October 14, 2023 — What IF…?

What if Lydia Was Terrified of Snails?

“On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.” Acts 16:13-15

While it is not certain whether Lydia was of Jewish descent, we can say that she was at least a Jewish proselyte. “She worshipped God,” we are told. Often businesspeople are so engrossed in their affairs they have no time for religion. But Lydia, in spite of all her secular obligations, found time to worship according to the Jewish faith. And because she made her way to the riverside for prayer, she was there when Paul appeared. Being in the business of extracting dye for the color purple was expensive, and time consuming. Purple dye was derived from the mucus of the hypobranchial gland of Murex shellfish (snails). These snails were prominent in the waters of Thyatira. The snails (12,000 were needed to extract just 1 ½ grams of pure dye) were gathered in autumn or winter and kept alive until they had the proper amount. Smaller shells were crushed while larger shells were pierced allowing the milky fluid to flow. The extract was placed into brine where vinegar was added and the entire batch was set in the sun until the color gradually changed – a final boiling would further concentrate the liquid. One website claims:

“One gram of purple dye was valued more than ten grams of gold and a pound of wool dyed with a favored purple could be sold for 1,000 denarii, a sum that would take a laborer three years to earn. A whole cloak of such material might cost three times that amount.” (trivialdevotion.blogspot.com, Lydia: Purple Peddler, Sept. 2, 2011)

Perhaps it was because she was in such a lucrative business that she had the time to join the women’s prayer group. If she was terrified of snails, perhaps she would not have been in this business, and then would not have had the luxury to join the women’s prayer group, and then would not have been there to meet Paul, and she and her family would not have been baptized.

Sometimes we think our jobs and our faith are two different worlds. I think this attitude narrows the sphere of our faith experiences – and our potential mission field.

Pastor Dave