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Scholarly Quotes

Marvin Meyer writes: “If this is a saying about those who work hard, as is likely, mention may be made of Proverbs 8:34-36, with its commendation of a person who continually observes the ways of Wisdom, or Sirach 51:26-27, with its injunction that one labor under the yoke of Wisdom, or the Cynic author ‘Crates,’ Epistles 15 and 16, with the observation that a Cynic is one who works hard at philosophy.” (The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 92)

Robert M. Grant and David Noel Freedman write: “Here we find an equivalent, in the form of a blessing, to the invitation repeated in Saying 90 from Matthew 11:28-30; in that saying Matthew’s reference to ‘labor’ is omitted, perhaps in order to be placed here. ‘Finding rest’ in Saying 90 is equivalent to ‘finding life’ here. See also Saying 10, on ‘working together.’” (The Secret Sayings of Jesus, p. 165)

Funk and Hoover write: “In form, this aphorism mimics the beatitudes found in Matthew (5:3-12) and Luke (6:20-22). But in content it recalls the ‘labors’ of Hercules. In early Christian times, Cynics and Stoics, two dominant schools of philosophy during the Greco-Roman period, 300 B.C.E. - 300 C.E., looked to Hercules as a kind of heroic founder. This sort of borrowing from popular culture was common in the early Christian movement as the followers of Jesus added to the legacy of their teacher. Also, the promise of life echoes the prologue to Thomas and related motifs elsewhere in this gospel (101:3; 114:1; further, 18:3; 19:4; 85:2; 111:2).” (The Five Gospels, p. 506)