Saying 74: Many Around the Well
Lord, there are many gathered around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the well.
Commentary
Spoken by an unnamed voice rather than Jesus, and quoted by the third-century writer Celsus. A crowd at an empty source is as sharp an image of failed religion as Thomas produces.
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 31 Saying 31: No Prophet in His Own Village No prophet is welcome in his own village; no doctor heals the people who know him.
- Saying 10 Saying 10: Fire on the World I have cast fire on the world, and I am watching over it until it blazes.
- Saying 40 Saying 40: The Vine Planted Apart A grapevine has been planted away from the Father; it has no strength, and it will be pulled up by the root…
- Saying 52 Saying 52: Twenty-Four Prophets The disciples say twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel and all of them spoke about him; he replies that they have ignored the…
- Saying 44 Saying 44: Blasphemy Against the Spirit Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven; whoever blasphemes against the Holy…
- Saying 39 Saying 39: The Keys of Knowledge The Pharisees and scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and hidden them; they did not go in themselves and did not…