“Why Do You Call Me ‘Master’…?”: Q 6:46, the Inaugural Sermon, and the Demands of Discipleship

The most significant realization in recent Q studies is that Q contains extensive sapiential traditions, some of which may have been collected prior to the composition of Q. This study looks at Q 6:46 as the climax of the Inaugural Sermon. James M. Robinson has described this as the “hardest saying of Jesus” because it demands that Jesus’ disciples actually do what he says. In the context of the other ethical “commands” and imperatives in the Sermon, Q 6:46 proposes that the disciple is to be like his Teacher, a “son” of the “Father.” A careful literary analysis of Q 6:46 in its Q context may yet shed new light on ongoing debates regarding the relationship(s) between the sapiential, eschatological, and apocalyptic elements in the “Sayings Gospel” Q.