When I was little, my mom often made clothes for me and my siblings. My mom creatively sewed us sun dresses, pajamas, and shorts. However, as a child— and especially a teen— I resented these beautiful creations. My 50-year old self wonders if it was because the craftsmanship of my mom’s creations set me apart from my peers, stood out. “Homemade” wasn’t respected. I wish I could tell my younger self what an incredible gift I'd been given.
God clothes us.
And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. Genesis 3:21
In Genesis 3, we meet God the seamstress, sewing together clothes for the first humans. Adam and Eve's attempt at making clothes out of leaves didn’t work too well—have you ever tried to make a leaf crown?!?—leaves tend to tear easily! Instead, God sewed something strong, protective, and durable for the humans as they prepared to leave the shelter of the garden.
I think a lot about that tender, merciful work of God the seamstress—even as the humans lived out the consequences of their choices, God was there caring for them. And caring in the most intimate of ways! One of the most intimate ways another human can care for our bodies is to clothe us. For parents, that’s one of our basic responsibilities to our children... providing them with appropriate clothes and, when they’re young especially, helping them dress.
Here in Genesis 3, God the seamstress provides clothing and dresses the two humans. But God didn’t resign from the seamstress position after Eden! In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds his listeners not to worry about the basic sustenance of life—food, drink, clothing.
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25
God provided manna and water in the desert, and clothed the first humans. And even still, God feeds the birds and dresses the grasses. If God cares for other parts of creation so tenderly, won’t God also care for us as well, Jesus asks.
Besides protecting us from the elements, clothing is so much a part of what makes us who we are! We find certain styles we like, or brands, or stores we shop at—sometimes choosing used clothing or making our own. Sometimes we look for discounts... the cheapest we can find. Other times, we invest in something of good quality that will last a long time. But what we wear matters—it makes a statement to ourselves and those that see us. What we wear often explains what we are doing.
Our clothing often influences the judgments people make about us, whether positive or negative. For example, regardless of a person's actual financial status, their attire can create the impression of wealth or poverty. Clothing serves as a reflection of our identity.
Christ is our clothing.
Throughout the New Testament, we read about "putting on Christ," or putting on the attributes of Christ. When we wear Christ, Christ becomes our intimate covering. We catch the scent of Christ on our bodies, like someone wearing their spouse's shirts or sweaters in their absence to be reminded of their beloved's scent.
At our baptism, we choose to figuratively (and sometimes literally) put on Christ. As early as the third century, communities of believers would include clothing as part of their baptism rituals. Once a person was ready for baptism, their clothing would be removed, their old clothing laid aside. Once they came out of the water, they were given new clothing, often a white robe. The early believers—and many since—recognized the power in the clothing metaphor, of taking off or stripping our old selves and putting on Christ as new clothing. Korean American New Testament scholar Jung Hoon Kim says that just as “a garment reveals its wearer’s character, so Christ reveals a Christian’s character. To be baptized is to wear Jesus; and when Jesus is worn like a garment, his life, his words, his work adorn every aspect of their lives.”
Clothing can help the wearer stand out in a crowd: What we wear can help set us apart and show that we are unique— maybe a flash of color with a dark outfit, or a skirt when everyone else is wearing pants, or the mended patterns you might create on holey jeans. I remember the phase Brian went through in elementary school. He insisted on wearing his shirts wrong side out and backwards, with the tag in front facing outward. He insisted on wearing mismatched socks. As the people responsible for caring for him, Kip and I decided we would provide what clothes he needed, and he could decide what and how to wear them... as long as he was fully clothed when leaving the house.
Let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 13:13
It is the Jesus outfit that is paired in contrast with the ways of the world. The ones who wear Jesus live differently, stand out in the world.
In complete contrast to that, clothing can also help identify someone as part of a group—clothing helps us fit in and unify us. Such as when every girl in middle school wears the same current fashion. Or a football team wears a uniform to know who’s on their team. Gangs often have colors or designs to know who belongs. Clothing can help us belong in a group.
For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28
Clothing can help solidify or erode social norms that divide us. By putting on Christ, Paul says, clothing that divides us is removed. Christ as our clothing makes us all part of God’s household.
We see the characteristics of Christ sewn together explicitly in Paul’s letter to God’s household in Colossians 3
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:9-14
Putting on Jesus means we lay aside practices and postures that are contrary to who Jesus is, and choose practices and postures that look like Jesus—we wear the Jesus style and Jesus brand. The Jesus style is compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. The Jesus brand is love.
Clothing can both set us apart and help us belong.
Clothing can bind... or set us free.
Besides protecting us from the elements, besides communicating something socially about ourselves to us and others, clothing can constrict us or it can set us free.
In Kenya, social expectations meant that I was expected to wear a long dress or skirt whenever I was out in public. Even though it was very hot, Kip was expected to wear long pants whenever he was teaching... shorts were for children we were told! I was bound to wear a skirt; Kip bound to wear pants. Binding and loosening looks very different in different contexts. Binding might be like a corset, or a burka... or a bikini.
In John 11, we read the story of Jesus raising his beloved friend Lazarus from the dead. After the newly raised Lazarus emerges from the earth, he is still wearing the dirty, smelly linens that bound his body in death. Jesus asks Lazarus’ friends and family to remove the graveclothes, release him and set him free. Think about the care in which they probably bound his body in death, and the care and joy in which they unbound him!
Christ delivers us into new life together, wholeness, healing. But even so, our past often still binds us in cycles of death, cycles of hurt. We have a hard time shedding our graveclothes on our own. It is a living community that helps us remove them, helps us break the bondage to past cycles. It is a living community that helps us put on Christ, the clothing that frees us. No longer do our clothes reek of death, but bear the aroma of Christ.
If we take this metaphor of clothing all the way to the end, when time is complete, we find in the book of Revelation John’s imagination for the participants from every nation and tribe who worship the Lamb:
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. Revelation 7:9
Robed in white. We see all tribes, all peoples, all languages—each unique—still using their own language, yet each wearing the same clothes. Their clothes are clean and loose and flowing and free. They are the opposite of graveclothes.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians, imagines how these Lamb worshippers change their clothes from graveclothes to free-flowing robes of white.
Just as we have worn the image of the man of dust, we will also wear the image of the man of heaven.... Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed [change our clothes!]... For this perishable body must be clothed with imperishability, and this mortal body with immortality. When this perishable body has been clothed with imperishability, and this mortal body with immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:49-54
At the end, the one who first clothed Adam and Eve in animal skins, the great seamstress, will once again clothe us with Christ. May we live proleptically into that vision, living today wearing Christ.
"*"-- Much of this post, including the title, has been inspired by Lauren Winner's book Wearing God. Highly recommend. Bookshop Amazon
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