For some unknown reason, my children hate to part with their clothes. From my oldest to my youngest, they cling to worn out garments with a strange fierceness. Even when I buy them new clothes, instead of the excitement you would expect, they act almost hostile to their new garb and soon have it stashed at the bottom of their drawers. I am not kidding, some of my kids are wearing clothes they have owned for FOUR years. Most of my kids are the size of toothpicks, so they just grow straight up and not out, so the clothes simply get shorter. When I point out the fact of the gaping holes, or stains, they usually want me to mend the clothes. It doesn’t matter how many times I explain that it won’t work to sew old, thread-bare fabric, and that stains are, well, stains!
Jesus was familiar with this attitude towards clothing while He was here on Earth. He was surrounded by people, (scribes and Pharisees) who were quite happy with their filthy rags. These guys were especially deceptive, however, because unlike my children, they went about in nice, “long robes”* all the while, “devouring widows’ houses.”*
Isaiah 64:6, describes any righteous thing that we could perform from our own humanness as a filthy garment. Unfortunately, the religious leaders of Jesus’ time were only following their own rules and laws and not allowing God to transform them. Jesus had some strong words to describe them in Matthew 23:27, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are all like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” They could not see that they were clothed in rags.
Jesus came to take all of our useless, human works, all of our sin and shame, and transform it all through the cross and His resurrection. When we receive Him as our savior, we are clothed in new, spotless garments. We no longer need to cling to our old ways of life, like my kids cling to their old clothes. We can happily throw away all the old habits, thoughts and lifestyle for a brand-new start!
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10
*Luke 20:46 “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
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