Texts in Conversation
In Matthew, the shepherd rejoices more over the found sheep than over the ninety-nine. The Gospel of Thomas leaves out the joy and ends instead with the shepherd's labor and his great love for the sheep.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 18:13
New Testament
10 “See that you do not disdain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. 12 What do you think? If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost. 15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother.
Gospel of Thomas 1:107
Nag Hammadi
106 Jesus said, “When you make the two one, you will become children of man, and when you say, ‘Mountain, move!’ it will move.” 107 Jesus said, “The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, wandered off. He left the ninety-nine and sought the one until he found it. After he had labored, he said to the sheep, ‘I love you more than the ninety-nine.’” 108 Jesus said, “Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that one, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him.”
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Notes and References
“... The parable of the lost sheep in vv. 12-13 appears also in Luke 15:4-7 and in Gos. Thom. 107. Was it in Q? Common to Matthew and Luke is the core of the exposition (v. 12 in Matthew; v. 4 in Luke) and the reference to the joy over the one sheep that is greater than that over the ninety-nine (v. 13; v. 7 in Luke’s application). [...] Does Gos. Thom. 107 help with the reconstruction of the original version of the text? There the parable is a parable of the kingdom of God in which the sheep that has gone astray is the “greatest.” The joy of the shepherd and his neighbors when the sheep is found (Luke 15:6) is not portrayed; the parable ends with a reference to the shepherd’s efforts and his great love for the sheep. The shepherd can be understood as Christ who seeks the Gnostic who is lost in the world of matter. The absence of Luke’s v. 6 makes it possible for the gnostic narrator to create a linear narrative focused on the point of the redeemer’s love for the Gnostic. [...] I find it more likely, therefore, that the shepherd’s joy, which leaves its mark on the second part of both the Matthean and Lukan accounts (Matthew v. 13; Luke vv. 5-6), belongs to the original point of the parable. ...”
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