The Sayings Gospel Q
The Sayings Gospel QIntroductionfrom The Complete Gospels, ed. Robert J. Miller (4th edition, 2010)A hypothetical text"Q" is an abbreviation of the German word Quelle, meaning "source." It is used to designate a document which most scholars believe the authors of Matthew and Luke used in writing their gospels. These gospel writers, it is believed, also used the Gospel of Mark. While Mark is an extant text, Q is a hypothetical construct. No independent copy of it exists. But it is widely believed that the passages in Matthew and Luke that are almost the same, often in the same sequence, and that did not come from Mark, must have come from this lost source, Q. The nonMarkan passages common to Matthew and Luke agree wordforword so often that most scholars believe Q must have been a written document and not simply oral tradition, though oral tradition also probably played a role. The theory that Q and Mark were literary sources for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke is called the Two Document Theory. This theory was first proposed about 150 years ago. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in Q, and significant progress has been made in isolating and understanding it.One convention of scholarship has to do with how to refer to passages in Q. Since Q scholars believe that the sequence of sayings and often their wording are best preserved in Luke’s gospel, references to Q adopt the chapter and verse numbers of Luke. Accordingly, Q 3:79 refers to the Q material behind Luke 3:79 (and its Matthean parallel). A sayings gospelQ is a collection of the sayings of Jesus, similar in form to the Gospel of Thomas. Unlike the sayings in Thomas, however, most of the sayings in Q are gathered into discourses. One of these is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew) or Plain (Luke)—see the different settings for this discourse in Matt 5:1 and Luke 6:12. Other discourses focus on John the Baptist (Q 7:1835), mission instructions to the disciples (Q 10:216), prayer (Q 11:913), exorcism (Q 11:1426), condemnation of Pharisees (Q 11:3952), and other subjects. Not all of Q consists of sayings, however. Q also included at least two bits of narrative: the story of the temptation of Jesus in Q 4:113 and a miracle story in Q 7:110.To call Q as a “gospel” is not to ignore the fact that it belongs to a different genre than the canonical gospels, namely a sayings collection. The word “gospel” is used because Q, like the canonical gospels, presents a version of Jesus’ message.The language of QQ is not simply a transcript of the words of Jesus. One sign of this is the language in which Q was probably written. Most scholars believe that the first language of Jesus and his followers was Aramaic, though they may also have known some Greek. In any case, Q was written in Greek. The frequent wordforword agreements between Matthew and Luke make highly unlikely older speculation about Q being originally in Aramaic. Furthermore, most of Q's quotations or allusions to the Old Testament depend upon the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible.An early gospelSince Q was, by definition, earlier than Matthew or Luke, it represents a very early version of the gospel. Q has generated much interest because it lacks many things one might expect in an early document dealing with Jesus, especially stories about Jesus' death and resurrection It also lacks the title "Anointed"(Christ or messiah). No disciples are named. There are no birth stories, and all but one of the many miracle stories found elsewhere in the canonical gospels are missing. Because of all this, earlier scholars thought Q was not a gospel in itself, but only a teaching document which assumed that its audience was familiar with the stories told in the canonical gospels. The discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, however, demonstrated that a sayings collection could stand by itself as a gospel.Jesus and his messageJesus appears in Q as a wise teacher and prophet. In fact, Jesus implicitly links himself to the prophets of Israel’s past, who were, Q says, consistently rejected, even killed (Q 6:23; 11:47-49; 13:34-35). This is a perspective on Israel’s history that is found in the Hebrew Bible itself (e.g., Neh 9; Jer 7:25-29; 25:3-7; 2 Chr 30:6-9; Zech 7:4-14). Like the rejected prophets of the past, Jesus called God’s people to live according to God’s will. Jesus’ death is presumed in Q (13:34-35), but not described. It is seen as evidence of the unbelief of the people, not as an act which brings salvation. Jesus’ disappearance is hinted at in Q13:35, which some scholars see as a reference to Jesus assumption into heaven. If so, then in Q Jesus is not raised from the dead but “taken up” in somewhat the same way as Enoch (Gen 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kgs 2:1,11). From there, Jesus is to return, at some unpredictable time, as the “Human One” (e.g., Q 12:40 and 17:24). Prophets play a significant role in Q (6:23; 7:24-28; 10:24; 11:47, 49-51; 13:34). Q 6:23 likens the troubles of the Q audience to those of the prophets, indicating that the people who used Q also saw themselves in the prophetic tradition.The message of the Jesus in Q is that God’s empire is at hand, and it is time to embrace this empire by adopting a radical lifestyle. Although no direct reference is made to the inescapable reality of the Roman Empire, the contrast between God’s empire and that of Rome would have been obvious. Deep confidence in God’s gracious, fatherly rule lies at the basis of Jesus’ teachings about non-violence (Q 6:22-23) love of enemies (Q 6: 27-30), unlimited forgiveness (Q 17:4; see Q 11:4) as well as his confidence in God’s care (Q 11:2b-4, 9-13) and freedom from anxiety about food or clothing (Q 12:22b-31, 33-34). At the same time, the Jesus of Q warns about the hypocrisy of reputed leaders (Q 11:39-44, 46b, 52, 47-48) as well as the temptations of emulating elites. Wisdom in QAs a collection of sayings, Q already belongs to a tradition with roots in ancient Israel and the Middle East, namely the wisdom tradition. In addition, in Q we meet the figure of personified Wisdom as a divine feminine figure who sends prophets and sages (Q 11:49; see 7:35; 11:31). This is a figure known from Jewish tradition (e.g., Prov 9:1-6; Sir 24; WisSol 6:12-16; 7:22-30). A double movement is associated with this figure: she both seeks to draw associates to her, and she is sought by them as the source of understanding. Jesus functions that way too in Q. Thus, while Jesus is not specifically identified with Wisdom in Q, the influence of that tradition is clear. According to Q 11:49, Wisdom sent prophets to Israel. This means that in Q, we have a combination of the wisdom and prophetic traditions, though this was not really new (see, e.g., Prov 1:20-33). But as a way of identifying Jesus’ role, it does make Q different from the canonical gospels.The people behind QQ seems to be a gospel that is rooted in the rural peasantry of Galilee. It mentions only a few placenames—a town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee (Capernaum in Q 7:1 and 10:15, and nearby Chorazin and Bethsaida in Q 10:13), as well as the Syrian towns of Tyre and Sidon (Q 10:13, 14). Jerusalem (Q 13:34) is a place that rejects prophets. The imagery in Q is also rural, not urban, and when references are made to urban settings, these have a negative tone. Q, thus, is not only a very early gospel, but seems closer to the Jesus of ancient Galilee than the Jesus of the canonical gospels.One gets the impression from Jesus' Sermon (Q 6:2049) that the Q people thought of themselves as an oppressed group—poor, hungry, and weeping (Q 6:2023). This situation required them to reflect on how to respond to their enemies (Q 6:2738). But they also had a need to maintain internal cohesion and commitment, something demanded in Q 6:3949 (see also 11:3436 and 12:212). The marginal situation of these people is reflected in the concern about food and clothing in Q 12:2231. The mission charge in Q 10:216 provides another glimpse into the life of the people who composed and used Q. Their mission was exceedingly demanding—and apparently unsuccessful, as we can gather from Q 10:1315 (see also 7:3135; 11:2932, 3952; 13:3435). The theme of being rejected occurs over and over again in Q. The Q people seem to have accepted splitting up families as the expected result of following Jesus (Q 9:59-60; 12:53; 14:26). Most scholars date Q from about 50 to 70 C.E. because of its use by Matthew and Luke, and because of the unique and rather distinctive nature of its view of Jesus. One may speculate that this early group of followers died out, and that their message survived only by being re-contextualized by its insertion into the different story of Jesus that Matthew and Luke knew from Mark.It is difficult to know how many of the sayings ascribed to Jesus were uttered by him. We are probably safe in assuming that the selection of the sayings, their composition into discourses, and much of the wording reflect the Q people more than Jesus himself. But even if this is so, it is no loss. For the people who wrote and used Q were an extraordinarily interesting group. And careful readers will be able to read between the lines and recreate in their imaginations some of the very earliest followers of Jesus—and perhaps a more provocative view of Jesus himself. ................
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