Katie Wilmouth
RELI 124-08
January 20, 2010
Implications of Jesus’ Death in Gospel Q
Before the discovery of the Gospel of Thomas in 1945, scholars considered a recount of Jesus’ death imperative in early Christian writings. With that assumption in mind, few people dared to call the Q document a true “gospel” before the 1950s. The book is a collection of stories and teachings in Jesus’ voice, without the interpretive overlay provided in the New Testament Gospels. Consequently Q was seen as merely a supplement, intended for those who were already aware of Jesus’ passion and subsequent resurrection. The Gospel of Thomas somewhat altered this way of thinking because it too lacks any references to or interpretation of Jesus’ death, any yet identifies itself as a gospel. Therefore, if Thomas was a gospel, containing meticulous accounts of the sayings of Jesus and in turn withholding a description of his death, then it would seem appropriate to consider Q a gospel as well.
Some of the earlier treatments of Q attempted to solve the problem of Q’s lack of any reference to Jesus’ death by asserting that as a narrative framed in a voice of the living Jesus, there is no suitable place to represent Jesus’ death. Despite the fact that Q lacks a narrative of Jesus’ death or sayings that refer specifically to his death, Q is not as silent as some might suppose (Kloppenborg 75). While Q never comments explicitly on Jesus’ death, there are a handful of passages (6:22-23; 7:24-35; 11:47-51; 13:34-35; 14:27) which treat the subjects of persecution and death in a way that could readily have been applied to his demise. These passages contain certain elements that point toward a basic understating about the death of Christ.
“The one who does not take one’s cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple” (Q 14:27). Matthew and Luke’s versions of Q 14:27 are as follows: “And whoever does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me” (M 10:38); “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me is not able to be my disciple” (L 14:27). The similarities are undeniable, but does this passage presuppose knowledge of a passion narrative? To us the answer is no, but it is hard to imagine that the Q people, upon hearing Q 14:27, would not connect it somehow with Jesus’ death. According to Q 14:27, to associate with Jesus, one must carry the cross and travel the path he walked. Many Christians believe “to bear one’s cross” signifies the imitation of Jesus’ death. That is, a willingness to die like Jesus qualifies one as a true Christian.
Q 6:22-23 is another saying that suggests the Q people had some understanding about the death of Jesus. “Blessed are you when they insult and persecute you, and say every kind of evil against you because of the son of man. Be glad and exult, for vast is your recompense in heaven. For this is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Q 6: 22-23). What Q invokes here is called the “Deuteronomistic view of the prophets.” In this theology, the prophets are represented primarily as preachers of repentance and as rejected preachers.
Q is notable in that it generally does not describe the events of the life of Jesus. This does not mean that whoever collected the sayings of Q was not interested in the death of Jesus or resurrection, but rather thought the importance of Jesus lay in what he said, what he preached.
Works Cited
Kloppenborg, John S. Q, The Earliest Gospel an Introduction to the Original Stories and Sayings of Jesus. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008. Print.
