Gospel of Thomas · 9 of 10

Sayings 106–114

106. Unity (2). Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you'll become Children of Humanity, and if you say 'Mountain, go away!', it'll go."

107. The Parable of the Lost Sheep. Jesus said, "The kingdom can be compared to a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. The largest one strayed. He left the ninety-nine and looked for that one until he found it. Having gone through the trouble, he said to the sheep: 'I love you more than the ninety-nine.'"

108. Becoming Like Jesus. Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me, and I myself will become like them; then, what's hidden will be revealed to them."

109. The Parable of the Hidden Treasure. Jesus said, "The kingdom can be compared to someone who had a treasure [hidden] in their field. [They] didn't know about it. After they died, they left it to their son. The son didn't know it either. He took the field and sold it.

"The buyer plowed the field, [found] the treasure, and began to loan money at interest to whomever they wanted."

110. Riches and Renunciation (2). Jesus said, "Whoever has found the world and become rich should renounce the world."

111. Those Who are Living Won't Die (2). Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will roll up in front of you, and whoever lives from the Living One won't see death."

Doesn't Jesus say, "Whoever finds themselves, of them the world isn't worthy"?

112. Flesh and Soul. Jesus said, "How awful for the flesh that depends on the soul. How awful for the soul that depends on the flesh."

113. The Kingdom is Already Present. His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"

"It won't come by looking for it. They won't say, 'Look over here!' or 'Look over there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is already spread out over the earth, and people don't see it."

114. Peter and Mary. Simon Peter said to them, "Mary should leave us, because women aren't worthy of life."

Jesus said, "Look, am I to make her a man? So that she may become a living spirit too, she's equal to you men, because every woman who makes herself manly will enter the kingdom of heaven."

Insight

Saying 114 has unsettled readers for sixty years, and it deserves honest engagement rather than apology. Peter says Mary should leave because women aren't worthy of life. Jesus answers that he'll make her male so she can become a living spirit, "equal to you men." "Male" in the Greek and Coptic idiom carries the sense of the unified, upright, spiritually mature — a metaphor for overcoming inner fragmentation, and saying 22 already showed the goal is dissolving the male/female split altogether. Still, the patriarchal frame is real; the saying reflects the world it came from. Thomas frees Mary within the limits of his own century, and leaves the rest of the work to us.On saying 114 see Mattison's translator note; April DeConick, 'The Thirteenth Apostle'; Karen King, 'The Gospel of Mary of Magdala,' for critical feminist engagement.