http://www.mythicistpapers.com/2018/04/ ... tary-pt-1/The central mystery of the Therapeutae was held at night and celebrated the Exodus event, as a transformation of transcendence to “the other shore”
5. The great figures who led Israel to the other shore were Moses (among the Therapeutae) and Joshua/Jesus (among Christian gnostics)
After the crossing by the "Israelites" of the Jordan direct theophany of God seems to have receded and instead it was written of the anointed Joshua that,
(Joshua 5:13-15)
This episode seems very similar to the episode of the young angel at the Empty Tomb in Mark.
But note the difference: the biblical Joshua obeyed to the Angel of YHWH (he removed his sandals of his feet) while the women didn't obey to the Young Man.
Moreover, another difference: the place that is holy is where the biblical Joshua is already (before the Angel of YHWH), while in Mark the place that is holy (in virtue of the presence of Jesus Nazarene) is the far Galilee, not the Empty Tomb.
Note the third difference: the biblical Joshua is before the Angel of Lord (himself?) while the women are before not Jesus, but the Young Man.
So my theory is that by this midrash from Joshua 5:13-15, what ''Mark'' (author) wants to say is that the real disciple is already before the true Risen Christ (in the Galilea of the Gentiles), just as the biblical Joshua was before the his Celestial Image (the same Angel of the Lord!) just after the passing of the Jordan...
...while the false disciples (the women, and so Peter and the 12 idiots) are before a mere representative of the true Jesus, i.e. the Young Man, in the mere Empty Tomb (allegory of the destroyed Temple and of the ''empty'' Peter/Rock).
(P.S. I hope that Peter (not Cephas) is more satisfied by this my post )