The Law was also quite explicit regarding what types of clothing the Israelites were allowed to wear (a la the regulation demanding that braided tzitzit be worn on the corners of one’s prayer shawl¹ per Numbers 15:38 & Deuteronomy 22:12, the regulation forbidding cross-dressing per Deuteronomy 22:5, the regulation forbidding wearing garments made of both wool & linen per Deuteronomy 22:11, and the regulation demanding that men wear tefillin on their foreheads and upper arms per Deuteronomy 6:4-8 & Deuteronomy 11:18) as well as the ways Jews were allowed to maintain their personal appearance (a la the regulation prohibiting Israelites men from cutting their beards or the hair growing down the sides of their temples per Leviticus 19:27 and the regulation prohibiting Israelites from piercing their own flesh or tattooing their own skin per Leviticus 19:28). Despite these edicts (indeed, in all probability in order to directly “spite” them), Jesus founds ways to openly rebuke many of the same. Consider …

*Where the Law strictly regulated what a devout Jew was to wear and how he or she should appear to others, Jesus told his followers to essentially dismiss all such concerns – boldly saying, “Do not worry about your body, or about what you should wear. For is not the body more than mere clothing? Indeed, think instead on the lilies of the field; how they grow without toiling or spinning, and yet are clothed in ways far more beautiful even than Solomon in all his finest glory. Therefore do not worry about what you should wear or how you should appear, for it is the Gentiles who long for such things. Strive instead to enter the Kingdom of God by enlivening His loving righteousness, and all your more petty needs will be met as well.” (see Matthew 6:25-33 & also Luke 12:22-31) …

*Where the representatives of the Law enjoyed displaying their religious fineries as required by the Torah, Jesus sternly frowned upon such superficial piousness – chastising all listeners who looked for guidance in the words of those wearing “soft robes” (see Matthew 11:7-8 & Luke 7:24-25) and rebuking all the superficial scribes and Pharisees who “made their phylacteries broad & their fringes long” in order to “have the place of honor at banquets, obtain the best seats in the synagogues, and be greeted with homage in the marketplaces” (see Matthew 23:4-7) – who would all do far better to “clean the inside of [their] cups” before dressing up the outside thereof (see Matthew 23:25-28).

“What did you go out into the wilderness to look upon? A mere reed shaken by the wind? In truth, what then did you go out to see? Merely one dressed in soft robes?” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:7-8)

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Filed under: Jesus Christ, a most Holy Heretic by Scaughdt