Biblica_1:Layout 1 21-11-2011 12:59 Pagina 401 401 “SEEK HIS KINGDOM” clude the reconstruction of an early and purely sapiential stratum of Q and the promotion of the Gospel of Thomas as a significant (non- canonical) source of authentic Jesus tradition. Whether or not Q 12,31 originated as a wisdom statement with an “eschatological background” 39, with perhaps Jesus making “use of wisdom material”, the reference to the “kingdom” presupposes “some kind of eschatological expectation”, even if it is not perhaps “sufficiently intense to overpower the sapiential features of the ar- gument” 40. The “kingdom” is an eschatological motif. Yet the “king- dom” is so central to the message of Jesus that it is rather bold to dissociate it from Q 12,22b-31 41. It is also difficult not to admit that the ethos of “wisdom” being en- couraged in Q 12,22b-31 is “quite unlike the wisdom literature’s gen- eral expectation that human beings will and should work to sustain themselves”. The saying is “thoroughly impregnated with a powerful eschatological awareness and expectation” 42. Q 12,22-31 “involves a resounding clash with the wisdom tradition which lavishly praises the worker and severely chides the non-worker”. Q “conflicts with the conventional wisdom of a text like Prov. 6:6 with its hard-headed ob- servations about the diligence of the ant” 43. Kloppenborg reaches for middle ground by designating Q’s formative sapiential material as “the radical wisdom of the kingdom of God” 44, and this is precisely the point: sapiential forms, motifs, and strategies are being deployed to advance an eschatological message. Is Jesus recommending that his disciples not work because the “end” is coming 45? Or simply not 39 M. SATO, “Wisdom Statements in the Sphere of Prophecy”, The Gospel Behind the Gospels. Current Studies in Q (ed. R.A. PIPER) (NTSup 75; Leiden 1995) 152. 40 PIPER, Wisdom in the Q Tradition, 33, 31; KLOPPENBORG, Formation of Q, 220; KIRK, The Composition of the Sayings Source, 224-226, esp. 226. 41 MERKLEIN, Die Gottesherrschaft, 177, 180-181; LUZ, Matthew 1-7, 401- 402, 407-408; J. GNILKA, Das Matthäusevangelium. Kommentar zu Kap 1,1- 13,58 (HTKNT 1.1; Freiburg 1988) I, 251; R.J. DILLON, “Ravens, Lilies, and the Kingdom of God”, 605-627, 606, 626; BECKER, Jesus of Nazareth, 131- 135. 42 TUCKETT, Q, 152. 43 D. MEALAND, “‘Paradisial’ Elements in the Teaching of Jesus,” Studia Biblica 2 (1978) 183. 44 KLOPPENBORG, Formation of Q, 242. 45 D. CATCHPOLE, Quest for Q, 34-35; M.F. OLSTHOORN, The Jewish Background and the Synoptic Setting of Mt 6,25-33 and Lk 12,22-31 (SBF 10; Jerusalem 1975) 5, 19, 27.