Mending clothes and making wine: Multiple attestation for a gender doublet Mt 9:14-17; Mk 2:18-22; Lk 5:33–39; G Thom 47

Abstract

The two short parables about mending clothes and making wine, found in the context of the debate about fasting, can be described as a “gender doublet”. There are many such doublets in the synoptic gospels where one of the parables brings an example from male experience and the other from female experience. This article will briefly summarize scholarly debates around such parable doublets and whether they can be seen to be part of the earliest (historical Jesus) tradition. This parable doublet is the one the most widely attested, being found as a doublet in all three synoptics and the gospel of Thomas. It is also an example of a doublet where the female example comes first in most versions, which could count against deliberate later compilation. The rest of the article focuses on the differences between the four versions of this parable doublet and argues that the likely original version is the one which is the most absurd and which is watered down in the other versions. An attempt is made to narrow down a probable original meaning.