The Gospel of Thomas 96

96 Jesus: "The kingdom of the father is like a woman who took a little yeast in some dough, and made it into large loaves. Whoever has ears let him hear." [Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21]

Notice that there is no verb of speaking, just "Jesus" to begin the saying. This happens from time to time in the Gospel of Thomas.

The differences of what kind of kingdom might seem relevant at first (Matthew "kingdom of heaven," Luke "kingdom of God," Thomas "kingdom of the father"), but they're not. Matthew probably falls to "heaven" instead of God because of Jewish sensitivities and the Second Commandment. Not that we would expect Matthew under divine inspiration to be concerned about using the name of God (he mentions God's name about 37 times), but he may have been reflecting Paul's point about causing other people to stumble by using your own Christian freedom when people are bound by their conscience and might be led to sin. Perhaps Jesus varied the way he spoke his parables for this very reason.

Much more importantly, the point that Jesus makes in the Gospels is missing. In Luke 13:20-21, the working of the kingdom is like dough working through a batch of dough. It works and works and works until it's everywhere in the dough, and the whole loaf rises.

Here in Thomas, the focus is on the result of the work—large loaves. Both words, "large" and "loaves," proclaim a potentially unchristian messages. "Large," because it might lead us to think that if the gospel only seems to produce a small return that we would somehow have failed. And "loaves," because it is in the plural, and Scripture consitently urges us to be unified into one body. Paul even uses the idea of a single loaf in the Lord's Supper to make a point about being in fellowship with those we take the Lord's Supper with: "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf" (1 Corinthians 10:17). That's also why John said:

Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work. (2 John 9-11)