Clothing
Matters
ALL
SAINTS SUNDAY
2 November 2008
"For
the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with
salvation." Psalm 149:4
We said God
doesn't care how you dress. We said that in the '70s so that mom
would let us wear Levis to church. And, God is far more concerned
about your soul than the clothing which covers your body. Never-the-less,
from Genesis to Revelation scripture uses a long overlooked language
of clothing. It is a subject whose time has come. The clothing
we wear says something about us and about how we feel. Clothing
in the Bible bears witness to God and what God is doing for us.
Clothing matters. You and I are going to consider the importance
of clothing this morning.
Clothing
matters. Go to Eden and see. After eating the forbidden fruit
what's the first thing Adam and Eve do? They make garments for
themselves from fig leaves; an experiment that didn't prove very
useful. After a day or two the leaves wilted; and when they dried
out …? I can't imagine that fig leaves do much for warmth.
Was the attempt at clothing meant to hide the shame? From whom?
God? It cer-tainly can't be from each other, it's a bit late for
modesty. Do our bodies bear wit-ness to our sin? (You may recall
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde.)
It is significant
that before he exiles them from paradise, the Lord lovingly clothes
our Parents with something more practical than leaves. He makes
them new gar-ments of animal skins. (Gen. 3:21) Apparently clothing
matters to God, if only as a sign of his continuing care for us
(First Article, AC). Those animals became the first sacrifice.
Adam and Eve did not immediately die as might have been expect-ed,
but those innocent creatures did, a direct result of human sin.
Clothing
matters. By our clothing we are recognized (Santa Claus). Esau
and Jacob are twin brothers: the older one a rugged outdoorsman
and the younger one, Jacob is mama's boy. In order to gain the
blessing reserved for his brother, mom aided her favorite son
by dressing him in Esau's clothing! You got it, Esau's clothes
smelled a more "woodsy" and this switch fooled father
Isaac, whose sight was failing.
Clothing
matters, and not only to God. Michal, David's wife (and Saul's
daughter) despised her royal husband (2 Samuel 6). King David,
handsome warrior, scantily clad in a linen apron, offered sacrifices,
distributed gifts among his subjects, and danced to the praise
of God while the holy Ark of the Covenant processed into Jer-usalem.
Michal thought the lack of clothing indecent and vulgar. Since
David was
a king and should dress the part. She and David had it out. But
that's a story for another day.
Clothing
matters. Exodus 28 gives specific details regarding the holy vestments
which were worn by the priests in the tabernacle. They were costly,
embroidered blue, purple and scarlet linens. Gold ornaments and
semi-precious stones decorated these garments-each stone represented
one of the 12 tribes. When God on high looked down he saw his
priests representing Israel. The holy clothing inspired awe and
reverence. The men who wore these robes not only represented God
to the people, they also carried the people's prayers into the
presence of their Maker.
Clothing
matters. In Matthew 22 is the Parable of the Marriage Feast. A
king is angry because his nobles insulted him, refusing a gracious
invitation the wedding banquet of his son. But a feast was planned,
and a feast will take place. The royal marriage must be celebrated.
His servants round up everyone they can find to fill the banquet
hall, literally pulling them in from the streets; "both band
and good."
This is not
the Oscars; we don't notice what the bride and groom are wearing.
What leaves us unsettled is that the king attacks a guest, no
doubt plucked off the street in haste. The man is not properly
dressed! The offender is bound hand and foot, toss-ed into the
darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. The kingdom of God is
not a "come as you are." You must come clothed in the
righteousness of faith. That righteousness is Jesus Christ. St.
Paul; "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have
put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27)
Clothing
matters. Jesus was arrested in his street clothes, most likely
an under-garment and a fine "seamless tunic." (John
19:23) Our Lord was stripped of these at some point as part of
his humiliation and arrayed in purple robe. You can't be king
if you are not properly dressed. Or, can you?
Clothing
matters, but in this next case I'm not sure why. Everyone knows
about John the Baptist, he wore clothing made from camel hair,
and that he had a leather belt.
A wild and
demon-possessed man in Luke (8) is naked and out of control. An
en-counter with Jesus leaves him quietly seated, in his right
mind, and clothed: he has been healed, saved. Now decently clothed,
he is God's servant; sent home to "de-clare how much God
had done for him."
Clothing
matters. In the Bible, one who grieves, if only for his own sin,
he or she dons sackcloth and begins a period of fasting and prayer.
Repentance does not allow for feasting and dancing. The Bible
shows us the whole man, equating our behavior with our dress and
with the inner spirit.
I suspect
that those who say "God doesn't care how we dress" don't
believe in dressing up ever. Have you ever seen Judge Judy Shindman's,
The People's Court? She does not tolerate the ill mannered. Like
any other magistrate, she wears the black robe; and if she dresses
the part, you must too. So, don't appear in her presence dressed
in shorts and sandals. In the HBO series JOHN ADAMS, we see a
future president preparing to meet King George III. While his
colonial attire may be okay in America, it is not appropriate
for a royal audience. In the presence of the king clothing matters.
In the presence
of God clothing matters too. Today we meet that multitude which
could not be numbered (Revelation 7). In heaven the elect come
from the nations. Together with the 144,000 (Israel) they are
the saved, the communion of saints,
our Lord's one holy Church. And, what are they all wearing? White
robes!
Their clothing
matters. It's not that these saints have earned their white robes
by doing good, or even by virtue of their martyrdom. Their lives
were probably not so dissimilar to your own. But the lives they
lived, they lived by faith in the Son of God (Galatians 2:20).
Now they are in heaven. By faith they have learned how God "takes
pleasure in his people; [and how] he adorns [and clothes] the
humble with salvation." (Psalm 149:4)
Notice that their robes were dirty, they had gotten soiled with
the messy business of life. But their robes had to be washed and
made white in the blood of the Lamb. These saints are here because
of Jesus, because of the cross and the resurrection. There is
David, ancestor of the Messiah, notorious for naked dancing and
adultery; there too is Rahab, a harlot, who helped Israel capture
Jericho.
The greatest
in this band is probably the least, the most humble. But they
all know about grace, the unmerited love of God. Paul is there
too; he consented to the mur-der of Stephen. Of that great number
was the leader of an AA group, another is a divorced mother of
three, and the list goes on. That glorious band of witnesses to
Christ, saints all-all of them dressed in white, all them covered
by the perfect righteousness of Christ. The clothing matters.
Have you had your white robe cleaned lately?
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Hamburg, NJ 07419
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