Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 840, an excerpt from an otherwise unknown narrative gospel of Jesus dating to between A.D. 100-200, contains a story about Jesus arguing with the Pharisees in Jerusalem over the issue of ritual purity which is paralleled in theme but not in content with Mark 7 and Matthew 15. The story is translated as follows:
And taking the disciples along, he led them into the inner sanctuary itself, and began walking about in the temple precinct. This Pharisee, a leading priest, Levi by name, also entered and ran into them, saying to the Savior, "Who gave you permission to wander around in this inner sanctuary and lay your eyes on these sacred vessels, when you have not performed your ritual bath, and your disciples have not even washed their feet? Yet in a defiled state you have invaded this sacred place, which is ritually clean. No one walks about in here, or dares lay eyes on these sacred vessels, unless they have bathed themselves and changed clothes." And the Savior stood up immediately, with his disciples, and replied, "Since you are here in the temple, I take it you are clean." He replies to the Savior, "I am clean. I bathed in the pool of David, you know, by descending into it by one set of steps and coming out of it by another. I also changed to white and ritually clean clothes. Only then did I come here and lay eyes on these sacred vessels." In response the Savior said to him: "Damn the blind who won't see. You bathe in these stagnant waters where dogs and pigs wallow day and night. And you wash and scrub the outer layer of skin, just like the prostitutes and flute-girls, who wash and scrub and perfume and paint themselves to entice men, while inwardly they are crawling with scorpions and filled with all sorts of corruption. But my disciples and I -- you say we are unbathed -- have bathed in the living, life-giving water that comes down from [heaven]." (POxy 840 2:1-9)
This type of story is synoptic-like in subject matter, reminiscent of Mark 7 and Matthew 15. It is also similar to Matthew 23:25-27: "Damn you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who clean the outside of a cup and leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may be clean as well. Damn you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of corruption." In both cases, Jesus is criticizing the outer apperance (e.g. "wash and scrub the outer layer of skin" = "whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside") and describing the inside as corrupted (e.g. "inwardly crawling with scorpions and filled with all sorts of corruption" = "inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of corruption").
At the same time, there are connections between this lost gospel and GJohn. Jesus is unusually referred to as "the Savior" instead of the synoptic "master " or "teacher," cf. John 4:42 where the Samaritan converts refer to Jesus as "the savior of the world." The reference to the "pool of David," otherwise unknown, recalls the "pool of Bethesda" in John 5. John 11:55 is the only other reference in the gospels to purity washing of those entering the Temple for the Passover. The story in John 13 of Jesus washing his disciples feet after their entrance into Jerusalem for the Passover may also be related to purity washing of those who enter the Temple (cf. POxy 840 2:2); although the story of Jesus expelling the dealers from the Temple has been placed in an earlier visit to Jerusalem in John 2, this same episode occurs in the synoptics on the same visit to Jerusalem as John 13. Finally, Jesus calling the Pharisees "blind" in POxy 840 2:7 is paralleled by John 9:40-41 and not in the synoptics.
The reference in POxy 840 8:8 to "prostitutes and flute-girls" also parallels a fragment from the Gospel of the Nazoreans. The version of the Wicked Servant parable in GNaz 18 (as preserved by Eusebius), refers to the wicked servant as "one who has squandered his master's substance with prostitutes and flute-girls." This phrase, unattested in any of the other known gospels, has led to speculation that Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 840 is none other than a fragment of the lost Gospel of the Nazoreans.
The most intriguing thing about Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 840 tho is its connection to Revelation 21-22. Revelation 21 describes messianic Jerusalem and the restored Temple. In a "Jesus saying" in ch. 22, the righteous who enter it "have washed their robes clean" (22:14). Outside are those unclean that cannot enter the city, "dogs" and "fornicators" (22:15). This condemnation of the dogs and fornicators on the outside is worded in the context of a beautitude, which conversely parallels the curse Jesus gives in POxy 840 2:7-9. Luke's version of the beatitudes in Luke 6 pairs the blessings with curses. And like POxy 840 and Mark 7 and Matthew 15, there is an inside/outside contrast. Finally, there is a reference to "the river of life" in New Jerusalem (22:1), which recalls the "living, life-giving water" mentioned in POxy 840. While Revelation is probably not dependent directly on the POxy 840 story, there does seem to be a common thread between them. This is just one glimpse into the complexity of the gospel tradition.
Leolaia