My last book, Decoding Mark (Trinity Press International, 2003 hardcover; Continuum 2006 paperback) proposes an early version of the Gospel of Mark that did not include the 70+-verse trip to Bethsaida (expanding on H. Koester’s suggestion that an editor inserted this section, which is not found in Luke) but did include the two-part story of Jesus and a young “beloved disciple” (discovered by the late Morton Smith). The controversy alleging a hoax by Smith erupted anew a few years ago but I and some credible scholars believe that this typically Markan story, which frames Mk 10:35-45, is a genuine part of Markan writing that became excised at some early point.