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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 16

1 Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather because the sky is red,’⁠ 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.⁠ 4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away. 5 When the disciples went to the other side, they forgot to take bread. 6 “Watch out,” Jesus said to them, “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 So they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “It is because we brought no bread.” 8 When Jesus learned of this, he said, “You who have such little faith! Why are you arguing among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the 5,000, and how many baskets you took up? 10 Or the seven loaves for the 4,000 and how many baskets you took up? 11 How could you not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to be on guard against the yeast in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 13 When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”⁠ 14 They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”⁠ 17 And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.⁠ 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.⁠ Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”⁠ 20 Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. 21 From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed and on the third day be raised. 22 So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: “God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.⁠ 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. 26 For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life?⁠ Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?⁠ 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.⁠ 28 I tell you the truth, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 16:3 and Luke 12:56 and Gospel of Thomas 91

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Matthew and Luke, Jesus asks why people can judge the weather but not the times. In the Gospel of Thomas, Luke's image of earth and sky leads to a question about recognizing Jesus, directing the criticism toward their response to him.

Passages

Matthew 16:3

New Testament
1 Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather because the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Luke 12:56

New Testament
54 Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it does. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time?
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Gospel of Thomas 91

Nag Hammadi
90 Jesus said, “Come to me, for my yoke is easy and my lordship is gentle, and you will find rest for yourselves.” 91 They said to him, “Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you.” He said to them, “You examine the face of heaven and earth, but you do not recognize the one who is before you, and you do not know how to examine this moment.” 92 Jesus said, “Seek and you will find. In the past I did not tell you the things about which you asked me then. Now I am willing to tell them, but you do not seek them.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... In all instances in which the Q parallels in the Gospel of Thomas agree with either Matthew or Luke, one must assume that such agreements represent the wording of the more original versions of those sayings and thus the text of Q. It is, of course, possible that the transmission of the text of the Gospel of Thomas and/or its Coptic translation was influenced by the text of the canonical gospels. In the following, I will present a number of instances in which parallels between Q and the Gospel of Thomas suggest reconstructions of Q. These reconstructions either diverge from the most probable Q text that has been presented by Kloppenborg, Q Parallels, and by others or address previous uncertainties that have existed in the reconstruction of Q. [...] You judge earth and sky 16:3 12:56 91 GThom 91 supports the inclusion of [...] (“of the earth,” only Luke) and the reading [...] (“this time,” Luke; Matthew: [...] [“the signs of the times”], for Q 12:56. ...”
Helmut Koester, “Q and Its Relatives,” in Gospel Origins & Christian Beginnings: In Honor of James M. Robinson, ed. James E. Goehring, Charles W. Hedrick, Jack T. Sanders, and Hans Dieter Betz, Forum Fascicles (Sonoma, CA: Polebridge, 1990), 61–62.

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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Matthew 16:3 and Luke 12:56 and Gospel of Thomas 91

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