Friday, July 25, 2008

Apocryphote of the Day: 7-25-08

Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor," that is, you who are seeking the truth and not finding it. And also he said, "My sheep hear my voice." And also, "Seek and find," since the truth does not lie on the surface.

Pseudo-Clementines, Homily 3.53 (third century; Syrian text that contains old traditions from Jerusalem)

Commentary: Even though this esoteric perspective was quite common in early Christianity, I think that this comment on Jesus' sayings was the type of perspective that the Sethian authors of the Gospel of Judas would have agreed with whole-heartily, and which formed the basis for their ability to rewrite the Judas story in the way they did. For them, the truth about Judas was not on the surface. It was subversive and had to be revealed.

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