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 13 Saying 13: Compare Me to Something Peter says Jesus is like a righteous messenger, Matthew like a wise philosopher; Thomas says his mouth cannot say what Jesus is…
- Saying 43 Saying 43: The Tree and Its Fruit Asked who he is to speak this way, Jesus replies that they do not recognise him from what he says: they have…
- Saying 16 Saying 16: Not Peace but Division People think I have come to bring peace; I have come to bring divisions — fire, sword, war. Five in a house…
- 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 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 53 Saying 53: Is Circumcision Useful? If circumcision were useful, fathers would produce sons already circumcised; the true circumcision, in spirit, is what profits.