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Luke

About this book
Chapter 23

1 Then the whole group of them rose up and brought Jesus before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding us to pay the tribute tax to Caesar and claiming that he himself is Christ, a king.” 3 So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He replied, “You say so.” 4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” 5 But they persisted in saying, “He incites the people by teaching throughout all Judea. It started in Galilee and ended up here!” 6 Now when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that he was from Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who also happened to be in Jerusalem at that time. 8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some miraculous sign. 9 So Herod questioned him at considerable length; Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the experts in the law were there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, dressing him in elegant clothes, Herod sent him back to Pilate. 12 That very day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other, for prior to this they had been enemies. 13 Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. When I examined him before you, I did not find this man guilty of anything you accused him of doing. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing deserving death. 16 I will therefore have him flogged and release him.” 17 But they all shouted out together, “Take this man away! Release Barabbas for us!” 18 (This was a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city, and for murder.) 19 Pilate addressed them once again because he wanted to release Jesus. 20 But they kept on shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” 21 A third time he said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done? I have found him guilty of no crime deserving death. I will therefore flog him and release him.” 22 But they were insistent, demanding with loud shouts that he be crucified. And their shouts prevailed. 23 So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.⁠ 24 He released the man they asked for, who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will. 25 As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country. They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus. 26 A great number of the people followed him, among them women who were mourning and wailing for him. 27 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 28 For this is certain: The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’⁠ 29 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ 30 For if such things are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” 31 Two other criminals were also led away to be executed with him. 32 So when they came to the place that is called “The Skull,” they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 33 [But Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”] Then they threw dice to divide his clothes. 34 The people also stood there watching, but the leaders ridiculed him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one!” 35 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 36 and saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!” 37 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the king of the Jews.” 38 One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 39 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 40 And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 41 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 42 And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” 43 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 44 because the sun’s light failed. The temple curtain was torn in two. 45 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”⁠ And after he said this he breathed his last. 46 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 47 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 48 And all those who knew Jesus stood at a distance, and the women who had followed him from Galilee saw these things. 49 Now there was a man named Joseph who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man. 50 (He had not consented to their plan and action.) He was from the Judean town of Arimathea, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God. 51 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 52 Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut out of the rock, where no one had yet been buried. 53 It was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. 54 The women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 55 Then they returned and prepared aromatic spices and perfumes. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Texts in conversation

Compare Luke 11:27 and Luke 23:28 and Gospel of Thomas 79

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Luke, praise of Jesus' mother and a blessing on childless women appear in separate episodes. The Gospel of Thomas puts them in one exchange, bringing the second saying into a discussion of motherhood without Luke's warning of coming disaster.

Passages

Luke 11:27

New Testament
26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first.” 27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Luke 23:28

New Testament
27 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 28 For this is certain: The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’ 29 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Gospel of Thomas 79

Nag Hammadi
78 Jesus said, “Why did you come out into the countryside? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man dressed in soft clothing? Look, your kings and your great men are those who wear soft clothing, and they cannot know the truth.” 79 A woman in the crowd said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you.” He said to her, “Blessed are those who have heard the Father’s word and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, ‘Blessed is the womb that has not conceived and the breasts that have not given milk.’” 80 Jesus said, “Whoever has come to know the world has found the body; whoever has found the body, the world is not worthy of him.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... It would seem reasonable to conclude that Luke modeled this passage after Iliad 22 primarily and used biblical images for elaboration. If this is the case, the parallel in the Gospel of Thomas does not witness to a tradition independent of Luke but to the text of Luke itself. Already in the first line in Thomas one sees possible evidence of Lucan redaction insofar as it seems to presuppose a narrative context: “A woman from the crowd. . . . ” The parallels between Thomas and Luke 11 are nearly identical, including the reference to the plural construction “blessed are those. . . . ” But the parallels with Luke 23 are a different matter. First, Thomas alters the plural “Blessed are. . . . ” to the singular, “Blessed is. . . . ” In Luke the women are blessed because they would not have to see their children killed in the war. In Thomas the woman is blessed because she, in observing “the word of the Father,” chooses not to have sex. This would explain the absence of Luke’s reference to women who are sterile and the change from “never gave birth” in Luke to “did not conceive” in Thomas. Notice also that Thomas omits entirely any reference to the fall of Jerusalem; it focuses entirely on sexuality. In each of these changes, Thomas seems to be secondary to Luke; indeed, each can be explained as a redaction of Luke as a direct source. There is no reason to think that Thomas knew a pre-Lucan tradition about the blessing of the breasts. ...”
Dennis R. MacDonald, “The Breasts of Hecuba and Those of the Daughters of Jerusalem: Luke's Transvaluation of a Famous Iliadic Scene,” in Ancient Fiction: The Matrix of Early Christian and Jewish Narrative, ed. Jo-Ann A. Brant, Charles W. Hedrick, and Chris Shea, SymS 32 (Atlanta: SBL, 2005), 253–254.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Luke 11:27 and Luke 23:28 and Gospel of Thomas 79

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