Same. And i wonder if it’s a hypothesis created to explain that parable, which is … one of the weirder and more difficult parables. Does anyone have a source for that? Or a source contesting that?
Yes, I was going to say, I’ve dyed fabric with goldenrod (a common weed) and walnut hulls (a waste product). And the walnut hulls provided a rich, attractive brown color. The cost of dying yarn and fabrics must have been tiny compared to the cost of spinning and weaving the fabrics. And we know from the story of Arachne that weaving patterns was a known technology at the time. (Okay, Ovid is a little later. Still, I’d be totally shocked if weaving patterns wasn’t done then.)
There were a few specific colors that were expensive, and probably only worn by aristocracy. But color? Lots of colors? Commonplace.
The Judeans would have had to be very insular and ascetic to not have picked up textile decoration from all the surrounding cultures (especially with all the exiling etc.)
And of course, we know that they were familiar with patterned clothes, because Joseph, in the old testament, had a coat of many colors. I don’t think it’s ever said how it was patterned, but it had to have been patterned somehow, even if just different colored squares sewn together.
If you are hand weaving, stripes in the weft are basically free. Stripes in the warp are not a lot more difficult. Actual pattern weaving takes skill and planning and would slow down the process a little. But spinning the yarn must have been a major factor in the cost of fabric.
I’m still curious what “wedding clothes” were and why Jesus cared.
Can someone please give the book and verse, or a link to it, of the parable in question? I thought myself rather knowledgeable of the Christian Bible, I’ve read the Gospels at least four times, but I don’t remember that parable. Maybe I forgot it because I didn’t understand it, I don’t know.
Jesus spoke[a] to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves[b] to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready.[c] My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”’ 5 But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. 6 The[d] rest seized his slaves, insolently mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The[e] king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death[f] and set their city[g] on fire. 8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy. 9 So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say.[h] 13 Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness,[i] where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Each officiant has to think about that when writing their sermon, i assume.
I don’t know how the Christian liturgy is split up, and whether all the Bible is read over the course of the cycle. In the Jewish liturgy, everything in the Torah is (theoretically) read, although Reform Jews do skip a bit. But this results in regularly needing to engage with awkward texts. The text on circumcision? The text on how to determine whether someone is a leper and must be cast out, or has a benign skin disorder? The several texts on the proper treatment of slaves? Those all get read aloud regularly.
In the most usual Christian order (which is used by Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Presbyterians, at least, and probably others), there’s a Gospel reading every day, two other readings on Sundays and one other on weekdays, and a psalm (that’s usually sung but can be spoken). The Gospels go through everything in all four books more or less in order, the First Reading (usually from the Old Testament) and the Psalm are picked to correspond in some way to the Gospel, and the Sunday Second Reading cycles through all of the rest of the New Testament more or less in order and usually doesn’t relate to the Gospel.
So over the course of a few-years-long cycle, we go through all of the New Testament, and a relatively small fraction of the Old Testament.
And that’s a good thing, because many of the passages of the Old Testament are so boring, especially the minor (and some of the major) prophets. The Gospels are juicier, but if Christian services would read out more of the interesting Old Testament books, like Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Samuel or Judges, it would be much more entertaining.
Jewish services have a Torah reading (the 5 books of Moses) and a haftorah reading, which is something from the rest of the Jewish Bible selected to thematically related in some way to the Torah reading. And we read the whole Torah , on either a 1 year cycle or a 3 year cycle. So yes, we read all the begats and details of what fancy woods were used to build the temple in Jerusalem. But we don’t read all the prophets.
I mean, that’s not a coincidence. I went to an Easter vigil once, and almost all the prayers were straight from the Jewish Sabbath service. Unusual-to-me translations, but totally recognizable. The original Christian services were modeled closely in Jewish services
“Those who claim to follow God are often hypocrites. But don’t think that means God won’t just replace you. And even once invited in, you can still be kicked out if you can’t be bothered to keep clean.”
Historically, it seems like yet another “God’s people have rejected him, so he is calling from the Gentiles.” But with the added idea that “but even you Gentiles better put on your best, and not think you can get away with sin.”
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