Gospels In Conflict: John and Thomas - Part 7

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 6 with the following:

 

(p.45) " Yet Christian teaching about Jesus does not follow a simple evolutionary

pattern. Although John's formulations have virtually defined orthodox Christian

doctrine for nearly two thousand years, they were not universally accepted in

his own time. And while the claims of Jesus' divinity by Paul and John surpass

those of Mark, Luke, and Matthew, Thomas's gospel, written perhaps around the

same time as John's, takes similar language to mean something quite different.

Because the Gospel of Thomas diverges from the more familiar pattern found in

John, let us look at it first. "

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 2, p.45

 

Here now, is Part 7.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

Gospels In Conflict: John and Thomas - Part 7

 

(p.45) We should note that, although I am using here the traditional names,

Thomas and John, and the traditional term 'author', no one knows who actually

wrote either gospel. Some scholars have observed that whoever assembled the

sayings that constitute the Gospel of Thomas may have been less an author than a

compiler--or several compilers--who, rather than 'composing' these sayings,

simply 'collected' traditional sayings and wrote them down. [46] In Thomas's

gospel, then, as in John, Matthew, and Luke, we sometimes find sayings that seem

to contradict each other. For example, both John and Thomas include some sayings

suggesting that those who come to know God are very few--a chosen few. Such

sayings echo traditional teaching about divine election, and teach that God

chooses those who are able to know him; [47] while the cluster of sayings I take

as the key to interpreting Thomas suggest instead that everyone, in creation,

receives an innate capacity to know God. We know almost nothing about the person

we call Thomas, except that, like the evangelists who wrote the gospels of the

New Testament, he wrote in the name of a disciple, apparently intending to

convey " the gospel " as this disciple taught it. As we noted, then, Thomas

apparently assumes that his hearers are already familiar with Mark's story of

how Peter discovered the secret of Jesus' identity, that " you are the messiah. "

When Matthew repeats this story, he adds that Jesus blessed Peter for the

accuracy of his recognition: " Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonas; it was not a

human being who revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. " [48]

 

Thomas tells the same story differently. According to Thomas, when Jesus asks,

" Who am I? " he receives not one but three responses from various disciples.

Peter first gives, in effect, the same answer as he does in the gospels of Mark

and Matthew: " You are like a 'righteous messenger', " a phrase that may interpret

the Hebrew term 'messiah' ( " anointed one " ) for the Greek-speaking audience whom

Thomas addresses. (p.47) The disciple Matthew answers next: " You are like a

'wise philosopher' " --a phrase perhaps intended to convey the Hebrew term 'rabbi'

( " teacher " ) in language any Gentile could understand. (This disciple is the one

traditionally believed to have written the Gospel of Matthew, which, more than

any other, depicts Jesus as a rabbi.) But when a third disciple, Thomas himself,

answers Jesus' question, his response confounds the other two: " Master, my mouth

is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like. " Jesus replies, " I am not your

master, because you have drunk, and have become drunk from the same stream which

I measured out. " [49] Jesus does not deny what Peter and Matthew have said but

implies that their answers represent inferior levels of understanding. Then he

takes Thomas aside and reveals to him alone three sayings so secret that they

cannot be written down, even in this gospel filled with " secret sayings " :

 

Jesus took Thomas and withdrew, and told him three things. When Thomas returned

to his companions, they asked him, " What did Jesus say to you? " Thomas said, " If

I tell you even one of the things which he told me, you will pick up stones and

throw them at me; and a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up. " [50]

 

Though Thomas does not reveal here what these " secret words " are for which the

others might stone him to death for blasphemy, he does imply that these secrets

reveal more about Jesus and his message than 'either' Peter or Matthew

understands.

 

What then is the gospel--the " good news " --according to Thomas, and how does it

differ from what is told in the synoptic gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke?

Mark opens his gospel when Jesus announces " the good news of the kingdom of

God, " and Mark tells how Jesus, baptized by John, sees " the heavens torn apart "

and God's spirit descending upon him. [51] Immediately afterward, having been

driven by God's spirit into the wilderness to contend against Satan, Jesus

returns triumphantly to announce his first, urgent message: " The kingdom of God

is coming near: repent, and believe in the gospel. " [52] According to Mark,

Jesus teaches that this kingdom will come during the lifetime of his disciples:

" There are some of you standing here who will not taste death until you see the

kingdom of God come in power! " [55] Later, in Jerusalem, where his disciples

admire the gleaming walls of the great Temple, Jesus asks, " Do you see these

great stones? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be torn

down. " [54]

 

Hearing Jesus announce the coming kingdom of God--an earth-shattering event that

is about to transform the world--Peter, James, John, and Andrew ask privately

when these things will happen. Jesus does not name the day but tells them the

" signs of the times " that will signal its approach. He predicts that " wars and

rumors of wars, " earthquakes, and famine will initiate " the birth pangs of the

messiah, " and warns his followers to expect to be " beaten in synagogues, "

arraigned before " governors and kings, " betrayed by family members, and " hated

by all. " Still worse: the great Temple in Jerusalem will be desecrated and

ruined, floods of refugees will flee the city-- " such suffering as has not been

from the beginning of creation...until now, and no, never will be. " [55] Still

later, Mark says, Jesus predicted that " the sun will be darkened, and the moon

will not give light; stars will fall from heaven " (p.49) as people see in the

sky supernatural events foreseen by the prophet Daniel, who told of the " 'Son of

man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory. " [56] Solemnly Jesus warns

his disciples that " truly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until

all these things have taken place " ; above all, he warns, " Keep awake. " [57]

 

But according to both the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of John, Jesus reveals

that the kingdom of God, which many believers, including Mark, expect in the

future, not only is " coming " but is already here--an immediate and continuing

spiritual reality. According to John, Jesus announces that the Day of Judgment,

which the prophets call " the day of the Lord, " " is coming, 'and is now', " [58]

and adds that the " resurrection of the dead " also may happen now. For when Jesus

consoles his friends Mary and Martha on the death of their brother Lazarus and

asks whether they believe he will rise from the dead, Martha repeats the hope of

the pious, saying, " I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last

day. " [59] But in John, Jesus astonishes everyone as he immediately proceeds to

raise Lazarus, four days dead, calling him forth alive from his grave. Thus the

great transformation expected at the end of time can--and does--happen here and

now.

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas)

Chapter 2, p.45-49

Elaine Pagels

Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

 

Notes:

 

[46] On composition, see Koester, 'Ancient Christian Gospels', 80 ff.; and more

recently, the incisive comments of Risto Uro, in his introduction to 'Thomas at

the Crossroads', 1-32.

 

[47] Matthew, for example, includes the famous saying that " many are called, but

few are chosen " (22:14); Thomas has Jesus say, " I shall choose you, one out of a

thousand, and two out of ten thousand " (saying 23, in NHL 121). John's version,

too, has Jesus emphasize divine initiative in the process: " You did not choose

me, but I chose you " (15:16; see also 13:18).

 

[48] Matthew 16:17.

 

[49] Gospel of Thomas 13, in NHL 119.

 

[50] Ibid., 50, in NHL 123.

 

[51] Mark 1:1-4.

 

[52] Mark 1:15.

 

[53] Mark 9:1.

 

[54] Mark 13:2.

 

[55] Mark 13:8-19.

 

[56] Mark 13:24-26.

 

[57] Mark 13:30-33.

 

[58] John 5:25.

 

[59] John 11:24.