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Mary Magdalene asks Jesus about his disciples both in the Sophia, a Nag Hammadi dialogue, and in the Gospel of Thomas. In the Sophia she asks where they come from, where they will go and what their task is on earth. In Thomas she asks what they are like.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sophia of Jesus Christ 10:1
Nag Hammadi
Mary asked him: “Holy Lord, from where did your disciples originate, and to where are they going, and how should they act here?” The perfect Savior said to them: “I desire that you know that Sophia, the Mother of the World and the consort, by herself, without her male (counterpart), wanted to bring these into existence. However, by the will of the Father of the World, so that his ungraspable benevolence could be manifested, he created the curtain between the immortals and those that arrived thereafter, that the result could follow that [...]
Gospel of Thomas 1:21
Nag Hammadi
20 The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like.” He said to them, “It is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds; but when it falls on plowed soil it produces a great plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.” 21 Mary said to Jesus, “Whom are your disciples like?” He said, “They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, ‘Give our field back to us.’ They take off their clothes in front of them to give it back and return their field to them. For this reason I say, if the owner of a house knows that a thief is coming, he will keep watch before he comes and will not let him break into the house of his kingdom and steal his goods. So you should keep watch against the world; gird your loins with great strength so that the robbers do not find a way to come to you, for the difficulties you expect will arise. Let there be among you a man of understanding. When the crop ripened, he came quickly with his sickle in hand and reaped it. Whoever has ears to hear should hear.” 22 Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, “These little ones being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom.” They said to him, “Then shall we enter the kingdom as little ones?” Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same—so that the male will not be male and the female not be female—when you fashion eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom].”
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Notes and References
“... Mary Magdalene and Salome are not depicted as the ones who misunderstand, but as the ones who at least do not yet understand enough. They do not seem to have attained a level of perception similar to that of Thomas. Both of them are involved in a discussion which elucidates the nature of discipleship. [...] It looks as if one can be a disciple in one sense without being a disciple in the Thomasine sense. The same seems to be true in logion 21. Logion 21 begins with Mary Magdalene's question about the characteristics of the disciples. [...] Clearly, the question implies that [...] she wants and needs to get more information about this matter. [...] In the Sophia of Jesus Christ Mary [...] also asks a question about the disciples (III/4 114,8-12). However, [...] Gos. Thom. 21 the focus of Mary's question is on the essence of discipleship, whereas in Soph. Jes. Chr. III/4 114,8-12 she seeks to know where the disciples come from, where they will go, and what their task is on the earth. ...”
Marjanen, Antti
The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related Documents
(pp. 41-42) E. J. Brill, 1996
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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