Logion 13

13. Jesus said unto His disciples, "Liken me unto someone and tell Me whom I resemble."
Simon Peter said unto Him, "Thou art like unto a righteous angel."
Matthew said unto Him, "Thou art like unto a wise philosopher."
Thomas said unto Him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom Thou resemblest."
Jesus said, "I am not thy master. Because thou hast drunk, thou hast become drunk from the flowing fountain which I have meted out."
And He took him and withdrew and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, "What said Jesus unto thee?"
Thomas said unto them, "If I tell you one of the things which he hath told me, ye will pick up stones and cast them at me. Fire will issue out of the stones and burn you up.
Cf. Th 108
Mk 8:27-33 (cf. Mt 16:13-18)
And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, "Whom do men say that I am?"
And they answered, "John the Baptist," but some, "Elias," and others, "One of the prophets."
And he saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?"
And Peter answereth and saith unto him, "Thou art the Christ."
And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men."

Jesus asks his disciples in logion 13 to tell him how they perceive him. Simon Peter uses the concept of angel, a messenger, and further, one who is righteous. In Mark we have him affirming Jesus’ divine calling as the Messiah (Gk: christos). It is possible that the term “righteous angel,” on the surface apparently redundant, was another term for the title Messiah, as, for example, Son of Man, which too has redundancy.

Thomas affirms the ineffability of Jesus’ description, but in addressing Him as “master” does admit his dependancy on Him. To this Jesus replies that Thomas has attained to an independent communion with the source of truth. This appears to be the essence of Jesus reply to Peter’s affirmation in Matthew 16:17 (following his version of Mk 8:27-29). He was ready to receive further truth, whereas the other disciples were not. It would seem quite possible that the information he gave Thomas was concerning his impending arrest, death, and resurrection as in Mark. Here Thomas was privy to this information; in Mark the initiate was Peter. The corresponding paricope in Matthew focuses on the source of Peter’s conviction.

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