Texts in Conversation
The Gospel of Thomas calls the grown mustard plant a shelter for birds, using a Greek loan word. The Shepherd of Hermas uses the same Greek word for the shade of a great willow over everyone called by God's name.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Shepherd of Hermas 67:1
Early Christian
1 He showed me a great willow, overshadowing plains and mountains, and all who are called by the name of the Lord have come under the shadow of the willow. 2 By the willow stood an angel of the Lord, glorious and very tall, holding a large sickle, and he was cutting branches from the willow, and giving them to the people who found shelter beneath the willow; and he gave them small rods about a cubit long.
Date: 90-140 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Gospel of Thomas 1:20
Nag Hammadi
19 Jesus said, “Blessed is the one who existed before coming into being. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will serve you. For you have five trees in paradise which do not change, summer or winter, and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death.” 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.”
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Notes and References
“... 20.4 And becomes a shelter for birds of the air. Pokorný may well be correct here that there is an emphasis on security in the ‘shelter’. The reference to the Greek loan word [...] here perhaps relates to its use in the Shepherd of Hermas, where all who are called by the name of the Lord come under the σκέπη of a great willow tree (Herm. 67 [Sim. 8.1].1). Thomas’s version is that which has least connection with the Old Testament by comparison with all the Synoptics, which for Crossan is evidence of Thomas’s primitivity but for Goodacre is the opposite. ...”
* 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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