Sequence

After the mission speech the order of clusters in Q is harder to trace because Matthew and Luke follow different plans. While Matthew returns to pick up Mark's sequence, Luke continues with a long collection of largely non-Markan sayings and stories.  Some are only in Luke; but others are Q passages with parallels elsewhere in Matthew.  Here, near the beginning of this section in Luke, the logical sequence of sayings in Q is made clear simply by bracketing out passages containing Luke's special material.

Logic

The formal commission at the end of the mission speech (Luke 10:16//Matt10:40) has Jesus in the role of intermediary between those whom he sends and the one who sent him. That role is also the focus of the next Q sayings (Luke 10:21-22//Matt 11:25-27). Here, the one he represents is called "Father." This name then acts like a magnet, attracting other sayings about fathers and sons. The main theme of these sayings, however, is revelation. Thus, they are linked with sayings about seeing (Luke 10:23-24//Matt 13:16-17) to form a loose cluster.

Since this cluster begins by addressing the Father directly, it is followed by another thematic cluster that does the same. The second cluster opens with the Lord's prayer (Luke 11:2-4//Matt 6:9-13) and concludes with sayings about children's requests of their fathers (Luke 11:9-13//Matt 7:7-11). This cluster is linked by the theme of petitions for provisions.

Editing

This type of clustering by theme and catchword is typical of the composition of Q. Luke obscures Q's logical links by inserting passages with different themes; Matthew, by dividing the clusters and redistributing the sayings. Matthew leaves the first sayings about revelation in almost the same context as Luke, just after Q's condemnation of Bethsaida and Capernaum. The rest (Luke 10:23-24//Matt 13:16-17) he inserts in a Markan passage about seeing. He also separates the Lord's prayer from the other sayings about petitions, although he inserts both into his expansion of Jesus' initial sermon from Q. The fact that this sermon already contained sayings about "your Father" may have led Matthew to make this move (see Luke 6:35-36//Matt 5:45,48).

Luke 10:21-24	Matt 11:25-27
21 At that moment Jesus	25 At that point Jesus
was overjoyed by the holy spirit
and said,	responded,
"I praise you, Father,	"I praise you, Father,
master of earth and sky,	master of earth and sky,
because you have hidden these things	because you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned	from the wise and the learned
but revealed them to children;*	but revealed them to children;*
yes indeed, Father,	26 yes indeed, Father,
because that's the way you want it.	because that's the way you want it.
22 My Father	27 My Father
has turned everything over to me.	has turned everything over to me.
No one knows who the son is	No one knows the son
except the Father,	except the Father,
or who the Father is,	nor does anyone know the Father
except the son---	except the son---
and anyone	and anyone
to whom the son wishes to reveal him."	to whom the son wishes to reveal him."
23Turning to the disciples	Matt 13:16-17
he said privately,
"How privileged are the eyes	16 "How privileged are your eyes
that see what you see!	because they see,
	and your ears, because they hear.
	17 Let me tell you,
24 Many prophets and kings	many prophets and just persons
wanted to see what you see,	have longed to see what you see
and never saw it;	and never saw it;
and to hear what you hear	and to hear what you hear
and never heard it."	and never heard it."

* νηπίος (Greek for any child from infancy especially preschoolers)

Language

Since the texts of Matthew and Luke are almost identical, Q's wording of the compound saying initiating this cluster is clear. The first part is a thanksgiving that only Q credits to Jesus. It paraphrases the observation in Ps 8:2 contrasting babies who recognized God with adults who do not. But here the adults are characterized as sages rather than enemies. And just what has been seen is not clear from either this saying or its context.

The second part of this saying presents two claims: one about inheritance, the other about privileged knowledge. The first claim has close parallels in the gospels of John and Thomas:

• John 3:35: "The Father loves the son and has entrusted everything to him."
• John 13:3: Jesus could tell that the Father had left everything up to him....
• Thom 61:3: Jesus said to her: "...I have been given some of the things of my Father."

In fact, the phrasing of both claims are more typical of the gospel of John than Jesus' speech elsewhere in Q or anywhere else in the synoptic tradition.

The second claim begins with a proverb about a parent being the only person in the position to really know a child and vice-versa. But it goes  on to add that the child can communicate that knowledge to anyone it wants to. "The father" and "the son" are generic terms.  But early Christians used them as titles for God and Jesus in both ritual and dogma (for example, the baptismal formula in Matt 28:19). That technical meaning is used here.

Attribution

Revealed to babies	%	Red	Pink	Grey	Black	WA	Print
Luke 10:21 Matt 11:25-26		12 4	31 35	12 15	46 46	36 32	grey grey
Father and son
Luke 10:22 Matt 11:27 John 3:35 John 13:3a Thom 61:4		0 0 0 0 0	4 4 0 0 0	11 11 11 15 20	85 85 89 85 80	06 06 04 05 07	black black black black black

In a separate vote the Seminar overwhelmingly agreed that Jesus probably called God "Father" and referred to him as such (see notes on Luke 11:2 below).  Yet other aspects of these sayings represent a later perspective.

The idea that God gave Jesus "all things" became standard Christian doctrine after the resurrection (see 1 Cor15:27, John 1:3, Heb 1:2) without appealing to anything Jesus had said before his death. Thus, the inheritance claimed in Q (Luke 10:22//Matt 10:27), and echoed in John and Thomas, fits the viewpoint of the risen Jesus.  But it contrasts sharply with sayings that are more likely to represent the earthly Jesus' attitude toward possessions.

Likewise, the claim in Luke 10:22b//Matt5:27b that "the son" is the sole revealer of  "the Father" is closer to sayings about Jesus than sayings by him (see John 1:14,18). The rest of this claim---that parent and child know each other better than outsiders---is an observation that anyone could make.  But in this context the Fellows did not find good reason to trace Q's comment to Jesus rather than some other voice in the early Christian movement.

The opening thanksgiving, on the other hand, presents a paradox: an ironic celebration of ignorant sages and enlightened infants. Many Fellows regard this type of paradoxical remark as typical of Jesus' wit.  But considering Q's context, others view it as typical of a comment by a later Christian preacher.  Anyone might paraphrase a popular passage of scripture like Ps 8. These considerations tended to counterbalance each other, leaving the saying in the gray range.

Eyes blessed	%	Red	Pink	Grey	Black	WA	Print
Luke 10:23-24 Matt 13:16-17		7 7	22 22	22 22	48 48	30 30	grey grey

Formula

Matthew and Luke present this two-part saying with nearly identical wording in quite different contexts.  The second part explains the first, indicating why those addressed are to be congratulated.  They are now in position to see things that great figures of the past were not. What they actually witness is not mentioned.

Luke's version is probably closer to Q. Matthew balances the two parts of the saying by referring to hearing in each. Since justice is frequently stressed in Matthew's version of several Jesus sayings (see Matt 5:6 and 5:10), he is more likely to have substituted "just persons" for Luke's "kings" than vice versa.

Attribution

The origin of this formula is fuzzy, like the reason for the saying itself.  Whatever the cause for celebration, it is viewed as present.  This led some Fellows to trace it to Jesus. On another occasion the Seminar almost unanimously endorsed the view that Jesus proclaimed the presence of God's reign (see Luke 17:21). By contrast, Christians tend to celebrate what happened in the past or what they expect to happen in the future. On the other hand, the emphasis on the fulfillment of prophetic expectations is more characteristic of Christian writings like Q than of genuine Jesus sayings. Unlike the congratulations in Jesus' sermon, there is no unusual twist in this saying to indicate Jesus was its likely author. Q is the only source; the context, artificial; and the occasion for its formulation unclear. So, again the majority of the Seminar would not count this among things that Jesus himself probably said.