Reply #7: I Don't Understand It Either

[On the Road]

but it is possible that that verse might have had a special allegorical meaning known only to initiates.

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html">The Gospel of Thomas contains a lot of versions of known sayings, but many of them have a strange twist to them: "For many of the first will be last, and they will become a single one." The criterion of embarrassment suggests that strange or awkward versions of a saying are more likely to be original than an ordinary one, since later copyists might try make a text seem more normal, but would not usually create problem out of something ordinary. So by that indication Thomas may be more authentic than the four familiar ones, which is kind of disorienting. Jesus' family supposedly thought he had gone insane. Very little in the four gospels sounds crazy, but a lot of Thomas does.

Jesus spoke in parables which his listeners didn't understand, but they are so familiar that that element has been lost. That's why Thomas is refreshing -- to me, this one in particular:

97) Jesus said, "The Kingdom of the Father is like a certain woman who was carrying a jar full of meal. While she was walking along a road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her on the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty."

It's like listening to the Sermon on the Mount for the first time.