Texts in Conversation
Matthew and Luke give the same saying about foxes, birds and the Son of Man with no place to lay his head. The Gospel of Thomas has a form of it too, adding that he has no place to lay his head and rest.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 8:20
New Testament
19 Then an expert in the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Luke 9:58
New Testament
57 As they were walking along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 Jesus said to another, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Gospel of Thomas 1:86
Nag Hammadi
85 Jesus said, “Adam came from great power and great wealth, but he did not become worthy of you. For had he been worthy, [he would] not [have tasted] death.” 86 Jesus said, “The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head and rest.” 87 Jesus said, “Wretched is the body that depends on a body, and wretched is the soul that depends on these two.”
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Notes and References
“... Foxes have holes. [...] Jesus' pronouncement is word-for-word identical to that in Matt 8:20. A form of the same saying is found in Gos. Thom. § 86: "[Foxes have] the[ir holes] and birds have [their] nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head and rest." The reference to "rest" is to be understood in the Gnostic sense, as elsewhere in that Gospel. This form of the saying is dependent on the canonical Gospels. ...”
Fitzmyer, Joseph A.
The Gospel According to Luke: Introduction, Translation, and Notes
(p. 835) Doubleday, 1981
* 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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