Texts in Conversation
In Luke, the risen Jesus suddenly stands among his disciples. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus uses the same phrase, in the midst, for standing among the people of the world, whom he finds drunk.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Luke 24:36
New Testament
35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how they recognized him when he broke the bread. 36 While they were saying these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 But they were startled and terrified, thinking they saw a ghost.
Gospel of Thomas 1:28
Nag Hammadi
27 “If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not make the Sabbath a Sabbath, you will not see the Father.” 28 Jesus said, “I stood in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk; none of them thirsted. My soul was pained for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see. They came into the world empty, and they seek to go out of the world empty. But now they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, they will repent.” 29 Jesus said, “If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Yet I marvel at this: how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty.”
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Notes and References
“... 28.1 I stood in the midst of the world. The presence of ‘world’ in sayings 27 and 28 (3 ×), as well perhaps as the ‘finding’ in 28.2, may indicate a catchword connection between the sayings (as perhaps also ‘seeing’ in GTh 27.2 and 28.3). The sense is probably not ‘in the centre of the world’ in a geographical sense, interesting though this suggestion is. The closest parallel is perhaps that of the risen Jesus standing ‘in the midst of’ (ἐν μέσῳ) the disciples in Luke 24.36 (cf. Matt. 18.20). The world here refers primarily to the people in it, hence the parallel between ‘in the midst of the world’ and ‘to them’ in 28.2. ...”
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