Saying 103
Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who knows in which part of the night the robbers are coming, that he may rise and gather his domain (house) and gird up his loins before they come in.”
At first glance, this saying would appear to be a duplicate of saying 21 which references a very similar situation, but there are several significant differences in this saying that are not found in saying 21. As John Dominic Crossan notes:
“There are five major differences between this version (saying 103) and the preceding one (saying 21). The form of 21 was metaphor succeeded by application, that of 103 is beatitude, beginning with the Greek loan-word makarios. In 21 the protagonist is a householder, but in 103 he is simply a man, and there is no mention at all of a house. In 21 the metaphor mentions a singular thief, but the application mentions the plural brigands or robbers. In 103 there is only mention of brigands or robbers, using the same Greek loan-word as earlier in 21. In 21 it is a question of knowing the time of attack, but in 103 it is the place of attack that is in question.”[1]
So, what are we to make of these slight differences between 21 and 103? Here, Jesus is emphasizing the importance of time (“in which part of the night”) that the robbers plan to break into the man’s house, as opposed to simply that they are coming at all, as in saying 21. But the metaphors are the same: a man’s house (or domain) is a reference to the Kingdom of the Father (the Coptic word here carries the double-meaning of both domain or kingdom), the robbers are the Ego and the False Self who try to steal away the truth of Oneness, and being ready is what the “blessed man” does when he rises up to guard against those robbers.
As with many other sayings from Thomas’s Gospel, the verb “rise” is a reference to awakening from our sleep to realize the reality Divine Unity. We either sleep when we embrace the illusion of separation, or we awaken and rise up or stand up in the reality of Oneness. Therefore, the man who is blessed is the one who knows when his Ego and False Self are coming to steal away the truth of the Kingdom so that he can rise up into the reality of Divine Connection with God and all things.
[1]From In Fragments, pp. 62-63, by John Dominic Crossan.**
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He hosts the Second Cup with Keith podcast, and co-hosts the Apostates Anonymous podcast, and the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.
His latest book, Second Cup with Keith is available now on Amazon HERE>
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