JW:
The exorcism of Chapter 10 in P45 is the most interesting/suspicious in every way. Physically it is the only missing in between Chapter. Internally, extant
Secret Mark is supported as original to GMark based on context:
The Youth with the Linen
14
51 And a certain young man followed with him, having a linen cloth cast about him, over [his] naked [body]: and they lay hold on him;
52 but he left the linen cloth, and fled naked.
The story about the young man here seems strange/bizarre/macabre, even by Markan standards and deserving of some prior connected information. Secret Mark provides just that:
"And they come into Bethany. And a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, "son of David, have mercy on me". But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered , went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus thaught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God. And thence, arising, he returned to the other side of the Jordan."
Yet again, the other extant Secret Mark provides missing context to GMark:
What Happens in Jericho Stays in Secret Mark
10
46 And they come to Jericho: and as he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side.
So
nothing to see here in Jericho, curious/odd/peculiar that "Mark" (author) would describe Jesus as going to Jericho but not give a reason why or describe anything happening there. But per Secret Mark:
And he comes into Jericho," the secret Gospel adds only, "And the sister of the youth whom Jesus loved and his mother and Salome were there, and Jesus did not receive them."
As previously pointed out there is relatively little early extant for GMark. Sinaiticus may be the earliest complete extant orthodox GMark. It's possible that Secret Mark is the original GMark and this helps explain the early suppression of GMark. The orthodox may have known that Secret Mark was fiction and therefore avoided it. GMatthew may have been the original orthodox Gospel which still had to use Secret Mark as a base since there was no other Gospel narrative. After GMatthew, orthodox GMark was created, largely to replace Secret Mark, just as orthodox Luke may have been created to replace Marcion Luke (GJohn, same story). Thus orthodox tradition would be correct in a Kafkaesque type of way. GMatthew was the first orthodox Gospel, followed by GMark. This could help explain why there was no early commentary on GMark and why Sinaiticus was preserved. Despite its difficult readings it did have Secret Mark edited out.
Joseph
The New Porphyry