Seeking the Imperishable Treasure. Steven R. Johnson

rejected as Lukan redaction.49

      A general problem with Luke’s version of the saying is that minimal Q words like “treasure,” “in (the) heaven(s)” (i.e., a place), “moth,” and “thief” (κλέπτηϚ, “thief”; not λῃστήϚ, “bandit”) imply a treasure to be found in a somewhat fixed location, whereas Luke’s version with “purses” that do not “wear out” (from regular use?) and a thief that “approaches” (presumably the treasure in the purse) suggests the mobility of the treasure. Matthew’s version, on the other hand, is consistent with minimal Q terminology: moths and other things eat away at a sedentary treasure—like fine linen, perhaps—and thieves break into homes or storehouses to steal such treasures. In other words, while Lukan redaction scores style points for creating an appositive parallelism in Luke 12:33b (“make purses that do not wear out, a treasure unfailing in the heavens”) and a tighter structure in Luke 12:33c (the adversity clauses), it does so by using Q terminology that better fits another context, one which is best represented by Matthew (as well as the Gospel of Thomas).

      Q 12:337: Luke’s θησαυρόν or Matthew’s θησαυρούϚ