Mary said to Jesus, "What are your disciples like?" He said, They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. when the owners of the field come, they will say, "Give us back our field." They take off their clothes in front of them in order to give it back to them, and they return their field to them. For this reason I say, if the owners of a house know that a thief is coming, they will be on guard before the thief arrives and will not let the thief break into their house (their domain) and steal their possessions. As for you, then, be on guard against the world. Prepare yourselves with great strength, so the robbers can't find a way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will come. Let there be among you a person who understands. When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen! (21 Thomas)

The disciples are like little children. In the synoptics Jesus tells us we must become as little children to enter into God's reign (see Matthew 18:3). In the verse above the disciples have already achieved this blessed condition.

From the synoptics and Isaiah we can understand that the field's owner is God (see Matthew 21:33-41). In the better known versions, the tenants resist the owner's claim. But in Thomas the children not only return the field, they do so with an attitude of complete innocence and vulnerability.

In the synoptics the reign of God is like a thief in the night (see Matthew 24:35-44). As in Thomas we are urged to keep watch and be ready. But above God's reign seems to have been replaced by the world. When the world seeks to take us we should be ready to resist.