“He was like his robe: uninterrupted perfection.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-01-02) from his book, He Chose the Nails (p. 73). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Max says, “Scripture says little about the clothes Jesus wore. We know what his cousin John the Baptist wore. We know what the religious leaders wore. But the clothing of Christ is nondescript: neither so humble as to touch hearts nor so glamorous as to turn heads.” 

John 19: 23– 24 (NLT) does say, “They divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So, they said, ‘Let’s not tear it but throw dice to see who gets it’.” 

We know that it was seamless.  Tradition says probably His mother Mary made it and gave it to Him when He left home.  But we do know that it was seamless.

Max says, “Garments can symbolize character, and like his garment, Jesus’ character was seamless. Coordinated. Unified. He was like his robe: uninterrupted perfection.”

Max later says, “The character of Jesus was a seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth . . . from God’s thoughts to Jesus’ actions. From God’s tears to Jesus’ compassion. From God’s word to Jesus’ response. All one piece. All a picture of the character of Jesus.”  But...

Max goes on, “But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe, the wardrobe of indignity.

“The indignity of nakedness. Stripped before his own mother and loved ones. Shamed before his family.

The indignity of failure. For a few pain-filled hours, the religious leaders were the victors, and Christ appeared the loser. Shamed before his accusers.”

And then Max says, “Worst of all, he wore the indignity of sin. ‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness’ (1 Pet. 2: 24 NIV).”

He continues, “The clothing of Christ on the cross? Sin— yours and mine. The sins of all humanity.”

Max says, “’He changed places with us’ (Gal. 3: 13). He wore our sin so we could wear his righteousness. Though we come to the cross, dressed in sin, we leave the cross, dressed in the ‘coat of his strong love’ (Isa. 59: 17) and girded with a belt of ‘goodness and fairness (Isa. 11: 5) and clothed in ‘garments of salvation’ (Isa. 61: 10 NIV).”

Would you accept His clothes for you?