After Jesus 'sees' Satan fall from heaven he warns his disciples that they should not rejoice that the spirits submit to you" but they should instead "rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

In Matthew by contrast there is no reference to the seventy two, no reference to Satan falling from heaven or the business about 'rejoicing because their names are written in heaven.' The only thing that is common to both narratives is the pronouncing of 'woe' on those who reject the preaching of the disciples:

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

Of course not only does the material which follows in both Matthew and Luke - viz. 'At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven ...' all the way through to 'No man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son has willed to reveal' not appear in Mark but also the common material WHICH PRECEDES IT just cited.

Do I think that Mark originally had THE WHOLE SECTION? It is difficult to answer this definitely of course I suspect that the text did of course BECAUSE I THINK IT WAS RELATED TO THE ORIGINAL TEXT BEHIND THE DIATESSARON.

The Diatessaron interestingly resembles Luke most closely which is important of course given the fact that in a sense the text was thought by Irenaeus to be a 'false version' of Luke while Hippolytus a generation later denied that the Marcionite gospel was the 'true text' of Mark. The Diatessaron reads:

And after that, Jesus set apart from his disciples other seventy, and sent them two and two before his face to every region and city whither he was purposing to go. And he said unto them, The harvest is abundant, and the labourers are few: entreat now the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest. Go ye: and lo, I am sending you as lambs among wolves. Take not with you purses, nor a wallet, nor shoes; neither salute any man in the way. And whatsoever house ye enter, first salute that house: and if there be there a son of peace, let your peace rest upon him; but if there be not, your peace shall return to you. And be ye in that house eating and drinking what they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. And remove not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat what is presented to you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come near unto you.

But whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go out into the market, and say, Even the dust that clave to our feet from your city, we shake off against you; but know this, that the kingdom of God is come near unto you. I say unto you, that for Sodom there shall be quiet in the day of judgement, but there shall not be for that city. Then began Jesus to rebuke the cities in which there had been many mighty works, and they repented not. And he said, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! if there had been in Tyre and Sidon the signs which were in thee, it may be that they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. Howbeit I say unto you, that for Tyre and Sidon there shall be rest in the day of judgement, more than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt sink down unto Hades; for if there had been in Sodom the wonders which were in thee, it would have remained until this day. And now I say unto thee, that for the land of Sodom there shall be quiet in the day of judgement, more than for thee.

And he said again unto his apostles, Whosoever heareth you heareth me; and whosoever heareth me heareth him that sent me: and whosoever wrongeth you wrongeth me; and whosoever wrongeth me wrongeth him that sent me.

And those seventy returned with great joy, and said unto him, Our Lord, even the devils also are subject unto us in thy name. He said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen like lightning from heaven. Behold, I am giving you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and the whole race of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Only ye must not rejoice that the devils are subject unto you; but be glad that your names are written in heaven.

And in that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I acknowledge thee, my Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto children: yea, my Father; so was thy will. And he turned to his disciples, and said unto them, Everything hath been delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, save the Father; and who the Father is, save the Son, and to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him. Come unto me, all of you, ye that are wearied and bearers of bur- dens, and I will give you rest. Bear my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am gentle and lowly in my heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light. [Diatessaron XV.15 - 41]

I STRONGLY suspect that the Diatessaron retains the original shape of Mark - and as a result stood very close to the original text of Mark WHICH WAS SUBSEQUENTLY REMOVED by an editor in the third or fourth century.

I will give my reasons for these beliefs in my next post but for the moment it is enough to remind my readers that the acrostic at the beginning of two manuscripts of the Diatessaron make that understanding that the text was originally written by 'Mark' EXPLICIT. More to follow ...