More false sayings of Jesus

 Two more false sayings  

from Farah See’s commentary on The Gospel of Thomas and Other Sayings of Jesus (in the Incoherent series, published by Rantrage Press, 2012, p. 228 - from the section “Falsely Attributed” which begins) –

In the following pages are sayings falsely attributed to Jesus. He could not have said them, much as someone might have wished he had. I confine myself to sayings attested to in the fourth century and earlier. Otherwise, to paraphrase the last verse in John’s gospel, the world could not contain all the books I would have to write.

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The following are from a late second-century Greek manuscript, sometimes called “Three Sayings,” though only two survive. The Greek is poor, but it is clear what it says.

     ma&karioi  u(min  oi(  ptwxoi&, o#ti  eu)rh&sete  plou=ton.
          ou)ai  oi(  plousi&&oi, pa&lnai  oi(  a)pwlolo&i.

     Blessed are the poor, for they shall find riches.

          Woe to the rich, for they are lost already.

     mh\  a)posterei=te  xarh=nai, ou)x  a)mo&sei  toi=v  maqhtai=v  mou=.

     Do not refuse to be glad, for it is unbecoming for my followers.

Commentary

The first of the sayings combines a blessing and a woe from Luke 6 (verses 20 and 24) and creates a play on words. It’s important that the source is Luke, not Matthew. The saying has nothing to do with either the “poor in spirit” or, for example, “the rich in imagination.” The poor will be rich someday. They will have cash in their pockets and assets in the bank. The rich have no someday at all; they’ve had their day already. While the source makes us doubt Jesus said this, he certainly might have said something very like it.

     The second saying - who knows where it comes from? But whoever concocted it clearly had difficulty with the Puritans, Sourpusses, and Sad Sacks in the Body. And why shouldn’t he¹ have? Doesn’t Luke 15:32 say that it is “fitting to be glad,” even “to make merry,” when one that was dead is made alive? To say that the sayings in this section are falsely attributed to Jesus is not to say that they are not true in themselves.

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 ¹ Or she.

09.22.19

For links to other excerpts from both this and Rantrage Press commentaries (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Revelation, et al.), click here.