The Mystery Man of the Nag Hammadi Library

 In a republished The American Weekly article in the The San Francisco Examiner, published on April 07, 1957,  we get the first quotes of early translations from the lost "Fifth Gospel."  As the article states, the Apostle Thomas recorded these sayings while with Jesus and when Jesus spoke at Capernaum, on the Mount, by the shores of Galilee, in Bethany, and on the road to Jerusalem.  Quotes reference included:

 Jesus said:

He that is near Me is near the fire.

He that is far from Me is far from the fire. 

Jesus said:

He that searcheth findeth.  He that findeth will be astonished.

He that is astonished will be in admiration.  And he that knoweth admiration will reign over the world.

And Jesus said:

Man is like unto a clever fisherman who casts his net into the sea draws it up full of little fishes.  And among the little fishes he finds one good big fish.  And the wise fisherman takes the on big fish and throws back into the sea all the little fishes.  And it hurts him not to keep the only big fish.

Jesus said:

Happy is the man who has suffered.

He has found life.

Jesus said:

When you have cast off the mantle of shame, when you shall be naked without knowing shame, when you will be two in one body, then you will know the Kingdom of Heaven.

 How exactly did all of these secret sayings come to light in 1957?  Well, as luck would have it, we get the summary to date (that is as of 1957...)  Revisiting the story thus far, the article mentions:

• Egyptian farm laborers were digging at the base of a great chalk cliff 60 miles downstream from Luxor for a material called sebakh, or natural fertilizer
• The cliff at which they were at the base off was known at Jebel-et-Tarif
• Jebel-et-Tarif featured bare white walls with cave like openings of ancient tombs from the days of the pharaohs
• The base of the cliff was also known to be an ancient Greco-Roman cemetery
• At this location their shovels struck an old clay jar, and within the jar a lot of old papyrus and leather bound books
• The farmers took the books back to their village and decided to sell the materials for nine equivalent USD dollars to a local traders

Somehow these traders who bought the texts knew it was of some value, and fearing the Egyptian government would claim the books, began selling the texts secretly.  These books changed hands multiple times, yet by 1946, one incomplete volume was sold to a Belgian antiquarian and a second volume sold to Old Cairo's Coptic Museum.   What happened to the remaining texts that were discovered at the sacred, ancient cemetery site?

Coincidentally, the missing texts floated from dealer to dealer for four years, mysteriously vanishing and reappearing until all were reunited by one man in 1949.  This one man then showed up at Coptic Museum and offered the texts, in a suitcase, to the Museum for "an astronomical sum of cash."  

Years passed, the government intervened and took ownership of the texts, Carl Jung became involved with the possession of the Belgian volume...and so it went until our early hero of the story, Professor Henri C. Puech, began the translations of the texts in Egypt.  

Puech, in this interview, pointed out that of all the works found near Jebel-et-Tarif, The Gospel According to Thomas, is the most "magnificent and rewarding volume of the series...."

The article goes on to mention a few more translations from the text, but I find the last two paragraphs of The American Weekly report most rewarding.  The author, Manuel Komroff, writes:

These are some of the worlds of Jesus which were found on the banks of the ancient Nile in 1945, the year when the first atom bomb was dropped and the year that saw the end of World War II.  At this critical moment in history, His words, trapped in the long darkness of 18 centuries, were once more given to man.  Can this be an accident?  Or is there a greater design?

As the clay was shattered and the words found light He spoke again as He spoke of old.  Once more He comes to us as He came long ago to those who waited for Him on the Mount or at the edge of the Seas of Galilee.  One more He speaks to us words that lighten the yoke which weighs upon us.  He speaks again as He spoke of old with simplicity, understanding and love.

 

 Quite the statement...although some 66 years after this article was published, I'd dare say nothing much has changed since these new words came to light.  Are these the true words of a revered individual from thousands of years ago?  Or is this another slight of hand from a "greater design?" And who is the mysterious individual who somehow managed to collect the "lost pages," only to bring them together for profit?  Let's see if our newspaper adventure leads us to more answers.