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(1)
Thom 55:2
(2) 1Q: Luke 14:27 = Matt 10:38
(3) Mark 8:34 = Matt 16:24 = Luke 9:23
(1) Thom 55:2
/55:1/ Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate father and mother cannot be my disciple, /2/ and whoever does not hate brothers and sisters, and carry the cross as I do, will not be worthy of me." [Complete Gospels]
(2) 1Q: Luke 14:27 = Matt 10:38
Luke 14:27
Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.= Matt 10:38
/10:37/ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; /38/ and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
(3) Mark 8:34 = Matt 16:24 = Luke 9:23
Mark 8:34
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me= Matt 16:24
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.= Luke 9:23
Then he said to them all, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Lectionary
RCL: Lent 2B, Proper 17C
ECUSA & RC: Lent 2B, Ordinary Sunday 23C
Item: 44
Stratum: I (30-60 CE)
Attestation: Triple
Historicity: +
Common Sayings Tradition: YesCrossan [Historical Jesus, 353] dissents from the Jesus Seminar conclusions (see below). His brief statement is worth citing in full:
The complex 44 Carrying One's Cross [1/3] could be dismissed almost immediately as a retrojection of Jesus' death back onto his own prophetic lips. This would be especially persuasive if it were found only in Mark 8:34, but it is found in both Gospel of Thomas 55:2b and the Sayings Gospel Q at Luke 14:27 = Matthew 10:38, neither of which show any great interest in the historical crucifixion of Jesus. On the other hand there is the following text:
If you want to be crucified, just wait. The cross will come. If it seems reasonable to comply, and the circumstances are right, then it's to be carried through, and your integrity maintained.
(Epictetus, Discourses 2.2.20; Oldfather, 1.228-231).There is, therefore, no need to take Jesus' saying as either retrojected or projected prophecy. Jesus "was discussing," as Leif Vaage put it about Epictetus, "the (possible) consequences of following a certain philosophy ... The cost of adopting a particular way of life is ... graphically imagined ... The fate portrayed ... certainly seems a conceivable outcome of the kind of social challenge and outrageous behavior" (1989:173) seen so often throughout this chapter.*
*[The Vaage reference is to "Q1 and the Historical Jesus: Some Peculiar Sayings (7:33-34; 9:57-58,59-60; 14:26-27)" Forum 5/2, 1989, 159-76.]
IQP
The International Q Project reconstructs the original Q saying as follows:
The one who does not take one's cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple.
Jesus Seminar
Text
Item
Source
JS Mtg
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W Avg
Color Thom 55:1-b2 Luke 14:27 Matt 10:38 Mark 8:34 Matt 16:24 Luke 9:23 The Five Gospels (p. 78f) notes that this saying is deeply embedded in the early traditions appearing in three independent sources and in two different forms: as a negative saying in Q/Thom and as a positive saying in Mark. In the end, and only after a second consideration of the question, the Fellows rejected the saying from the database of authentic Jesus sayings on the grounds that its post-Easter understanding of the cross as the defining symbol for Jesus.
Samuel T. Lachs
Lachs [Rabbinic Commentary on the New Testament, 187] notes that there are no rabbinic parallels to this saying but that there are many rabbinic passages that share the idea that the faithful should be willing to face martyrdom for their beliefs, for instance:
The words of the Law are only established in a man who would die for them. [B.Ber. 63b]
Luedemann [Jesus, 57] considers Mark 8:34b "a saying of post-Easter prophet."
Meier [Marginal Jew III,64-66] discusses this saying as part of his treatment of the disciples. He considers that the "shocking imagery" and the multiple attestation both support the case that Jesus created this saying. Meier suggests that the saying would not have spoken of carrying one's own cross (rather than Jesus' cross) had it been a post-Easter creation, and he also cites the parallel from Epictetus (c. 55-135 CE) in support of a wide dissemination of the crucifixion metaphor in the early Roman period.
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