Saying 72: Who Made Me a Divider?
A man asks Jesus to make his brothers share their inheritance with him; Jesus asks who made him a divider, and turns to the disciples: am I really a divider?
Commentary
A pun that only works in a book obsessed with division. Luke has the same refusal; Thomas turns it into a rhetorical question about Jesus’s whole function.
Parallels
Luke 12:13–14
Sayings on the same themes
- Saying 114 Saying 114: Simon Peter and Mary Simon Peter says Mary should leave, because women are not worthy of life. Jesus answers that he will guide her so that…
- Saying 89 Saying 89: Washing the Outside of the Cup Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not understand that whoever made the inside also made the outside?
- Saying 95 Saying 95: Do Not Lend at Interest If you have money, do not lend it at interest; give it to someone who will not pay you back.
- Saying 78 Saying 78: Why Did You Go Out to the Countryside? Why did you come out to the country — to see a reed shaken by the wind, or a man in soft…
- Saying 48 Saying 48: Two Making Peace Move a Mountain If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will tell the mountain to move and it will move.
- Saying 63 Saying 63: The Rich Fool A rich man planned to invest his money, sow, reap and fill his barns so he would lack nothing — and died…