Does the Bible suggest that Jesus might have had a gay lover? [Spirituality & Religion]
The Gospel of Mark (14:51–53), describes how in the Garden of Gethsemane, "A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they [the Temple guards] seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind."
The text of the naked youth is puzzling for conventional interpreters because it associates an unnamed and suggestively erotic youth very closely with Jesus. Moreover, the text only appears in Mark which has led to the tradition that Mark wrote himself into the text.
The separate and non-canonical "Secret Gospel of Mark"—fragments of which were contained in the controversial Mar Saba letter by Clement of Alexandria—states that Jesus taught the secrets of the Kingdom of God alone to a partially clothed youth during one night. This has been linked to the views of an ancient group called the Carpocratians. Some modern commentators interpret it as a baptism, others as some form of sexual initiation, and others as an allegory for a non-sexual initiation into a gnostic religion.
The text of the naked youth is puzzling for conventional interpreters because it associates an unnamed and suggestively erotic youth very closely with Jesus. Moreover, the text only appears in Mark which has led to the tradition that Mark wrote himself into the text.
The separate and non-canonical "Secret Gospel of Mark"—fragments of which were contained in the controversial Mar Saba letter by Clement of Alexandria—states that Jesus taught the secrets of the Kingdom of God alone to a partially clothed youth during one night. This has been linked to the views of an ancient group called the Carpocratians. Some modern commentators interpret it as a baptism, others as some form of sexual initiation, and others as an allegory for a non-sexual initiation into a gnostic religion.
