Week 3: New Testament Parables

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Gospel of Thomas: Weeds

Reading time: 3 minutes. Word count: 500 words.

This brief passage should give you an idea of the way that the Gospel of Thomas is organized. Each of the sayings, parables and prophecies of Jesus is presented one after another, with no transition between one item and the next. Most of the new items are introduced by the phrase "Jesus said." There are recurring motifs and recurring themes, but there is not the same kind of editorial organization in the canonical gospels, where the parables are inserted into an overarching narrative that explains, in sequences, the acts and the sayings of Jesus. If you are already familiar with the parables of Jesus, the parable that you will recognize here is the parable of the weeds, which is also found in Matthew.

Patterson and Meyer translation:

Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass, and whoever has discovered a carcass, of that person the world is not worthy."

Jesus said, "The Father's kingdom is like a person who has [good] seed. His enemy came during the night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The person did not let the workers pull up the weeds, but said to them, "No, otherwise you might go to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them." For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be conspicuous, and will be pulled up and burned."

Jesus said, "Congratulations to the person who has toiled and has found life."

Jesus said, "Look to the living one as long as you live, otherwise you might die and then try to see the living one, and you will be unable to see."

He saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb and going to Judea. He said to his disciples, "that person ... around the lamb." They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it." He said to them, "He will not eat it while it is alive, but only after he has killed it and it has become a carcass." They said, "Otherwise he can't do it." He said to them, "So also with you, seek for yourselves a place for rest, or you might become a carcass and be eaten."


Lambdin translation:

Jesus said, "Whoever has come to understand the world has found (only) a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world."

Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a man who had good seed. His enemy came by night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds; he said to them, 'I am afraid that you will go intending to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them.' For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be plainly visible, and they will be pulled up and burned."

Jesus said, "Blessed is the man who has suffered and found life."

Jesus said, "Take heed of the living one while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him and be unable to do so."

<They saw> a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea. He said to his disciples, "That man is round about the lamb." They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it." He said to them, "While it is alive, he will not eat it, but only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse." They said to him, "He cannot do so otherwise." He said to them, "You too, look for a place for yourself within repose, lest you become a corpse and be eaten."


Questions. Make sure you can answer these questions about what you just read:

  • why were there weeds mixed in with the good crops?
  • what will happen to the weeds at harvest time?
  • what will happen to the Samaritan's lamb?

Source: Gospel of Thomas 56-60.
The "Scholars' Translation" of the Gospel of Thomas by Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer, in The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version. Polebridge Press: 1992. Website: Gospel of Thomas Homepage.
"Nag Hammadi Library" translation by Thomas O. Lambdin, in The Nag Hammadi Library. HarperCollins: San Francisco, 1990. Website: Gnostic Society Library.


Modern Languages MLLL-2003. World Literature: Frametales. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one.
Page last updated: October 9, 2004 12:48 PM