Matthew 27, 35 – 37
They crucified him and then divided his clothes among them by throwing dice. After that they sat there and watched him. Above his head they put the written notice of the accusation against him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
We all know that clothing not only protects us from the elements, but it also highlights a man or woman’s social standing. It is a symbol of their place in society, (high or low), and it gives a person their identity … where they are often judged.
The public stripping of Jesus therefore meant that he was no longer a someone; that he was an outcast, a convicted criminal and a nobody, only to be despised and rejected.
And being stripped this manner, reminds us of the expulsion from Paradise, where Adam and Eve, (and the Serpent too), were stripped from their exulted status. Referring to Adam and Eve, Genesis 3:19 tells us that God said when he was denouncing them that, "By the sweat of your brow, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
This verse therefore is a direct consequence of Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden, outlining the punishment for their sin. In a likewise manner, Jesus is being stripped, not for his sin or disobedience, (as we known that he was without sin), but for the disobedience and punishment of all our own sin, or sins.
Jesus as son of God was taking all our sin upon himself, and he was about to be punished for our sin … so that we could face God, (who cannot abhors sin); remembering it is this sin which separated us humans from God in the first place.
This then highlights the need for our reconciliation with God, through Jesus, by taking our afflictions upon him … and by dying, Jesus is abridging the gap between God and all humanity.
On the cross, the splendour of man has fallen away, and Jesus stood naked and exposed, unclad and ashamed, but in actuality, he was taking on the sickness of fallen man … and his fall from grace, to become the redeemer of our recovery with God.
