to Matthew, Mark
& Luke
1. True Kin
Matt 12:46-50 // Mark 3:31-35
// Luke 8:19-21
Turn off Pop-up blocker to insure hyperlinks work properly.
Other Versions
Matthew's revision of Mark's version of the
chreia about true kinship has indirect textual support from
three early Christian texts that were not accepted in the Greek churches' canon of scripture. For all
record a version of Jesus' pronouncement that is closer to Matthew than to the other synoptic gospels in
at least one respect: reference to "my Father's
will."
|
JESUS'
KIN
|
Ebionites
5
| Thomas
99
| 2
Clement 9
|
1 |
When it was reported |
1 |
The disciples said |
|
|
|
to him: |
|
to him: |
|
|
|
"See, |
|
|
|
|
|
your mother * |
|
|
|
|
|
and your brothers |
|
"Your brothers and |
|
|
|
|
|
your mother* |
|
|
|
are standing outside," |
|
are standing outside." |
|
|
2 |
[he said]: |
|
|
|
|
|
"Who are my mother |
|
|
|
|
|
and my brothers?" |
|
|
|
|
3 |
And
stretching out
his hand |
2 |
And |
11 |
For |
|
over his disciples, |
|
|
|
|
|
he
said: |
|
he
said to them: |
|
the Lord
said: |
|
"These
here |
|
"Those here |
|
"Those |
|
who do my Father's will |
|
who do my Father's will |
|
who do my Father's will |
|
are my brothers |
|
are my brothers |
|
are my brothers." |
|
and mother, |
|
and my
mother. |
|
|
|
and sisters." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
These will enter |
|
|
|
|
|
my Father's kingdom." |
|
|
Color
Code |
Blue |
Three
gospels use same vocabulary. |
Teal |
Two
gospels use same vocabulary. |
Black |
Words unique to a
particular gospel. |
Textual Variants
If these documents simply echoed Matthew's account they would only be evidence of the influence of
that gospel. But close comparison shows that they are not directly dependent on any of the
synoptic versions of this pericope.
The wording of this pericope in the gospel used by the group of Jewish Christians called
Ebionites is identical with Matthew's in only one place: the
narrator's preface to Jesus' pronouncement. The
Ebionite version differs from Matthew's in other details:
The pericope on kinship in the sayings gospel of Thomas is simpler than any of the synoptic
versions & has no sign of direct dependence on any of them.
-
It has no narrative details other than the identification of the speakers. It is just a
minimal dialogue consisting of an announcement & a reply.
-
The announcement in Thomas differs from the synoptic versions in two respects: it is
attributed to disciples & it mentions Jesus' brothers before his mother.
-
Its version of Jesus' pronouncement differs from all the synoptics, but is virtually identical
with the Ebionite version (except it omits "sisters" & adds a statement about the Father's
domain).
The Greek sermon called 2 Clement did not cite any element of this
chreia except a briefer version of Jesus' pronouncement in which there is no mention of Jesus' mother (or sisters).
|
Common Wording
Note that the core of Jesus' pronouncement (in
blue) is worded exactly the same in all these non-canonical texts & that it differs from every synoptic version. Since there are no parallels between
these non-canonical texts in the wording of the rest of this pericope, their word-for-word agreement in
the pronouncement shows that this version of Jesus' saying was widely known in early oral Christian
tradition. So, Matthew could have known this & adjusted Mark's wording accordingly. After all, Matthew
is the gospel writer who justifies the right of a trained scribe to introduce new material from the things
he has stored away.
|
last revised 29 December 2005
|