The Rightly-Guided Injil

Section 9: Publicans, fasting and the question from John

The Gospel According to Islam · Chapter 3, The Ministry in Galilee · Section 9

Publicans, fasting and the question from John. 21 verses.

9

1And Jesus also preached among the publicans who worked for the Roman rulers to collect tax and custom. 2And one publican named Levi became his disciple. 3And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. 4But the scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners. 5And Jesus, answering to what they murmured, said unto his disciples, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

6I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentence1 7And some of the scribes and Pharisees also said, Why do his disciples eat and dine and not fast often as did John. 8And Jesus said, Whereunto shall I liken the men of this generation? and unto what are they like? 9They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We piped unto you and ye did not dance, we mourned and ye did not weep. 10For John came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and they say, He hath a demon.

11And I have come eating and drinking and they say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, and a friend of publicans and sinners. 12But wisdom is justified by all her children.2 13And the disciples of John reported to him of all these things.3 14And John sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come with me?4 or look we for another? 15When the men were come unto him, they said, John hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come with me? or look we for another?

16And Jesus answered and said, Blessed is he, if he does not doubt me.5 17I came not to destroy the sabbath or fasting but only those who make them lords over man.6 18And I came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to confirm them.7 19And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak concerning John, saying, I tell you among those born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist. 20And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

21But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.8

  1. Luke 5:27-32. ↩
  2. Luke 7:31-35. In Luke 7:34, Jesus uses the expression “Son of man” to refer to himself impersonally (cf. note 80). ↩
  3. The incident that follows is reported in Matt. 11:2-11 and Luke 7:18-30. When Jesus started his mission, the disciples of John the Baptist welcomed him, hoping that he would keep the movement of their master alive. But as months passed, Jesus’ own personality and views began to show themselves more and more, and some of John’s disciples probably started to feel that he was becoming too independent of the master, and they reported to John about this. They probably told John disapprovingly of Jesus’ liberal attitude toward the observance of the sabbath, fasting, etc., and also mentioned how Jesus was becoming popular as a healer. John was influenced by some of these reports to an extent and started to wonder whether his former disciple was really acting in the interest of his movement. Before taking any action, however, he decided to find out what Jesus himself had to say. He called two of his more reliable disciples and sent them to Jesus with the question “Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?” The gospels most probably modified the wording of the question (and indeed the whole incident; cf. note 88) to tone down its obvious contradiction with their pretension that John had from the very beginning seen himself as Jesus’ inferior, whose main mission was to herald the advent of the Christ Jesus. But what John wanted to know probably was whether he could count on Jesus as his collaborator or whether he should look for someone else. In his reply, Jesus must have tried to remove John’s misunderstandings, and with a politeness due from a disciple requested John for his continued support, saying to his disciples, “Blessed is he, if he does not doubt me.” It seems that John was satisfied with what his messengers brought back, and the two leaders once again reached some understanding. However, after they died, rivalries started again among their followers and did not cease until the Christian church won a complete victory over the Baptist sect. ↩
  4. The phrase “with me” added to the canonical version of the Baptist’s question, reflects the view that John and Jesus were the two Messiahs who were expected in the Essene tradition to come and work together. It is almost certain that Christianity and the Baptist sect grew out of the Essene tradition. ↩
  5. This is the correct translation of the texts of Matthew (11:6) and Luke (7:23), where the pronoun hos is used demonstratively (“he”) and not relatively (“whosoever”; as in many authorized versions). According to Matthew, before speaking these words Jesus says: “Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Luke goes even further and makes Jesus perform the whole series of miracles there and then before the eyes of John’s messengers. That the words attributed to Jesus by Matthew in the above quotation sound very much like a famous passage from Isaiah (35:5-6) that sets forth the happy circumstances of the future kingdom of God raises a justified suspicion as to their authenticity. And the suspicion is strengthened by the redundancy of showing “John again these things,” which the disciples of John are supposed to have already reported to him on their own initiative (Matt. 11:2) and by Luke’s overzealousness in showing that those miraculous things actually were happening. ↩
  6. It is hard to believe that Jesus expected to reassure John by merely telling him what he had already heard, namely, about Jesus’ “works,” as the canonical Gospels would suggest. It is more natural to assume rather that he said something to clarify his position on matters, on which differences arose between him and some of John’s disciples. ↩
  7. Qur’an 61:6, Matt. 5:17. See also note 92. ↩
  8. Matt. 11:11-12; Luke 7:28-30. ↩

From the Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas keeps sayings that stand beside the Qur’anic portrait of Yaḥyā and of the first helpers. Each saying carries a colour mark: green agrees with the Qur’an, blue is beyond the measure, gold is unclear.

  • Beyond the measure Thomas 13. Asked whom he resembles, Peter answers a righteous angel and Matthew a wise philosopher. Thomas says he cannot say. Jesus tells Thomas three things he will not repeat, for the others would stone him.9
  • Agrees Thomas 46. No one born of woman is greater than John the Baptist, yet whoever becomes a child will know the kingdom and surpass John. (Compare Matthew 11:11.)10
  • Agrees Thomas 73. The harvest is large and the workers are few. Ask the Lord to send workers. (Compare Matthew 9:37-38.)11
  • Agrees Thomas 78. Why did you go out to the desert, to see a reed shaken by the wind, or people in fine clothes like your rulers? They wear luxury and cannot know the truth. (Compare Matthew 11:7-8.)12
  • Agrees Thomas 99. Told that his brothers and mother are outside, Jesus says those who do the Father’s will are his brothers and mother. (Compare Mark 3:31-35.)13

Sayings that conflict with the Qur’an, and sayings that only repeat another, are listed with the reason for each on the page of sayings set aside.

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Notes

  1. Rests on secret teaching given to Thomas alone. The Qur’an records no hidden doctrine, and ʿĪsā brings clear proofs (3:49-50). ↩
  2. Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:28. Qur’an 3:39 and 19:12-15 honour Yaḥyā as noble, chaste and a prophet. ↩
  3. Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2. Qur’an 3:52 and 61:14, where ʿĪsā asks who will be God’s helpers. ↩
  4. Matthew 11:7-8; Luke 7:24-25. Qur’an 19:12-15 honours Yaḥyā, and 18:28 warns against desiring the adornment of this life. ↩
  5. Mark 3:31-35, which reads “the will of God”. Thomas says “my father”; see the note on “Father” on the page of sayings set aside. ↩