What Did Jesus Say

1
What Did Jesus Say?

• The Development of the Oral Tradition (40 50 AD)

2
Background

• Depictions of Jesus as a savior or messianic,
  divine, or apocalyptic figure appear to have come
  later in the gospel tradition.
• Instead the earliest sayings of Q, Thomas, and
  Mark all reflect the more Jewish concepts of
  Jesus as the Righteous One, a Miracle Worker, and
  Spiritual Master.
• The first followers focused upon the Word
  (mishnah) of the prophet Jesus and the Way

3
Themes

• Instead of looking to salvation or apocalypse,
  the first followers focused upon an earthly
  Kingdom of God, which they saw as both a social
  vision of an ideal society and a call to an
  alternative lifestyle -- i.e. the Way which
  they were called to spread.
• They called themselves Brethren, the Poor,
  and the Sons of Light.

4
The Development of the Oral Tradition

• Scholars feel that the first missionaries spread
  the sayings of Jesus as an easily memorized
  catechism along with a handful of stories about
  His miracles and Passion.
• Early Jesus communities collected the sayings and
  stories of Jesus as written pericopae on amulets,
  potshards, and scraps of papyrus or animal skins
  (parchment).

5
The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel

• There were 6 million Jews in the 1st Century
• Only 2 million lived in Palestine, but most of
  these were marginal Jews, i.e., sinners.
• Almost that many still lived in Babylon the rest
  were spread out all across the Eastern
  Mediterranean in small Jewish enclaves.
• Samaritans and others of mixed parentage were as
  well a focus of the early missions.

6
Targeting the Lost Sheep

• Part of the need for a formalized oral tradition,
  a mishnah, was that most of the first
  missionaries spoke an obscure dialect of Aramaic.
  Greek was a second language.
• The first proto-gospels were collections of
  sayings, miracle stories, or the Passion epic in
  Greek that were transformed into written gospels
  three to four decades later by the second and
  third generation of followers.

7
Discovering the Mishnah in the Gospels

• Thomas seems to have stemmed from just such an
  early sayings proto-gospel.
• So also does the hypothetical Q that was the
  second source for Luke and Matthew.
• The Jesus Seminar of Scholars (Robert W. Funk,
  Roy Hoover, et al.) voted on sayings red for
  most authentic, pink for maybe, gray for
  questionable, and black for no way.

8
Critiquing the Jesus Seminar

• Published before wide release of the Dead Sea
  Scrolls. The seminar misinterpreted some of the
  imagery of John as stemming instead from late 1st
  Century Gnosticism.
• They found only two pinks in John, even though
  I Am may be the most Jewish of all revelations.
  
• Too Greek. They sound more like the cheria of a
  Stoic philosopher than a rabbi

9
1. The Pronouncement Stories in Mark

• Scholars give great credence to a handful of
  Pronouncements in Marks (and Thomas) gospel
  that appear to have come from an early catechism.
  
• They are both pithy and memorable because they
  respond to a pressing social issue with a
  startling twist of conventional wisdom.
• Scholars trust the saying but question the
  theological elements of the set-up story.

10
Pronouncement Q and As

• Why did Jesus eat with sinners? Those who are
  well have no need of a physician.
• Why didnt He fast? Can the wedding guests fast
  while the bridegroom is with them?
• Why didnt Jesus observe the Sabbath? The
  Sabbath was made for man . . . .
• Why didnt He follow the traditional laws of
  purity (i.e., kosher)? There is nothing outside
  a man which by going in can defile him.

11
How Can We Follow the Way?

• How should we behave? If any one would be
  first, he must be last of all.
• Should we pay our taxes? Render unto Caesar the
  things that are Caesars . . . .
• Why do you pool your wealth? It is easier for a
  rope to go through the eye of a needle than for a
  rich man to enter the Kingdom.
• Why do you allow Gentiles? Even the dogs under
  the table eat the childrens crumbs.

12
The Jewish Pronouncements in John

• Why did Jesus eat with sinners? I came so that
  those who do not see may see . . .
• Why didnt He follow the traditional purity
  rituals? He who has bathed does not need to
  wash, but is clean all over.
• Why didnt Jesus observe the Sabbath? My Father
  is working and I am working still.
• Why didnt He keep kosher? Do not labor for
  food which perishes, but for food which endures.

13
Affirmation of Judaism

• If you do not fast as regards the world, you
  will not find the Kingdom. If you do not observe
  the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not seek the
  Father. Thomas 27
• Think not that I have come to abolish the Law
  and the prophets I have come not to abolish
  them but rather to fulfill them.
  Matthew 5 17

14
How to Follow the Way in John

• How should we behave? A new command-ment I give
  you, that you must love one another, and I have
  given you an example (i.e., foot washing), a
  servant cannot be greater than his master.
• Why do you accept sinners? I have other sheep
  who are not of this fold I must bring them
  also, and they will heed my voice. So there
  will be one flock, one shepherd.

15
A Jewish or a Gentile Way?

• If it were beneficial, their father would beget
  them already circumcised. Thomas 53
• You worship what you do not know we (Jews)
  worship what we know for salvation is from the
  Jews. John 4 22
• You must be born again . . . of the Spirit.
• He who walks in darkness does not know where he
  goes and I came not to judge the world, but to
  save it. John 12 35 and 47

16
2. The Kingdom Teachings

• Another possible catechism of early sayings are
  referred to by scholars as the Kingdom Teachings.
  They, too, are short, pithy, and fly in the face
  of conventional logic.
• Usually they are presented as a straight-forward
  teaching without any of the kind of set-up story
  found in the pronouncements.
• Most seem to have existed as the punch line to a
  more extended parable.

17
The Kingdom of God is like . . . .

• a grain of mustard seed Mark 431/Thomas 20
• a sower with a handful of seeds Mark 4 3-8 /
  Thomas 9
• a pearl of great value Mark 13 46 /Thomas 76
• A shepherd with 100 sheep Luke 153-7/ Thomas
  107
• A hidden treasure Matthew 13 44/Thomas 109
• A little leaven Matthew 13 33/Thomas 96
  

18
Kingdom Teachings - mini parables or the wisdom
of Rabbi Jesus?

• It is impossible for a servant to serve two
  masters . . . . new wine is not put into old wine
  skins . . . . And an old patch is not sewn onto
  new clothes. Mark 221 /Thomas 47
• Those here who do the will of my Father are my
  brothers and my mother.
  Mark 3 32-35 /Thomas 99
• No prophet is accepted in his own village no
  physician heals those who know him.
  Matthew 13 57 / Thomas 31

19
Rabbinical Wisdom or Greek cheria?

• For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a
  bushel . . . . Mark 4 21 /Thomas 33
• Recognize what is in your sight, and that which
  is hidden will become plain to you. For there is
  nothing hidden that will not become manifest.
  Mark 4 22 / Thomas 5
• No one can enter a strong mans house and
  plunder his goods unless he first binds the
  strong man. Mark 327 / Thomas 35

20
3. The Mishnah of Rabbi Jesus in Q

• Scholars feel that the Sermon on the Mount in
  Matthew 5-7 / Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6
  2049 come from an early Mishnah that included a
  handful of other verses (i.e., Luke 9 57 10
  11 11 1-1 and 12 2-34).
• Most of these have close parallels to the logia
  or sayings in Thomas.
• Lukes version is generally accepted as the most
  authentic.

21
The Lords Prayer in Luke and Matthew

• Our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy
  name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth
  as it is in heaven.
• Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us
  our sins, as we forgive everyone who is indebted
  to us and lead us not into temptation, but
  deliver us from evil.
• Lukes version is briefer, more Jewish, and
  points to a present kingdom (not an apocalyptic
  one).

22
The Mishnah of Rabbi Jesus in Q

• Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom
  of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you
  will be satisfied. . . .
• Love your enemies . . . Turn the other cheek . .
  . And as you wish that men would do to you, do
  also to them . . . .
• Judge not, and you will not be judged . . .
• Why do you see the speck that is in your
  brothers eye . . .?

23
Mini-Parables in Q (and Thomas)

• The parable of the persistent neighbor who keeps
  knocking until he gets his due.
• The parable of the rich man who built new store
  houses for all his goods.
• The parable of the mustard seed
• The parable of the rich mans banquet that was
  shared instead with the poor.

24
Wisdom Teachings in Q and Thomas

• Can a blind man lead a blind man . . .?
• For no good tree bears bad fruit . . . .
• The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are
  few . . . .
• Do not be anxious about your life . . . Consider
  the lilies of the field . . . .
• Salt is good but if it has lost its taste. .
  ..

25
A More Earthly, Spiritual Kingdom in Q and Thomas

• . . . The Kingdom is inside of you, and it is
  outside of you. When you come to know
  yourselves, then you will become . . . . Sons of
  the living Father. Thomas
  3
• The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to
  be observed . . . For behold it is in the
  midst of you. Luke 17 20-21
• The Kingdom . . . Is spread out upon the earth,
  and men do not see it. Thomas 113

26
The Spiritual Kingdom in Thomas

• When you make the two one, you will become the
  sons of man, and when you say, Mountain, move
  away, it will move away
  Thomas 106
• He who is near me is near the fire, and he who
  is far from Me is far from the kingdom
  Thomas 82
• He who seeks will find . . . . Thomas 94

27
Rabbi Jesus as a Spiritual Master

• There is a light within a man of light and it
  lights up the whole world. If it does not shine,
  he is in darkness. Thomas 24
• Take heed of the Living One while you are alive,
  lest you die and seek to see Him, and are unable
  to do so. Thomas 59
• I shall give to you what no eye has seen and
  what no ear has heard . . . . Thomas 17

28
Parallels Between John and Thomas

• I am He who exists from the Undivided. I was
  given some of the things of My Father.
  Thomas 61
• It is I who am the light which is above them
  all. It is I who am the All. From Me did the
  All come forth, and unto Me did the All extend.
  Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up
  the stone and you will find Me there.
  Thomas 77