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The remarkable thing is that whether the issue is finding Jesus when he is no longer here or seeking the place where Jesus now is, Thomas tradition has Jesus respond in words that are a close variant of Q-context tradition. With this topic, it appears as though the Thomas tradition stands in an intermediate position between the Q tradition and the Gospel of John. The Gos. Thom. has advanced the issue of "seek and you will find" in Q tradition both to "there will be a time when you will seek me and not find me" and "it is necessary to seek the place where I am." The Gospel of John has advanced these two topics to a repetitive theme that concerns "where Jesus is going."

Another similar relation among Gos. Thom., Q-context tradition, and John exists with the topic of where Jesus is from and who chose the twelve. The Gospel of John treats these as two separate topics:

John 7 28 Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I am from?"
John 6 70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve?"
John 13 18 I know whom I have chosen....
John 15 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.... 19 ... I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

The Gos. Thom. merges these topics together in a passage that presents one of the most fully developed statements of Thomasine theology (De Conick: 64-96):

Gos. Thom. 50 1 Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We have come from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established [itself], and appeared in their image.' 2 If they say to you, 'Is it you?' say, 'We are its children, and we are the chosen of the living Father.' 3 If they say to you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is motion and rest.'"

When the issue becomes the evidence of the Father in the disciples and the answer includes "rest," the well known Q-context passage in its Matthean version has a fascinating relation to the Thomasine tradition:

Matt 11 27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (cf. Luke 10:21-22)

In this Q-context tradition, the result of the Son's revelation of the Father to the disciple is the presence of rest in the disciple. In Gos. Thom., the phenomenon of rest in the disciple is evidence of the Father in him or her. In this instance, it appears as though the Johannine and Thomasine traditions have developed independently from one another, rather than in any relation of dependence. In contrast to the Gos. Thom., the Gospel of John makes


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