Codex Tchacos pp. 33–36 · relatively well preserved
The Disciples Pray, Jesus Laughs
One day he was with his disciples in Judea. He found them gathered together, seated and practicing their devotion. When he approached his disciples, gathered together, seated and offering a prayer of thanksgiving over the bread, he laughed.
The disciples said to him, “Teacher, why laugh at our thanksgiving? We’re doing what’s right.”
He answered them, “I’m not laughing at you. You’re not doing this because you want to, but because through this your god will be praised.”[2]
They said, “Teacher, you are … the son of our god.”
Jesus said to them, “How do you know me? Listen, no generation of the people among you will know me.”[3]
When his disciples heard this, they started getting angry and furious, and began cursing him in their hearts.
When Jesus saw their lack of understanding, he said to them, “Why has this agitation led you to anger? Your god who is within you and … have provoked you to anger within your souls. Let any one of you who is strong enough among human beings bring out the perfect human and stand before my face.”
They all said, “We’re strong enough.”
But their spirits didn’t dare to stand before him—except for Judas Iscariot.
Judas Steps Forward
He was able to stand before him, but he couldn’t look him in the eyes, and he turned his face away.
Judas said to him, “I know who you are and where you’ve come from. You’ve come from the immortal aeon of Barbelo.[4] And I’m not worthy to utter the name of the one who sent you.”
Knowing that Judas was thinking about something exalted, Jesus said to him, “Step away from the others and I’ll tell you the mysteries of the kingdom. You can reach it, but you will grieve deeply. For someone else will replace you, so that the twelve disciples may again be complete with their god.”[5]
And Judas said to him, “When will you tell me these things, and when will the great day of light dawn for the generation?”
But when he said this, Jesus left him.
Notes
[2] ↩︎ back Jesus distinguishes between the true God and the lesser deity (often called the Demiurge in Gnostic thought) that the disciples unknowingly worship through conventional religious practice.
[3] ↩︎ back A key Gnostic theme—true knowledge (gnosis) of the divine is not available to ordinary human generations but only to those who transcend material existence.
[4] ↩︎ back In Gnostic cosmology, Barbelo is the first emanation from the unknowable God—often described as the divine Mother-Father or the perfect forethought of God. The “aeon of Barbelo” represents the highest divine realm below the supreme God.
[5] ↩︎ back Judas’s destiny involves both enlightenment and suffering. He will understand the truth but plays, in this reading, the role of betrayer, sacrificing his reputation; the gospel says another will take his place to restore the twelve.