Saying 60: The Samaritan and the Lamb
Seeing a Samaritan carrying a lamb to Judea, Jesus observes that the man can only eat it once it is dead and has become a corpse — so find a place of rest yourselves, or you will become a corpse and be eaten.
Commentary
A grim little scene built on the logic of consumption from saying 7. “Rest” (*anapausis*) is Thomas’s word for the goal, appearing again in sayings 50, 51 and 90.
Parallels
This saying has no close parallel in the canonical gospels. Roughly half of the Gospel of Thomas is material of this kind, found nowhere else in the early Christian record.
Sayings on the same themes
- Saying 1 Saying 1: Whoever Finds the Meaning Whoever discovers what these sayings mean will not taste death.
- Saying 14 Saying 14: Fasting Brings Sin Fasting brings sin, prayer brings condemnation, almsgiving harms the spirit; go into any land, eat what is put before you, heal the…
- Saying 37 Saying 37: When You Strip Without Shame Asked when he will appear to them, Jesus answers: when you undress without being ashamed, and trample your clothes underfoot like little…
- Saying 56 Saying 56: The World Is a Corpse Whoever has come to know the world has found a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is worth more than the…
- Saying 70 Saying 70: Bring Forth What Is Within You If you bring out what is inside you, what you bring out will save you; if you do not, what you fail…
- Saying 53 Saying 53: Is Circumcision Useful? If circumcision were useful, fathers would produce sons already circumcised; the true circumcision, in spirit, is what profits.