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In Mark, a rich man told to sell everything and follow Jesus goes away sad. The wise fisherman in the Gospel of Thomas does the reverse, throwing back his whole catch of small fish to keep one large fish without any distress.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Mark 10:22
New Testament
20 The man said to him, “Teacher, I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.” 21 As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But at this statement, the man looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. 23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
Gospel of Thomas 1:8
Nag Hammadi
7 Jesus said, “Blessed is the lion that the man will eat, so that the lion becomes a man. And cursed is the man whom a lion will eat, and the lion will become a man.” 8 And he said, “The human being is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a large, fine fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has ears to hear should hear.” 9 Jesus said, “Look, the sower went out, took a handful of seeds, and scattered them. Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock and they did not take root in the soil and did not produce ears. Others fell among thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced good fruit. It yielded sixty per measure and one hundred and twenty per measure.”
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Notes and References
“... 8.3 Without being troubled. Here, the fisherman, without pain, without a pang of regret, threw all the small fry back into the sea and kept the one. The phrase therefore emphasises the indifference which the disciple has towards the allures of the world which compete with discipleship: true disciples will not feel pain turning their backs on what others cherish. Morrice comments that the message of the parable in Thomas is the joy of discovery which must be accompanied by great sacrifice, but the point of the phrase [...] is that it does not feel to the disciple like a great sacrifice. One might draw a contrast here with the rich man when he heard the demands of discipleship in Mark 10.22: ‘upset at this saying, he went away grieving’. The wise fisherman has the opposite experience. ...”
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