“... Luke 8:19–21 severely abbreviates the Marcan pronouncement story, while at the same time adding the explanation that the mother and brothers could not reach Jesus “because of the crowd” (v 19). After the announcement of this fact to Jesus (v 20), Luke omits Jesus’ gesture and rhetorical question and jumps immediately to Jesus’ climactic response (v 21): “My mother and my brothers, these are the ones who hear the word of God and do [it].” This identification of Jesus’ mother and brothers with the ones who hear the word of God stands in sharp contrast to the Marcan form of the story, where Jesus, upon being told that his family is seeking him, first asks rhetorically, “Who is my mother and my brother?,” and then looks at those sitting in a circle around him, affirming, “Whoever does the will of God, this is my brother and sister and mother.” [...] As happens elsewhere in Thomas, we find CGT 99 pushing Luke’s abbreviating tendency even further: “The disciples said to him: ‘Your brothers and your mother are standing outside.’ He said to them: ‘Those here who do the will of my Father, these are my brothers and my mother. They are the ones who shall go into the kingdom of my Father.’” [...] (4) However, Thomas agrees with Luke in mentioning only the mother and brothers (or vice versa) in the final pronouncement, while in both Mark and Matthew the pronouncement includes brother, sister, and mother. (5) Mark and Matthew also agree in using the singular form for all three persons listed in the final pronouncement; both evangelists begin with the singular form of the relative pronoun (“who[ever] does . . .”). Once again, Thomas’ form of the pronouncement agrees with Luke’s in speaking in the plural of “those who . . . do.” ...”