Saying 28

English

Jesus said, ‘I stood in the midst of the world and I appeared to them in flesh, [and] I found all of them drunk, [and] I found none of them thirsty, and my soul suffered [greatly | in pain] for the sons of men because they are blind in their hearts and they do not see. [For they came into the world empty, and they seek to leave the world empty. They are drunk now, but when they shake off their wine, then they will repent.]’

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Interpretation

Jesus laments that humans have become ‘drunk’ not from his wisdom (as in Saying 13), but from worldly thinking. They are ‘blind’ and ‘empty’, perhaps with the connotation of being filled with darkness, devoid of light (as in the reinterpreted Saying 24). Jesus has entered the world from outside it, implying an incarnation theology similar to that found in the letters of Paul, Hebrews, or the Gospel of John. These details put Saying 28 in the latest version of the book.

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Parallels

John

1.9–10, 14 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world […] And the Logos became flesh and lived among us.