PARALLELS BETWEEN THE GOSPELS OF MARK AND THOMAS

Adapted from The Gospel of Thomas Home Page: Mark//Thomas Parallels by Stevan Davies

Markan Parallels to GThomas in GMark's sequence

GOSPEL OF MARK	GOSPEL OF THOMAS
2:18-20 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 19.  Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20.  The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.	104 They said to Jesus, "Come, let us pray today, and let us fast." Jesus said, "What sin have I committed, or how have I been undone? Rather, when the groom leaves the bridal suite, then let people fast and pray."
2:21-22 21.  "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."	47c "Nobody drinks aged wine and immediately wants to drink young wine. Young wine is not poured into old wineskins, or they might break, and aged wine is not poured into a new wineskin, or it might spoil. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, since it would create a tear."
3:27 But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.	35 Jesus said, "One can't enter a strong person's house and take it by force without tying his hands. Then one can loot his house."
3:28-29 "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29.  but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"--	44 Jesus said, "Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven, either on earth or in heaven."
3:31-34 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32.  A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." 33.  And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" 34.  And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35.  Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."	99 The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside." He said to them, "Those here who do what my Father wants are my brothers and my mother. They are the ones who will enter my Father's kingdom."
4:3-9"Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5.  Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6.  And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7.  Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8.  Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold." 9.  And he said, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"	9 Jesus said, Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock, and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.
4:9 .  And he said, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"	21e Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!
4:11 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables;	62a Jesus said, "I disclose my mysteries to those [who are worthy] of [my] mysteries.
4:21 He said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?	33b No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, nor does one put it in a hidden place. Rather, one puts it on a lampstand so that all who come and go will see its light."
4:22 For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.	6b There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."
4:26-29 He also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27.  and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28.  The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29.  But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."	21d Let there be among you a person who understands. When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!
4:30-32 He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31.  It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32.  yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."	20 The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what Heaven's kingdom is like." He said to them, It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.
6:4 Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house."	31 Jesus said, "No prophet is welcome on his home turf; doctors don't cure those who know them.
7:15-20 There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." 16.    17.  When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18.  He said to them, "Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19.  since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20.  And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles.	14c What goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it's what comes out of your mouth that will defile you."
8:27-30 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28.  And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29.  He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." 30.  And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.	13 Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to something and tell me what I am like." Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a just messenger." Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher." Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are like." Jesus said, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have tended." And he took him, and withdrew, and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas came back to his friends they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will pick up rocks and stone me, and fire will come from the rocks and devour you.”
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.	55 Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate father and mother cannot be my disciple, and whoever does not hate brothers and sisters, and carry the cross as I do, will not be worthy of me."
10:14-15 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15.  Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."	22a Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies are like those who enter the kingdom." They said to him, "Then shall we enter the kingdom as babies?"
10:31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."	4b For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one."
11:22-23 Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. 23.  Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.	48 Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move from here!' and it will move."
12:1-8 Then he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 2.  When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3.  But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4.  And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5.  Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6.  He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7.  But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8.  So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.	65 He said, A [...] person owned a vineyard and rented it to some farmers, so they could work it and he could collect its crop from them. He sent his slave so the farmers would give him the vineyard's crop. They grabbed him, beat him, and almost killed him, and the slave returned and told his master. His master said, "Perhaps he didn't know them." He sent another slave, and the farmers beat that one as well. Then the master sent his son and said, "Perhaps they'll show my son some respect." Because the farmers knew that he was the heir to the vineyard, they grabbed him and killed him. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!
12:10-11 Have you not read this scripture: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11.  this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?"	66 Jesus said, "Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is the keystone."
12:13-17 Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. 14.  And they came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? 15.  Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it." 16.  And they brought one. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The emperor's." 17.  Jesus said to them, "Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were utterly amazed at him.	100 They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "The Roman emperor's people demand taxes from us." He said to them, "Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."
12:31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."	25 Jesus said, "Love your friends like your own soul, protect them like the pupil of your eye."
13:17 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!	79 A woman in the crowd said to him, "Lucky are the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you." He said to [her], "Lucky are those who have heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Lucky are the womb that has not conceived and the breasts that have not given milk.'"
13:21 And if anyone says to you at that time, 'Look! Here is the Messiah!' or 'Look! There he is!'-- do not believe it.	113 His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?" "It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it."
13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.	111a Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will roll up in your presence, and whoever is living from the living one will not see death."
14:58 "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.'"	71 Jesus said, "I will destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to build it [...]."

This page is maintained by amcguire@haverford.edu