What Jesus meant by these words in the gospels was that God will provide for us, and we can rely on him. In the context of the other sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, the meaning takes a different tone altogether: Don't worry about your clothes, because there are more important things in life than clothes.
37 His disciples said, "When will you be revealed to us and when shall we see you?" Jesus said, "When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample them, then you will see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid."
Some early Christian writers say similar things when talking about baptism, which in some areas may have been performed while naked: "Once you entered, you took off your garment, and this was an image of taking off the old person with its deeds. Having taken this off, you were naked... How marvelous! You were naked in the sight of all and were not ashamed. For truly you were bearing a copy of the first-formed Adam, who in paradise was naked and not ashamed" (Cyril of Jerusalem, quoted by Marvin Meyer).
Yet the real meaning of baptism is not to be unashamed of ourselves, naked or not, but rather to be forgiven our sins by this wonderful washing in Jesus' name. It gives forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and grants eternal salvation to all who beleive.
38 Jesus said, "Often have you desired to hear these words I am speaking to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. There will be days when you will seek me and will not find me."
Although this could be taken as a prophecy of Jesus' death and resurrection, the complete lack of context other than the gnostic sayings that surround it makes it more likely that this is a "hidden knowledge" reference, and in that respect violates Matthew 7:7, "Seek and you will find."
The next three sayings are much closer to the Jesus of the Bible:
39 Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the teachers of the law have taken the keys of knowledge and hidden them. They have not entered, and they have hindered those who want to enter. [Luke 11:52] You, however, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." [Matthew 10:16]
In Luke's Gospel, Jesus speaks words like these directly to the Pharisees. They were the ones who should have been unlocking heaven to people, but their extra laws were shutting people out.
40 Jesus said, "A vine has been planted away from the Father. Since it is not strong, it will be pulled up by the roots and will perish." [Cp. Matthew 15:13; Jeremiah 2:21]
This saying has a connection with the one preceding.
41 Jesus said, "Everyone who has something in his hand will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." [Matthew 25:29, Luke 19:26]
But then we come to:
42 Jesus said, "Be passersby."
This odd saying may reflect a tradition about the meaning of the word "Jew," which some thought meant "vagabond" or "wanderer." In fact, "Jew" is just a diminutive of "Judah," but the idea of being a person walking through the world without being of the world is not far from the truth of Scripture.
Sometimes the Jews in the later Old Testament books are called galut, or "exiles." This is perhaps the origin of the American word "galoot," since the meaning for this word has never been satisfactorily explained by etymology.
An Arabic inscription in the mosque at Fatehpur-Sikri, India, also ascribes a saying like this to Jesus -- the only instance I know of in which a non-Scriptural quotation of Jesus is found in a non-Christian context (assuming that it was a non-Christian who inscribed it).
43 His disciples said to him, "Who are you, that you should say these things to us?" [John 8:25] "You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, but you have become like the Jews, for they love the tree and hate its fruit, or they love the fruit and hate the tree." [Matthew 7:16-20; Luke 6:43-46]
These combined sayings match some of what is in the Bible -- but as with the entire document, there is no real mention of the key of Scripture: the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus. There is no salvation here; only pointless anti-Semitism. We don't need to wonder about what we have, or how we become pure. We know that Jesus has done all this for us. That's why John wrote:
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.(1 John 3:1-3)
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