#68: “Q and A”

#68: “Q and A” by Brendon Wahlberg This is the story of a document that no one has seen for two millennia. No one is completely sure it ever existed. But Bible scholars are pretty sure it must have existed. It was a collection of the sayings of Jesus, known as the Q-sayings source, or “Q” for short. Q contained the sayings of Jesus, and only the sayings of Jesus. Q did not have any detailed stories about Jesus’ travels, healings, and miracles. Q did not have any stories about Jesus’ birth or his death and resurrection. No one today has a copy of Q, and ancient sources do not mention it. It is really just an educated guess that Q existed. So, why do scholars think that there was once a collection of Jesus’ sayings? Q is the solution to a puzzle. The puzzle begins with the question of how the gospels were written. Scholars call the puzzle the “synoptic problem”. Three of the gospels are called the synoptic gospels because they are so similar in their content. These are Mark, Luke, and Matthew. These three gospels share stories of Jesus, and sometimes the shared stories are so similar, they match word for word in places. Obviously, some of these gospel writers had copies of each other’s gospels in front of them. They used and reworked the material from the other gospels as they wrote. Sometimes they made large changes, sometimes almost none, as they made the stories their own. But who borrowed from who? That is the synoptic problem in a nutshell. The majority opinion is that Mark was written first. Then, working independently, Luke used Mark, and also Matthew used Mark. So, Luke and Matthew both have some Mark material in them. So far, so good. But what about when you look more closely at Luke and Matthew? Then you can see that there is more to those gospels than a reworking of Mark. For example, Luke has some material that is not found in Mark, or anywhere else. This is easy enough to understand. This material is Luke’s own inspired research and writing. Likewise, Matthew has some of his own unique material. Again, so far, so good. Next, however, you will find that Matthew and Luke have some material in common. There are sayings of Jesus found in both Matthew and Luke which are not found in Mark. Some scholars will say that Matthew had a copy of Luke, or vice versa. But most scholars will say that both Matthew and Luke had a copy of another, totally different document in front of them. This was probably Q, the collection of Jesus’ sayings. What were the contents of Q? Scholars can generally reconstruct what Q must have had in it. Any of Jesus’ sayings material that was (a) not in Mark, and (b) shared by both Matthew and Luke, was in Q, or so the theory goes. If you look online, you can easily find a reconstruction of Q. Here are some of the highlights of what was in Q. 1. Jesus is tested by Satan in the desert (Luke 4, Matthew 4). 2. The beatitudes (Luke 6, Matthew 5). 3. Love your enemies (Luke 6, Matthew 5). 4. Don’t judge others; A tree is known by its fruit; A house built on sand (Luke 6, Matthew 7). 5. The faith of the Centurion (Luke 7, Matthew 7). 6. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head (Luke 9, Matthew 8). 7. Instructions to Jesus’ followers on their mission trips (Luke 10, Matthew 8). 8. No one knows the Father except the Son (Luke 10, Matthew 11). 9. The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11, Matthew 6). 10. Ask and it will be given (Luke 11, Matthew 7). 11. Jesus replies to being accused of driving out demons in the name of the head demon; The sign of Jonah (Luke 11, Matthew 12). 12. God sees the fall of a sparrow (Luke 12, Matthew 10). 13. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Luke 12, Matthew 12). 14. Don’t worry about things (Luke 12, Matthew 6). 15. Son of Man coming unexpectedly (Luke 12, Matthew 24). 16. The mustard seed and the Kingdom (Luke 13, Matthew 13). 17. Parable of the feast (Luke 14, Matthew 22). 18. Parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin (Luke 15, Matthew 18). 19. What will happen when the Son of Man comes (Luke 17, Matthew 24). 20. Parable of servants investing the master’s money (Luke 19, Matthew 25). 21. Twelve thrones for the disciples (Luke 22, Matthew 19). It was fairly common in ancient times for students of great philosophers to record the words of their masters. Someone must have done so with the words of Jesus. It is interesting to see what Q contains and doesn’t contain. The people who wrote Q collected Jesus’ sayings, and copied and shared the ones that meant the most to them. In Q, a portrait of Jesus emerges. Jesus is a teacher, with very special authority from God. Jesus is revered as Wisdom personified. Like other Prophets, he is destined not to be heeded by the people, who fail to obey. The Q sayings are full of details of the rural world of Galilee. The people who preserved these sayings were Messianic Jews who were trying to spread the word about Jesus to other Jews and probably not succeeding much. The fact that Q says nothing about Jesus’ death and resurrection is a curious fact, and it may be that Jesus’ followers had other documents that focused on the Passion. Certainly, Paul’s letters show that the events of Jesus’ resurrection were known. Q, however, focused on Jesus as a teacher. Now, some scholars will say that Q does not exist. And they cannot be proven wrong. But there is one piece of evidence that supports the existence of Q, and that is the finding of a different collection of Jesus’ sayings. I’m referring to the Gospel of Thomas, which was found among the Gnostic writings which were buried in the fourth century and dug up in 1945 in Egypt. The Gospel of Thomas consists of 114 sayings of Jesus, without any narrative. In other words, Thomas looks just like what people think Q would look like. The existence of Thomas makes it possible that a similar sayings collection, Q, also existed. But don’t jump to the conclusion that Thomas is Q. Q was written before the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. Thomas was written much later – it is clear that Thomas is very much a Gnostic book. That is to say, many of the sayings in Thomas, which are ascribed to Jesus, are rather unlikely to have been said by him. Instead, they are Gnostic religious ideas which have been put into Jesus’ mouth. Thomas probably does contain some real sayings of Jesus, and in fact, some think that these sayings are preserved in a very early, more authentic wording. But Thomas also contains some wild and crazy sayings that are just classic Gnostic mysticism and not from Jesus at all. Here are two examples, the first seemingly authentic, the second very Gnostic: 1. “The disciples said to Jesus, ‘Tell us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.’ He said to them, ‘It is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large branch and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.’ (Thomas 20; see also Mark 4:30-32, Matthew 13:31-32, and Luke 13:18-19). 2. “Simon Peter said to them, ‘Make Mary leave us, for females don’t deserve life.’ Jesus said, ‘Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the domain of Heaven.’ (Thomas 114). It is interesting to think about Q and about the early transmission of Jesus stories. People talked about Jesus, spreading an oral tradition, but it is good that others wrote down his sayings. Between the time of the life of Jesus, and the writing of the first gospels, perhaps three or four decades passed. It is reassuring to know that Jesus’ words were kept safe in writing during that time. For the words of Jesus are precious treasures. Clearly the Q community thought so as well. We are in their debt.