Secret Revelations in the Gospel of Mark
Available in my store as PDF file, paperback, hardcover, large print paperback and large print hardcover.
I have discovered that there is, in the Gospel of Mark, an overt discourse that can be seen with the naked eye, and a covert discourse that cannot be seen with the naked eye. It requires something like X-rays to become visible. So far, nobody has recognized the covert discourse. I am the first one to have done so.
The covert discourse reveals important memories that have been repressed from the overt discourse because they had become incompatible with the Christian faith in the resurrected Christ. But, as Freud has discovered, repressed memories return, not overtly but covertly, not consciously but unconsciously. This return of the repressed allows us to reconstruct what has been removed from the original memory of important events in the life of Jesus.
Here is a summary of what I have discovered
When Jesus was at the height of his popularity in Galilee, he received a new revelation that was going to change the course of his life. To introduce the revolutionary idea that was revealed to him he organized, with the help of his twelve disciples, a big rally on the shore of the lake. Five thousand people showed up with plenty of food for the entire day. First, he spoke for a long time about what God had revealed to him. He said in substance that the Passover sacrificial meal had become obsolete, and that Passover can be celebrated anywhere in the world. Thus, he implied that the Temple sacrifices had become obsolete. This was a way of rendering the Temple useless, which was a way of destroying it, not physically but morally. In a second part, a convivial meal took place that was meant as a replacement of the traditional Passover meal. After Jesus’ death, that meal was transformed into a miraculous meal. The Gospel of John identified that meal with the Christian Eucharist.
When the same ritual was repeated a second time, four thousand people were present. At that point, however, the disciples did not dismiss the people but kept them there for three days. They urged them to recognize in Jesus another Moses who can reform the Jewish religion with God’s guidance. They wanted to make him king and recognize in him the Messiah. But Jesus rejected the idea. So, Peter, the leader of the disciples and their spokesperson, made it clear to him that he should seize the opportunity and take the lead of a Messianic movement. At that point, Jesus became angry with Peter. He rebuked him very harshly. He even called him “Satan”! “Your ideas,” he said, “do not follow God’s views but are purely human.”
At that point, Jesus lost his popularity. The large crowds abandoned him. He was left with the twelve disciples and a few women who financed his movement. When Jesus asked the disciples, “Do you also want to go away?” Peter’s answer is well known,
“We have no better alternative.”
Having failed in Galilee, Jesus had no choice but to go up to Jerusalem, enter the Temple and proclaim there what was revealed to him. He must have been arrested right away, tried and condemned as a lunatic who wants to transform the traditional religion.
*
Peter was the source of Mark’s information. He had a serious problem. He knew that Jesus had rejected the Messianic crown. But his faith in the resurrection forced him the say that Jesus was the Messiah. So, he repressed the memory of what happened in Galilee and Jerusalem. He transformed the organized meals into improvised miracles, and he changed what happened after that. This transformation of the past took place unconsciously. But, as Freud has discovered, repressed memories return not overtly but covertly. Once they are recognized, they allow us to reconstruct what happened. In other words, Peter had to lie, but he was an honest liar. His testimony as we have it in the Gospel of Mark hides crucial memories from his overt discourse, but it reveals them in his covert discourse in which I recognize the return of the repressed.
The faith in the resurrection of Jesus transformed him into a superman. But there are compelling reasons to conclude that the resurrection was a spiritual event that affected the disciples, not the dead body of Jesus.
*
My Purpose
Please read my book and tell me what you think. You can email me your comments: josephcodsi@hotmail.com
My discovery of the covert discourse changes the message of the Gospel of Mark. It confirms what many gospel scholars suspected, namely that the Easter faith of the disciples had retroactive influences on the way they remembered what happened during the life of Jesus.
I would appreciate it if you could write a book review. I’ll post all your reviews on my website.
Thank you for your interest.
JC