Jesus' Wedding Parable Makes No Sense

Dan McClellan Hey, everybody. I'm Dan McClellan. And

Dan Beecher I'm Dan Beecher.

Dan McClellan And this is Data Over Dogma, where we increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion, and we combat the spread of misinformation about the same. I'm in a good mood today, Dan- Ooh ... 'cause I just got in the mail my absolute Batman T-shirt. Which, um... Yes.

Dan Beecher There you go.

Dan McClellan Uh, you can't see all of it right now. You'll see it in a video soon enough. I also got my Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow T-shirt, based on the- Nice ... comic, not the movie.

Dan Beecher Oh, okay.

Dan McClellan But, um, I'm, I'm excited about that coming in.

Dan Beecher I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get the movie one just to bug you.

Dan McClellan Well, I'm, I'm seeing a lot of, uh, negative reviews about the movie, which, uh, I haven't seen it yet, but, uh, w- 'cause it comes out tomorrow. But- Right ... um, I hope it's, I hope it's a good movie. But anyway, how are you, Dan?

Dan Beecher I'm good. I'm, uh, I don't have any, uh, new T-shirts, but I do have a terrible parable- All right ... that I, that I need you to walk through with me. That's what we're doing today. It's the Parable of the Wedding Banquet.

Dan McClellan Yes.

Dan Beecher And it is, uh, I'm baffled. So I vote we just dive right in with Terrible Parables. Okay, so the wedding banquet, uh, or at least it's a wedding banquet in Matthew. In Luke, it's, uh, it's just a, a dinner. Uh, it's a great dinner in Luke. Um, I, I don't know. Should I walk us through kind of the basics? Should I read it? I, I feel like-

Dan McClellan Um, yeah. Why, why don't we read it, read through it first, and then- Okay ... we'll go back and talk about what's going on here.

Dan Beecher Are we doing Matthew? Matthew's the crazy one.

Dan McClellan Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Beecher Luke feels so reasonable- ... after having read the Matthew one.

Dan McClellan Yes, it's good cop, bad cop, uh-

Dan Beecher Yeah, yeah, yeah ...

Dan McClellan today. Well, actually, yeah, yeah. Uh, let's, let's start with Matthew.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan We'll talk a little bit about it, and then we can talk about Luke, and also the version that we find in one of the other Gospels that is not in your Bible.

Dan Beecher What? Don't tell me. Yeah, you sprung that on me right before. I didn't, I didn't know. I didn't know. Uh, all right. Uh, I'll dive in and read it. Uh- Okay ... this is from, uh, Matthew 22. It says, "Once more, Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying..." I love that it says right off the bat that it's a parable. Yeah. It's just, it's, uh, it's not always clear when something's- ... a parable. We've made it clear this, uh, it's explicit this time. Yep. "The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again, he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, look, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding, uh, so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see these guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to them, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there w- where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.'" And that last scripture is very, very popular, and I have heard it a lot, and I never knew that it was attached to a crazy story- ... that makes no sense. Yeah.

Dan McClellan Uh, let, why don't we talk about some of the ways it doesn't make sense before we talk about, uh, the other parables that make more sense- Yeah ... uh, that are associated with them? Because we, we have, the, uh, the story in Luke repres- covers most of the ground covered by Matthew, except for verses 11 through 14. And, and this is interesting because, uh, a lot of scholars, when they compare things that are found across multiple different Gospels, a lot of times you'll find, you'll notice that the language is identical. Like- Hmm ... a verse, two verses, the whole thing, maybe it's identical or very, very, very close. Uh, when it comes to what's in Luke, it's parallel, but there are only three words that are actually identical.

Dan Beecher What are- "Into

Dan McClellan the streets." Okay, yeah. That's the o- those are the only three words that are actually in the same order, in the same part, uh, between Matthew and Luke. Other than that, it's two different tellings of more or less the same parable until we get to verses 11 through 14. Which leads a lot of scholars to say, "Okay, so whatever parable this was before it was written down in Matthew and written down in Luke obviously didn't have verses 11 through 14. And it probably wasn't from what, what some scholars reconstruct as Q, which would be a written, uh, source that, uh, was used by Matthew and Luke that was probably not known to Mark that's, uh, is the reason that there's so much in Matthew and Luke that is shared. Uh, it's probably not in Q because it seems more like an oral tradition or something like that. But the, it's really a-

Dan Beecher Isn't it, now remind me, uh, the order that the, the, that came in.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher Matthew predates Luke?

Dan McClellan Probably, yeah.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan So it probably went Mark, Matthew, Luke, and then John.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan That's where I think most scholars stand right now.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan But, uh, ele- and verses 11 through 14 are where it gets weird.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Because, you know, if the story is, "Okay, invite all the people. They're not coming. All right, burn their city to the ground. Uh, let's just invite the strangers off the streets. Okay, now we got a wedding banquet full of strangers off the street," fair enough. Like, that's, that makes sense.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan It's at least-

Dan Beecher I mean, I don't know about this burning the thing to the ground. That-

Dan McClellan Well, it's at least-

Dan Beecher We'll get to that.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher But-

Dan McClellan It's at least internally consistent.

Dan Beecher And Lu- Luke doesn't have that part either. The burning the cities to the ground?

Dan McClellan No.

Dan Beecher Burning-

Dan McClellan No

Dan Beecher ... the cities to the ground.

Dan McClellan Luke's a little different.

Dan Beecher But, but yeah. I mean, like, if I cut out all the parts that freak me out, it's a nice story about, like, you invite the nice fancy people, they don't come, so you got a bunch of food. You give it, y- you invite-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... all the poor people, which you-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... probably should've invited them before, but it's okay. But you, you invite them, and, and, and, and it's a, it's an, it's a large table parable, and that's a great parable.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher If it stopped there, if the parable was just like, "Hey, be cool to all the poor people, and be cool to all of the p- you, you know, the people less fortunate than you," that I get. But then there's this guy who d- who forgot his tuxedo.

Dan McClellan Yeah. It says, "When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe." And he's like, "Broheim- ... how did you get in here?" And the guy was probably like, "I was walking by, and somebody- ... told me to come in."

Dan Beecher I was literally just chilling.

Dan McClellan Yeah. Like, why would I, why would I br- have that on me? I don't keep that thang on me. Um-

Dan Beecher Sir, this is a Wendy's.

Dan McClellan And then, uh, and yeah, he gets, uh, he goes to hell because of that. He gets thrown into outer darkness.

Dan Beecher Oh.

Dan McClellan And, and, and so there a lot of, um, textually sensitive scholars are like, "Okay, 11 through 13 was something that Matthew added 'cause it doesn't really fit." And then verse 14 is even, is also peculiar because in the story-

Dan Beecher That's the, that's the many are called, few are chosen-

Dan McClellan Right, right ... in life. In the story, the majority of the people who are called don't come.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And then of all the people who do come, only one is not chosen.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan So many are called, few are chosen is, like, that doesn't fit-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... with the story you just told.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan But the story you just told is-

Dan Beecher It's so confusing.

Dan McClellan Yeah. The story you just told is many are called, some don't come. A small minority of the ones that do come are not chosen, so.

Dan Beecher Yeah, it, it, uh, well, it's, it's few are called, then they don't come, and then, then many are called, and then everybody but one guy is chosen. And he's not chosen because he wore the wrong, 'cause his, 'cause of fashion reasons.

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah, 'cause he, yeah. Um, but he's... What, what is the author of Matthew doing here? Probably cobbling together something. And, and Matthew, the author, has, has some messages going on here. But I wanna talk now about the, the message of the parable.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan Because, like, it makes sense. It's not necessarily a great parable because-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... in this parable, obviously the king is God.

Dan Beecher Yes.

Dan McClellan And obviously the wedding banquet for his son is about Jesus. This is the kingdom of heaven.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan This, this is basically this eschatological end times, we all survived. It's the final scene in any of your happy ending post-apocalyptic, uh, movie.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Sends out his slaves to call those who have been invited to the wedding banquet. So this is prophets, uh, apostles, things like that.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Who are the ones who have been invited? The Jewish people.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan Yes. The Jewish people would not come. I gotta, I gotta... It says, "No, everything's ready. We- we're, we're ret-to-go." And they're like, "Eh, I gotta go tend to my farm. Eh, I gotta go tend to my business." Uh, and then some of them, it says, seizes his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. So that would be the prophets who were killed by other Jewish folks and then the, the early followers of Jesus who were mistreated. Uh, Saul, for instance, who became Paul-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... uh, you know, mistreated and, and had some of them killed.

Dan Beecher Right. "The king was enraged.

Dan McClellan He sent his troops, destroyed their murderers, and burned their city." This is widely understood to be a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. In other words-

Dan Beecher Oh.

Dan McClellan Yes.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan So, so this is saying, "Okay, the Jewish people, uh, aren't gonna come to my feast for my son? Well, I'm gonna send Rome-

Dan Beecher So this is-

Dan McClellan ... to destroy Jerusalem."

Dan Beecher This is almost a, a, a, taunting. It's almost like a-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... told you so.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher Uh, you, you, you shouldn't have been a jerk to us.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher That's what happens.

Dan McClellan Yeah. You see

Dan Beecher what happens? Oh, my gosh.

Dan McClellan Look what you made me do.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan Yeah. Um-

Dan Beecher W- wow.

Dan McClellan And, uh, and then he said to his slaves, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy." That would be the Jewish people, so, um, problematic to say the least.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan "Go therefore into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet." So this is a reference to the mission of Christianity to the Gentiles.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan You Jewish people don't wanna accept the invitation? We're going to open it up to everybody.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan And we're gonna go out, and we're gonna find anybody we can, the poor, the weak, the orphan, the widow, uh, whatever. We're gonna go find everybody.

Dan Beecher Just the, the dirty, dirty Gentiles.

Dan McClellan Yeah. The slaves went out into the streets, which would be the world-

Dan Beecher Sure

Dan McClellan ... and gathered all whom they found. And then you have this, uh, both good and bad. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Now, it's like, why, why would you include that? And, um, and there are a number of scholars who have suggested this is probably something that was added to kind of make sense of- ... the fact that there's somebody in there who's, who doesn't belong.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan Yeah, so, so-

Dan Beecher It does seem a little like, "Whoa, what?" Yeah. Yeah.

Dan McClellan Like, "We're in heaven now, and we brought bad people."

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Um-

Dan Beecher "Why did you let them in? What's going on?"

Dan McClellan Early... And, and I love the, uh, in verse 12, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?" And he was speechless. I can see the guy- ... with, like, pâté going like, "Er, eh, uh, uh." Uh. Just, you know, wide-eyed, kinda looking at him before he's grabbed by both arms- ... and dragged screaming out of the, out of the venue.

Dan Beecher He's got a mouthful of chicken. He's like, "Huh? Hmm?"

Dan McClellan Yeah. "Ooh, hmm. No one told me about the dress code. I'm sorry." But yeah, I, I think it's likely the author in, in trying to stitch the preexisting parable to this idea of the one without the, uh, wedding robe probably had to, uh, sprinkle a little foreshadowing into the parable that was received, the received version of the parable.

Dan Beecher So is the idea with the wedding robe, is the, is the idea that... I- Like, if I'm, if I'm putting on my parable interpretation hat-

Dan McClellan Uh-huh

Dan Beecher ... uh, the best I can come up with is that, like, everyone's invited in, but you gotta come correct, meaning you got, you, you still have to be righteous, and you still have to sort of, uh, do all of, do, you know, do all of the correct things-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... or you're still not getting in even though everyone's invited.

Dan McClellan I, I think this is one of the com- complexities of, of interpretation because in whatever context this was initially, uh, published, it probably would've made sense to the audience if they were the target audience what was intended by that.

Dan Beecher Hmm.

Dan McClellan Whether it was you have to be baptized, or maybe it's you have to be circumcised.

Dan Beecher Oh, okay.

Dan McClellan Because Matthew is very much, uh, we're doing all the stuff.

Dan Beecher Uh-huh.

Dan McClellan You know, uh, uh, anyone who keeps the least of these laws will be the most in the kingdom of heaven, but he who, who breaks the, the least of these will be the least. Um, so maybe it is, uh, somebody who's not following the Law of Moses.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And, uh, and they're not circumcised, or they're not wearing the, uh, the right garment, uh, or they are, you know, not doing the good works or, or whatever. It depends on how narrowly you can figure out what the target audience was and, and what precisely might have been in view for the author and for the target audience. I don't think we can say for sure-

Dan Beecher Okay

Dan McClellan ... what that is, but, but it's probably some kind of costly signal-

Dan Beecher Hmm

Dan McClellan ... some kind of display of your fidelity to the group that w- there was probably controversy about whether or not, uh, this was still required. Um-

Dan Beecher I'm, I'm just gonna say, just to be on the safe side, you guys, when you get to heaven, poke your head in and see what everybody's wearing- ... and just make sure that you're, uh, that, that you get it right, just in case that it, it's, that it's more literal than- Yeah.

Dan McClellan And, and, uh, ask if they're circumcised.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Um,

Dan Beecher Look, look under the robe of a couple-

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah.

Dan Beecher ... just to see what, what's going on.

Dan McClellan So, so I, I think that's, that's one way to, uh, to interpret what's going on there, but, uh, what do you say we take a look at some of the other iterations of this?

Dan Beecher Okay. So let's go to L- Luke is very, very similar to Matthew. I don't wanna read the whole thing. Um, but it's, I- instead of a wedding banquet, which I think the... I think this is good because wedding was a bit of a weird metaphor-

Dan McClellan Mm-hmm

Dan Beecher ... 'cause Jesus never got married that we know about, and it, it just seems like a weird thing. It's a big, it's a reason for a big banquet-

Dan McClellan Mm-hmm

Dan Beecher ... and I think that's probably what-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... they were going for. But this is just a great-

Dan McClellan And it's not a... Yeah, it's not a king. It's just someone.

Dan Beecher It's just a dude throwing a party.

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah.

Dan Beecher Uh, a dinner party. Um-

Dan McClellan And he says, uh, yeah, sent his, his slave, just one slave-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... which, which is suggestive of, of Luke having access to the earlier version of this before Matthew got his grubby hands on it- ... and, and, you know, uh, added all these details.

Dan Beecher Yeah, Matthew was into embellishment for this one.

Dan McClellan Yeah. So-

Dan Beecher Um, so like-

Dan McClellan So one slave goes out to, uh, say to those who have been invited, "Come, everything is ready now."

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And then they all began to make excuses. "Oh, gosh, I bought a piece of land. I must go out and see. I bought five yoke of oxen. I'm gonna try them out. Please accept my regrets. I've been married and therefore I cannot come." So the slave come back, comes back and goes, "Eh, they all made excuses."

Dan Beecher And in this case, I liked, I liked that they all had what sound like fairly reasonable excuses- ... as opposed to just, "Screw off. I don't wanna come," which is-

Dan McClellan Yeah. Well, and, and here's, and here's where we get one of the messages of, of this. Uh, all of these people have been pre-invited. They already know it's coming.

Dan Beecher Oh, that's right.

Dan McClellan Yes. So-

Dan Beecher And, and then, and yet they made other plans-

Dan McClellan Yes

Dan Beecher ... for the time.

Dan McClellan Yeah. And, and, and here's another kind of layer of, of significance to Christians. Uh, it's kind of like the, uh, the wise and the unwise virgins, uh, 'cause God doesn't tell you when God's coming.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan You know neither the hour nor the day, but be on the lookout 'cause one da- at some point, God's slave is gonna show up and say, "Come, for everything is ready now," and you gotta be sure you haven't, uh, gotten married.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Or, and, you know, that's not an excuse. You haven't bought five yoke of oxen.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan That's not an adequate excuse. But, um, then the, the person gets angry, tells the slave to go back out into the streets and bring in the poor, the disabled, the blind, the lame, and, um, the sla-

Dan Beecher Yeah, nobody's... F- first of all, nobody's murdered, so-

Dan McClellan Yeah. We're, we're not-

Dan Beecher Right? We-

Dan McClellan We're not making reference to the 70 CE Jerusalem destruction.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan So yeah. Um-

Dan Beecher So, so they just send him out and just say, "Bring in some other cool people, fi- whoever you find."

Dan McClellan And then, and it's explicitly the social outcasts.

Dan Beecher Right. Oh, yeah. That's right.

Dan McClellan Not just, not just anybody off the street. Not just Fulano de Tal, uh, Joe Schmo.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Not, um, uh, your, uh, Joe Sixpack or whatever. It's the, the poor, the disabled, the blind, the lame.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan And the slave said, "Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room." And then he says, "Go into the roads and lanes and compel people to come in so that my house may be filled." So now, yeah, at some point-

Dan Beecher So make them come in.

Dan McClellan Yeah, at some point salvation is gonna be angels going, "We need more people. Come on." Um-

Dan Beecher "Get in here."

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher "I don't want to." "You have to. Come on."

Dan McClellan For I-

Dan Beecher "I just ate. I'm full."

Dan McClellan That's, that, that's the rapture. Angels showing up- ... and being like, "Uh, take every, that guy."

Dan Beecher Yeah. "You too."

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher "No, I did not do."

Dan McClellan It's like, "We're not even Christians."

Dan Beecher "Come on."

Dan McClellan "Doesn't matter. We need the, we need the- ... somebody to fill the seats."

Dan Beecher "We're Hindu. Leave us alone."

Dan McClellan Um, and then it ends, "For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner."

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Um, so it, it sounds almost more like revenge-like, like, uh, look who I'm with now.

Dan Beecher It bi- there's a little bit of bitterness in the last little line, yeah.

Dan McClellan Yeah. Um, now I think Luke probably gives a more, uh, pristine representation of what's going on here, probably a little closer to whatever tradition was in circulation prior to, again, the author of Matthew giving their, getting their grubby little hands on it and, and turning it into this, uh, this revenge fantasy-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... where, uh, burn the city to the ground. Um, uh, I was gonna quote something from, uh, Three Amigos, but I- ... I thought better of it. Um, there's, there's another version that is recorded that comes from the Gospel of Thomas.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan And this is-

Dan Beecher This is the one I had no idea about. I'm, uh-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... I'm excited to hear about it.

Dan McClellan So, uh, Gospel of Thomas probably preserves from s- some stuff that, that might predate the canonical Gospels, even though it's also got, uh, a, a kind of, uh, Gnostic-leaning layer to it as well. But here is, uh, utterance, logion number 64, however you wanna refer to it. "Jesus said, 'A man had guests, and when he had prepared the dinner, he sent his servant to invite the guests. He went to the first. He said to him, "My master invites you." He said, "I have some money for some merchants. They will come to me in the evening. I will go and give them my orders. I pray to be excused from dinner." He went to another. He said to him, "My master has invited you." He said to him, "I have bought a house, and they request me for a day. I will not have time." He came to another. He said to him, "My master invites you." He said to him, "My friend is to be married, and I am to arrange a dinner. I shall not be able to come. I pray to be excused from the dinner." He went to another, and he said to him, "My master invites you." He said to him, "I have bought a village. I go to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. I pray to be excused." The servant came. He said to his master, "Those whom you invited to the dinner have excused themselves." The master said to his servant, "Go out to the roads. Bring those whom you will find so that they may dine. Tradesmen and merchants shall not enter the place of my father."

Dan Beecher Whoa. Okay.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher That's a, that's an interesting exclusion. Yeah.

Dan McClellan So we, we have something that's more basic, which-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... doesn't necessarily mean it's earlier, but it could mean that. Although it does add people. It's not just three excuses given. There are four people with excuses.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan And they all have to do with trades, the trades or, uh, money or-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... uh, or responsibilities to family or things like that. And we get a quite explicit, "Tradesmen and merchants shall not enter the place of my father." But also, this indicates that the master is not the father. The master here is Jesus.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan So, yeah. But, um, this is understood by those who understand the Gospel of Thomas to be a little more Gnostic, to be, uh, kind of, mm, anti-capitalist, uh, to some degree, uh, given that-

Dan Beecher Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it sounds very, uh, eat the rich-y to me.

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah. Which, which is funny 'cause you gotta imagine somebody who's like, they've read Luke, they've read Matthew, then they read this. And they're like, "What?" The other ones are like, "Peop- don't make excuses for, for not being aware." This one's like, "Tradesmen and merchants suck."

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Uh, like that's, it's a little on the nose, but, uh, but yeah, that's what we get in the Gospel of Thomas' version of this parable. Again, nothing about anybody who shows up and starts shuff- shoving his face with, uh, stuffing his face with, uh, shrimp. Uh, no shrimp involved, but, uh, stuffing his face with- ... with chicken, uh, and then, uh, being, uh, sent to hell because he- Yeah.

Dan Beecher Be- being-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... being incorrectly clothed.

Dan McClellan Yeah, so nothing about that. Uh, but yeah, we do have, uh, the Gospel of Thomas' own little spin on-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... who exactly this is about.

Dan Beecher Interesting.

Dan McClellan Where it's not, it's not the Jewish folks. It's capitalists. It's capitalists. Um, so yeah.

Dan Beecher Which if you ask, uh, anti-Semites now, they would, they would claim that the Jewish folks are the capital-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... are, are the merchants.

Dan McClellan So yeah, it's, uh, the, that Venn diagram is a, is a perfect circle, yeah. Yeah. So, um, interesting parable found in a few different versions within-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... early Christianity with some, some layers added to it to, uh, kind of, uh, you know, point the finger at, at this group, that group, and the other group. But-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... uh, yeah, a lot of fun to see how it differs from one author to another, uh, and how it's kind of deployed to serve their own rhetorical interests and goals.

Dan Beecher Uh, yeah, and also how confusing it is. It is a- It is a murky, murky, brackish water-

Dan McClellan Yes

Dan Beecher ... that we're wading in, and I, I, I still don't feel like I understand what's really going on, but that's okay. That's, we, we don't get to understand everything. It's, uh, but it's fun to explore it anyway. Well, there you go. That's it. Uh, if you would like to become a part of making this show happen and exploring more terrible parables, you can go to patreon.com/dataoverdogma and give us a little bit of your hard-earned money. Uh, don't be a merchant. Don't be- Don't, don't be one of those guys that- Don't be a

Dan McClellan tradesperson.

Dan Beecher Don't be a, be a tradesperson. Just, just, uh, be cool and, and give us a little bit of your coin, and in return, you can get access to an early and ad-free version of every episode. Uh, at the right level, you can get access to the after party, which is bonus content every week, and, uh, and you can also get access to that warm, fuzzy feeling that you, that you know you're helping us out. And what, what could be better than that? So thanks so much to Roger Gowdy for editing the show. Thanks to Sam for being our right-hand man, and thanks to all of you for tuning in. We'll see you again next time.

Dan McClellan Bye, everybody.