The Gospel of Thomas 101-107

101 "Whoever does not hate his father and his mother as I do cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not love his father and his mother as I do cannot be mine. For my mother gave me lies, but my true mother gave me life." [Matthew 10:37, Luke 14:26]

The translation here looks much better than the original text, which is so warn out that we can't really be sure of what was said. The "true mother" might be a way of looking at the Holy Spirit, although assigning a female gender to the Holy Spirit runs contrary to Scripture. Arguments (such as have been made by Leonard Nimoy) that there are a handful of "female" references to the spirit in the Old Testament and therefore the Spirit must be female, are invalid when brought into our Western context, since in the Hebrew language the female gender also stands for neuter. In the New Testament, the masculine gender is always used.

This issue is relevant today because of certain prayers and hymns used by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that mention "Father, Mother and Son" in reference to the Trinity. Doctrinally, this only the tip of the iceberg as far as problems in the ELCA go. But, like any iceberg, this is the first sign of a serious problem that runs very, very deep.

102 Jesus said, "Woe to the Pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of oxen, who neither eats nor lets the oxen eat."

This is actually a paraphrase of a famous fable in Aesop. Aesop's moral fits perfectly with the problems surrounding the Pharisees:

"The cattle said to the dog: 'It's not fair for you to keep us from eating the hay when you never eat hay and it's our nature."

103 Jesus said, "Blessed is the man who knows where the thieves will come, so that he may get up, alert his house, and arm himself before they invade." [Matthew 24:43, Luke 12:39]

This runs more or less along the lines of what Jesus says in the gospels.

104 They said, "Come, let us pray today and let us fast." Jesus said, "What sin have I committed? How have I been defeated? But when the bridegroom leaves the bridal chamber, then let them fast and pray." [Matthew 9:14-15; Mark 2:18-20; Luke 5:33-35]

This is also similar to what Jesus said.

105 Jesus said, "He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a prostitute."

There are different ways of looking at this strange passage. The first is that it is an example of the way the gnostics wanted to deny everything, even human parents. If you don't deny your parents, then you are no child of God ("son of a prostitute").

Another and perhaps a more likely explanation is that the supposed founder of the gnostics, the Simon Magus mentioned in the Bible, had an associate named Helena. This Helena was a prostitute, and some claimed, including Simon, that she was divine (the claim was that the divine being was reincarnated time after time and that at this particular moment he had even become a whore).

A third but unlikely interpretation (even for the gnostics) runs along the lines of an ancient heresy that Jesus was the child of Mary and a soldier from Sidon, an archer named Panthera or Pantera. There is even a gravestone of a Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera who was stationed in Palestine at the time of Jesus' birth. This, then, would be a reference to Mary's supposed extramarital affair. On the other hand, there are gravestones with many names on them all over the world -- it doesn't mean every bride is unfaithful to her husband before their wedding. Also, such an affair directly contradicts Scripture and all other ancient witnesses. It's more like a locker room joke in poor taste than a genuine interpretation. Each of these explanations is awkward, and more so because the saying itself runs contrary to Scripture.

106 Jesus said, "When you make the two one, you will become the sons of man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move,' it will move."

This saying reflects some other things said earlier -- see sayings 4 and 48. But like so much in this collection, it is left all by itself without any context and so it creates doubt instead of faith. It makes the reader wonder why he doesn't have this almost magical power, and it makes teh reader wonder what is meant by "making the two one."

The Gnostics loved the attention they got with their secrets and their supposed special knowledge, their gnosis. But by spreading around the rumor that they had secrets, they were hating the world and hating God.

107 Jesus said, "The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. The largest one went astray. He left the ninety-nine and looked for that one until he found it. Having gone to such trouble, he said to the sheep, 'I care for you more than the ninety-nine.'" [Matthew 18:12-13; Luke 15:3-7]

Here again is a twisting of Jesus' words. God does not show favoritism; he shows his favor. He loves us all -- and yes, he comes looking for us when we wander astray. But his love is boundless. Not one of us has to be afraid that God loves someone else more than him. That's why John wrote:

We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:16-18)