Motifs

Q's parables of the mustard seed and leaven portray God's dominion as spreading to include many, without conditions or limits.  Luke follows these with a cluster of Q sayings that paint a different picture (Luke 13:24-30).  Some people who expect to be in will be out, while outsiders will be brought in. 

Luke 13:29//Matt 8:11 portrays the insiders as gathered for a meal. This motif is picked up in another string of sayings (Luke 14:7-24) in which underdogs replace those who had been favored. Two sayings are from Q, the rest probably not.

Luke 14:26//Matt 10:37 begins a third cluster, emphasizing the exclusion of those who do not meet stringent standards. This recalls the emphasis on narrowing in Luke 13:24//Matt 7:13-14, the saying that opens the first of these three clusters. The section ends as it began, with a reference to food. This time the emphasis is totally on exclusion: salt, which was a valued commodity in the ancient world, is thrown out (Luke 14:34-35//Matt 5:13).

Organization

This chain of small clusters connected by catchwords and related motifs is typical of Q. Luke adds sayings to these clusters that reinforce their themes (see table below). But he also breaks the connection between the first and second clusters by placing unrelated sayings --- including Jesus' lament over Jerusalem (Luke 13:34-35//Matt 23:37-39) ---between them. This shows that the compiler of Q, rather than Luke, probably created the sequence of sayings clusters sketched above.

Q		Special to Luke
13:18-19	Mustard seed grows
13:20-21	Leaven rises
		13:22-23	Jesus heads to Jerusalem
13:24	Narrow door (enter)	13:25	Door closed (locked out)
13:26-27	We ate with you (get out!)
13:28-29	Shut out/eating in God's domain
13:30	First / last
		13:31-33	Must go to Jerusalem
13:34-35	Lament over Jerusalem *
		14:1-6	Jesus heals on Sabbath
		14:7-10	Places at banquet
14:11	Lowered or raised
		14:12-14	Invite poor to (not kin)
		14:15	Eating in God's domain
14:16-24	Invited to banquet
14:25-26	Hate kin *
14:27	Carry cross *
		14:28-30	Builder counts cost
		14:31-32	Warring king counts cost
		14:33	Give up everything
14:34-35	Salt thrown out

* Q passage probably interpolated here by Luke

In Matthew, few of these sayings are connected, though many are tied to other Q passages. Some scholars think that Matthew's order was based on a different edition of Q. In any case, the sequence of clusters is artificial and secondary. Each saying must be considered separately.

Luke 13:24-27	Matt 7:13-14
24 "Struggle to get in	13 "Try to get in
through the narrow door;	through the narrow gate.
	Wide and smooth is the road
	that leads to destruction.
	The majority are taking that route.
	14 Narrow and rough is the road
	that leads to life.
I'm telling you,
many will try but won't be able.	Only a minority discover it.
25 Once the master of the house
gets up and bars the door,
you'll be left standing outside
and knocking at the door:
	Matt 7:22-23
	22 On that day many will say to me,
'Master,	'Master, Master,
open up for us,'	didn't we use your name
but he'll answer you,	when we prophesied?
'I don't know	Didn't we
where you come from.'	use your name
26 Then you'll start saying,	when we exorcised demons?
'We ate and drank with you,	Didn't we use your name
and you taught in our streets.'	when we performed all those miracles?'
27 But he'll reply,	2 Then I'll tell them honestly,
'I don't know	'I never knew you;
where you come from.
Get away from me,	get away from me,
all you evil-doers!'"	you subverters of the Law!'"

Editing

Editing of a common source is seen only in the brief opposing commands that frame these passages:

• get in through the narrow entry
• get away from me, wrong-doers.

Matthew and Luke have different material between them. Matthew puts them in Q's opening sermon to frame the sayings about fruit and doing (see Luke 6:43-46//Matt 7:16-20 above).  Luke 13:25, on the other hand paints a scene like the end of Matthew's parable of the bridegroom (Matt 25:1-12), which most likely was not in Q. One thing is clear: there is no sign that Luke was borrowing from Matthew. Various reconstructions of this section of their common sayings source are possible. But Matthew and Luke have probably each edited Q to stress different points. Yet, since these sayings focus on exclusion, they fit Luke's context better than Matthew's, who introduces them right after the golden rule.

Scenario

Luke views the command to squeeze through a narrow entrance as a contest. Many will try but will not be able to fit. He does not mention another option.

Matthew, however, presents a choice between two routes. Many think that taking the wider highway is easier, when it really is more lethal. Matthew may have used a proverbial warning not to go along with the crowd to explain Q's command to take the narrow entrance. For the contrast between two ways that lead to life or death was widespread in ancient Hellenistic sources. For example, the Didache opens with this dualistic pronouncement, credited to "the Twelve" rather than Jesus himself:

There are two paths, one of life and one of death,
and the difference between the two paths is great.
     --- Did 1:1

Attribution

Narrow door	%	Red	Pink	Grey	Black	WA	Print
Luke 13:24 Matt 7:13-14		22 16	39 16	22 32	17 37	56 37	pink grey

The original setting of this command is not clear; Q is the only source; and the different versions leave the original conclusion uncertain. Thus, many Fellows did not think there was enough of an unedited formula to credit it to Jesus. Yet, most thought Jesus must have said something like this. The command to use the narrow entry is both brief and striking, graphic but inexplicit. People do not usually enter a small opening if a larger is available. A later audience would ask, "Why?" And Matthew adds a plausible reason. Luke's version was judged more original because it is briefer and more enigmatic.

Closed door	%	Red	Pink	Grey	Black	WA	Print
Luke 13:25		0	18	18	55	21	black
Depart from me
Luke 13:26-27 Matt 7:22-23		0 0	4 4	11 11	85 85	06 06	black black

Editing by both Matthew and Luke has not left much of a saying that can confidently be credited to Jesus. Only Luke 13:25 has people knocking on a locked door. Their words and the response may echo the exchange between the foolish maids and the bridegroom in Matt 25:11-12:

"The other maidens finally come and say,
'Master, master, open the door for us.'
He responded,
'I swear to you, I don't recognize you.'"

But it is not likely that either Luke or the compiler of Q knew the full parable. For the omitted motifs ---people entering or excluded from a banquet --- would fit well here. Few Fellows thought that the unexplained lock-out in Luke 13:25 was compatible with genuine Jesus sayings.

Luke 13:26-27 fits Q's context and characterization of Jesus --- as eating and drinking (Luke 7:34//Matt 11:19) --- better than Matt 7:22. Yet, it refers to Jesus as a past figure who used to be active in Judean towns. And it mirrors the attitude of Christian preachers after Jesus' death, by accusing Jews of injustice (see 1 Thess 2:14-16).

Matt 7:22-23 reflects an even later situation: Christian prophets and miracle workers are accused of subverting the Mosaic Law. This probably echoes the controversy over Judaic regulations that engaged Peter and Paul (see Gal 2:14-19). And it shows Matthew's own concern to keep the church within the bounds of Jewish tradition (see note on Luke 16:17//Matt 5:18 below). Thus, neither version of this saying can be confidently traced to Jesus himself.

Luke 13:28-30	Matt 8:11-12
28 "There'll be weeping
and grinding of teeth out there
when you see
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and all the prophets
in God's empire *
and yourselves thrown out.
29 And	11 "I predict that
people will come	many will come
from east and west,	from east and west
from north and south,
and dine	and dine with
	Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
in God's empire.	in the empire of Heaven, *
	12 but those who think
	the empire of Heaven *
	belongs to them
	will be thrown out
	into the utter darkness.
	There'll be weeping
	and grinding of teeth out there."
30 And remember,	Matt 20:16
those who will be first are last,	16 "The last will be first
and those who will be last are first."	and the first last."
Mark 10:31	Matt 19:30
31 "Many of the first will be last,	30 "Many of the first will be last,
and many of the last will be first."	and many of the last will be first."
Gr Thom 4:2-3
2 "Many of the first will be last,
and many of the last will be first,
3 and will become a single one."

* See cameo essay on the empire of God

Logic

Matthew's version of this saying is a perfect prophetic oracle culminating with a classic Semitic lament.

• many will gather but
• some will be excluded:
• there will be weeping and teeth-grinding.

Luke probably turned the Q passage upside down to fit his setting better. He has Jesus address these warnings to Judeans on his way to Jerusalem. Matthew, however, appends it to Jesus' response to the Roman officer at Capernaum (see Luke 7:1-10//Matt 8:5-13 above). The concluding emphasis on exclusion does not fit well there. But it mirrors the logic of Luke 13:24-27:

• many will try to enter but
• some will be turned away.

Motifs

This oracle is filled with traditional images of God's promises to his chosen people. Even the warning that the current generation will not share in this ideal situation is typical of Judean prophets. The contexts in Matthew and Luke imply that those who gather from abroad are foreigners. But this interpretation may not be original. The return of Israel's diaspora is a classic Jewish eschatological motif.

Attribution

Dining with patriarchs	%	Red	Pink	Grey	Black	WA	Print
Luke 13:28-29 Matt 8:11-12		0 0	25 21	25 29	50 50	25 24	black black

Q and other gospels represent Jesus as heir to Israel's prophetic tradition. But there is nothing in this saying to distinguish his voice from that of any other prophet, whether Judean or Christian. This saying is the type of warning that Q ascribes to John the Baptist (see Luke 3:7-9//Matt 3:7-10) and resembles other Q oracles favoring outsiders which probably come from later Christian prophets (e.g., Luke 11:31-32//Matt 12:41-42). Hence, most Fellows did not think Jesus formulated this particular saying, even though the idea of a meal celebration certainly reflects his outlook.

First and last	%	Red	Pink	Grey	Black	WA	Print
Luke 13:30 Matt 20:16 Matt 19:30 Mark 10:31 Gr Thom 4:2 Gr Thom 4:3		25 41 33 33 27 0	25 17 17 17 18 0	17 17 17 17 17 0	33 25 33 33 36 99	47 59 50 50 45 00	grey pink grey grey grey black

Sources

This saying about inverted status is traceable to three independent sources:

• Mark 10:31//Matt 19:30 (source: Mark)
• Matt 20:16//Luke 13:30 (source: Q)
• Thom 4:2

Each form is slightly different:

• First, last / last, first
• Last, first / first. last
• First, last / last, first / become one.

The third segment of Thomas' version reflects a gnostic motif that appears in Thom 22, 23 and 106. Without this motif, the form preserved in the Greek fragment of Thomas corresponds to that in Mark.

Attribution

This concise aphorism predicts a dramatic reversal of rank. Such inversions are frequent in other sayings of Jesus. In Matt 20:16 the reversal is expressed as an unqualified principle. It applies to any and all orders: historical, social, religious, economic. Mark and Thomas limit the transposition to "many"; Luke indicates it only affects "some." Most Fellows took these qualifications as signs of a progressive softening of one of Jesus' basic principles. Fewer thought the common core of Mark and Thomas indicated that their form was earlier. The voting split left the Markan version just shy of pink.

Luke 14:11	Matt 23:12
11 "Those who promote themselves	12 "Those who promote themselves
will be demoted,	will be demoted,
and those who demote themselves	and those who demote themselves
will be promoted."	will be promoted."
Luke 18:14
14 "Let me tell you,
the second man went back home
vindicated but the first one did not.
For those who promote themselves
will be demoted,
but those who demote themselves
will be promoted."

Context

Luke uses this proverb twice as the moral of parables that only he records; Matthew introduces it right before Q's condemnations of the Pharisees (Matt 23:13-36). There are three good reasons for pairing it here with the saying about first and last instead:

• it shares the same pattern of social inversion;
• Q often pairs similar sayings (e.g., the parables of mustard and leaven); and
• their separation is traceable to later revisions (see table above).

Yet, this proverb obviously circulated independent of any context and, thus, needs to be evaluated separately.

Attribution

Humble exalted	%	Red	Pink	Grey	Black	WA	Print
Luke 14:11 Luke 18:14b Matt 23:12		8 8 8	13 13 13	29 29 29	50 50 50	26 26 26	grey grey grey

There are several genuine Jesus sayings that invert normal human ambitions. At the beginning of Q he congratulates the poor and condemns the rich (see Luke 6:20,24). Likewise Q portrays him as celebrating infants and denigrating sages (see Luke 10:21//Matt 11:25). Elsewhere he offers a child or slave as model (Mark 10:14, 42-22). So, some Fellows thought this proverb should be red or pink.

The majority did not agree for several reasons. It is not attested outside of  Q. The idea that God demotes the proud and promotes the humble was common Jewish wisdom (e.g., Prov 11:2; Ps 18:27). Christian writers endorsed the principle without quoting Jesus (Luke 1:51-52; James 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5). And it contains nothing to distinguish Jesus' style or point of view from any other voice in first-century Judeo-Christian culture. Grey is a fitting designation for a principle that Jesus might agree with but clearly did not create.