Texts in Conversation
In Isaiah, the prophet tells Israel to seek God while he can still be found. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus sets the deadline at death, urging people to look on the Living One while alive, since after death they will seek him and fail to see him.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 55:6
Hebrew Bible
5 Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know; nations that did not previously know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he bestows honor on you. 6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! 7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.
Gospel of Thomas 1:59
Nag Hammadi
58 Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who has suffered; he has found life.” 59 Jesus said, “Look upon the Living One while you are alive, so that you do not die and then seek to see him, and you will not be able to see.” 60 They saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea. He said to his disciples, “Why is that man carrying the lamb?” They said to him, “So that he may kill it and eat it.” He said to them, “While it is alive, he will not eat it, but only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse.” They said, “Otherwise he cannot do it.” He said to them, “So also with you: seek for yourselves a place of rest, lest you become a corpse and be eaten.”
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Notes and References
“... The predominant theme in this saying is the urgency of seeking salvation (cf. Isa. 55.6: ‘Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near’). The viewpoint here is that one’s earthly life is the opportunity to seek knowledge and true life, an opportunity which will have passed after death. [...] While you are alive. Cf. GTh 38.2: ‘Days are coming when you will seek after me but will not find me.’ The theme of eschatological urgency, which Jeremias identified as central to Jesus’ teaching, is developed in these sayings in the direction of making the life-time of the hearer the time available to see the divine. Lest you die and you seek to see him, but are not able to see. The reference here may be to a postmortem consciousness of the missed opportunity; such an idea has a number of parallels. ...”
* 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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