In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

In the preceding chapter I argued that the Letter to Theodore refers not to a secret, ritual text but to a gospel that developed the “spiritual” or concealed meanings of the Markan narrative; in Clement’s day it was being expounded anagogically to advanced Christians as a means of communicating the esoteric theological mysteries of the Alexandrian church. These conclusions require us to reconsider the appropriateness of the form-critical paradigm as the basic tool for comprehending the setting in which this text was read and—just as important—what is being depicted in LGM 1b. Are LGM 1 and 2 communally shaped traditions that functioned as the liturgy or as catechism for a rite that LGM 1b depicts? The Baptismal Reading of LGM 1b That has been the dominant opinion. Nearly all of the scholars who commented on the significance of the young man’s linen sheet decided that LGM 1:11–12 depicts some form of Christian baptism.1 On the face of it, this idea seems plausible: The private, nocturnal setting and the odd costume suggest an initiation; a linen sheet worn over the naked body could facilitate disrobing for immersion. More importantly, since linen was commonly used as a burial wrapping, the sheet could signify the spiritual death and rebirth effected by the rite of baptism. As Smith noted, the word used to describe the young man’s sheet in LGM 1:11 and Mark 14:51 (H>C9°C) also appears in Mark 15:46 in reference to Jesus’ burial wrapping. So the sheet has connotations of death and burial in Mark itself. Moreover, as I noted in chapter 3, Bethany in LGM 1:1 is not the village near Jerusalem where Lazarus is raised but the place beyond the Jordan where Jesus first heard of Lazarus’ illness. This Notes to chapter 5 start on page 265 144 5 The Original Purpose and Later Use of the Longer Gospel brown_05.qxd 2005/04/26 12:23 PM Page 144 Bethany is the place where John the Baptist witnessed to Jesus in the Gospel of John (1:28; 10:40). Thus in longer Mark, Jesus raises and instructs the young man in the place where Jesus’ forerunner first performed baptisms in the Fourth Gospel. The relevant details of Jesus’ movements through Peraea before and after LGM 1 accord with the archaeological evidence that this place called Bethany was located in present-day Wadi Kharrar, not far from Jericho. The young man’s house would therefore have been close to the Jordan River and four freshwater springs.2 That a resident of Bethany beyond the Jordan who is dressed in a linen sheet might be a candidate for baptism is confirmed rather strikingly by records of Christian pilgrimage to this site. Several Christian travellers, including the Pilgrim of Bordeaux (333 CE), specify that this location was the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism. The account by the Pilgrim of Piacenza from around the year 570 also describes what Christians wore when they immersed themselves in the Jordan River at Wadi Kharrar after an all-night vigil that began in the evening before Epiphany: “Some wear linen, and some other materials which will serve as their shrouds for burial.”3 It is hard to miss the similarity between Jesus’ nighttime instruction of a young man dressed only in linen (presumably the shroud he was wearing when Jesus returned him from the dead) and the nightlong vigil culminating in baptism that was witnessed by the Pilgrim of Piacenza at the same location. Interestingly, the practice of wearing linen funeral shrouds during pilgrimage baptism in the Jordan is an element of Greek Orthodox practice.4 Bethany’s association with John the Baptist , “living” water (the Jordan River and freshwater springs), and a peculiar practice of wearing linen burial shrouds as a symbol of baptismal rebirth is a sufficient basis to conclude that the description of the linen sheet in LGM 1b presupposes Christian baptism, if not a special form of baptism specific to Bethany beyond the Jordan. But presupposes seems to be all. The story is strangely unclear about what is transpiring between Jesus and the young man. There is no mention of water or depiction of a baptism. The narrator merely says, “and when it was evening the young man comes to him donning a linen sheet upon his naked body, and he remained with him that night; for Jesus was teaching him the mystery of the kingdom of God...

Share