Is There a Problem With Secret Mark 2? (part 2)

Continuing my last post--

2) Jesus does reject the women at Jericho, for unclear reasons.  It does seem to be a specific repudiation of his female disciples, which is troubling in general, but also rather non-canonical. IMO this is much more out of place in Secret Mark than the purportedly homoerotic love that Jesus and the resurrected man share for one another.

However, keep in mind 1 Cor 7:1: “Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman”.  Jesus, if portrayed as a good Pauline Christian, would have to keep himself away from women.  (This is admittedly an overly-literal interpretation of Paul’s admonition, but it does illustrate the point.  Perhaps the writer of Secret Mark was working against traditions like those found in the Gospel of Philip, where Mary Magdalene is made into Jesus’ consort.)  If this seems like a stretch, keep in mind the many contacts of canonical Mark with 1 Cor, as listed by Michael Turton in his online commentary.  Note also Jesus’ own admonition in Jn 20:17 to Mary Magdalene: “Do not touch me”. (Yet another link between GJn and Secret Mark—one which I’ve pointed out before.)

Furthermore,

Is There a Problem With Secret Mark 2? (part 1)

[ETA: some small edits have been made below]

While most of the attention that To Theodore earns centers around the first quotation from Secret Mark, much less attention is given to the second quotation.

Yet it's the second quotation that is really the source of all the trouble.

Secret Mark 1, without Secret Mark 2, is a largely unproblematic passage.  It's only Morton Smith's somewhat bizarre interpretation of it that has made it notorious.  There is simply no conceivable way, for example, that the "mystery of the kingdom" in Clement's time could have anything to do with an erotic ritual.  Maybe for the Carpocratians, but the author of To Theodore is writing against the Carpocratians.  There is simply nothing in Secret Mark 1 that would imply any such ritual, in the context of the 2nd c. CE.

It's Secret Mark 2 where things get a little more complicated: now we have a Jesus who loves back the man (NEANISKOS, an adult male in his twenties) who loves him.  Jesus also rejects the women at Jericho--as though they were unworthy to be in his presence.  It's really Secret Mark 2 that is in any way scandalous!

So, the "scandal" is two-parted: 1) the man's love for Jesus is reciprocated, and 2) Jesus wants nothing to do with the women disciples of Jericho.  But let's look at each part a little more carefully.