The Naked Truth

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [Hebrews 12:2 NKJV]

Oh no! I’ve overslept! I forgot to set my clock ahead Saturday night and now it’s almost ten thirty! Then I am at my office hearing all the people coming in to church. I go out to greet them and realize; I am just in my underwear! I try to sneak past everyone back into my office to find my clothes and the next thing I know, I am standing in front praising with the choir; and still in my underwear! Oh Lord! I cannot go into the pulpit in my underwear! Then, as you have figured out by now; I wake up. That was Friday night. When Saturday night came you can bet I checked several times to make sure I set our clocks right and that the alarm was right. I am still thinking about taking an extra set of clothes and keeping in my office.

Now think about Jesus being humiliated by having His garment stripped from Him. Some like to think they left Him some covering and all the pictures drawn of Him on the Cross have Him covered to protect His dignity; I think they are wrong. All other criminals were stripped naked when they were crucified; why would they not do the same to Jesus? I am sure they did and the reason they did is because we learn from Scripture that Jesus was “In all ways tried (tempted) as we are.” He was humiliated beyond measure that He may empathize with our humility. Sin is the root of humiliation; our first ancestors were humiliated when they realized, after an encounter with the devil, that they were naked. Clothes came to symbolize the covering of shame. The naked body went from being beautiful to its Creator to being perverted by His creatures. The body of Jesus was stripped naked in the end just as the first Adam was in the beginning. The first Adam was clothed by God after being humiliated; Jesus was un-clothed by God to be humiliated; that our perverse ugliness and sinful body of “death” could be done away with that we may once again be presented beautiful and pure to our Creator. God now clothing all of us that “have put on Christ” having accepted Him as our Savior with His righteousness!