Saying 86

English

Jesus said, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds have their nests, but the son of man does not have a place to lay his head and rest.’

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Interpretation

After a string of late additions to the book, Saying 86 returns to a teaching from the oldest version of the book. The phrase ‘son of man’ is not used here as a messianic title for Jesus. It instead carries its older, idiomatic sense of ‘person, human, mortal’. (Compare Saying 44.) The saying claims that animals have their own natural homes, but humans do not. In context, Thomas probably understood this as referring to Jesus and his disciples as being itinerant teachers and healers.

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Parallels

Matthew

8.19–20 A scribe then approached and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’

Luke

9.57–58 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’