One of the things that always intrigues me is when books become movies, and the changes that ultimately take place. Anyone else like that? Before I watch the book made movie, I often wonder these things: “What is going to get left out?” Sometimes, I try to guess what parts of the book that might be. I wonder, “How will the characters be depicted? Will they be like they are in the book? Will they look similar? How will that superstar actor pull it off?” The other thing that I wonder is, “What will be changed, tweaked, or added?” How faithful is it going to be the book?
I wondered these things as I watched the new “All Quiet on the Western Front” movie on Netflix. I read and enjoyed the famous book in High School English, and I wanted to see how it stacked up. After watching the movie, I have to say, there isn’t too much, but I did enjoy a new addition. In the movie, a soldier gets a white scarf donated by a French girl, which ends up getting passed from soldier to soldier throughout the entire movie. When one would die, it would go to the next one. It cleverly symbolized a richer life they were doomed to never live.
I want to do something similar with our Gospel reading for today. In the crucifixion, there is a variety of garments and cloths, and I want to track them all through the text. For each garment and cloth has something different to say about the crucifixion.
The first garment that we find is Jesus’ garment. When He arrives at Golgotha, He is stripped before everyone, and then crucified. The soldiers gamble and game for His garments and other possessions with their dice made from bone. With Jesus’ garments and seamless tunic ripped off Him, He is left cold and exposed. His bloody body is before all to see.
Could you imagine the embarrassment and shame of that? There is an inherent shame that comes with nakedness, especially before others. Could you imagine the humiliation of it, or the degradation of it all? The spectacle of it, or even the awkwardness, as people He knows see Him, along with thousands of other people? Crucifixion was dehumanizing and a living hell. Anything done to make it worse would be done, even if incremental. Jesus is naked as He hangs on the cross.
There is a theological dimension and significance to this as well. Back in the Garden of Eden, after Eve is created, Moses says, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” That is Genesis 2:25. Now, notice the change that takes place after they eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Genesis 3:7, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.’ There is shame and guilt. In the Old Testament, nakedness is associated with poverty (in that a person has nothing), birth, but most commonly, it is associated with guilt and shame, like it is here. On the cross, Jesus bears the guilt and shame of Adam and Eve. He bears the guilt and shame of you and me.
But, what is the difference? Guilt is sin done by me. It is that word said in anger, that rash judgment, that selfish decision, the memory that won’t leave, and the gnawing of the conscience that I did wrong. Shame is different. It is not sin done by me. It is sin done to me. It is that hand raised against us. It is the word shouted to us. It is the disappointment that comes with always being last in someone’s life that you hold dear. It is the stigma that follows you, that weight you feel that cannot be explained, and that dirty feeling that will not go away, no matter how much clean. On the cross, Jesus bears it all. The sin done by us. The sin done to us. He bears it for you and me.
And He doesn’t just leave us naked; He clothes us, too. With what? His garment, His righteousness. Clothed in our baptism, our sin and guilt are covered: that terrible word we uttered, that poor decision, that selfish action, that memory that won’t leave. More than that, our shame is taken, too. Jesus says, “Let me take that. Let me help with you that; you don’t have to bear that alone, and that pain. This won’t last forever, I promise!” The loss of Jesus’ garment shows how He bears our guilt and shame.
After this, we moved to a different mount, and our eyes our fixed on a different piece of fabric. We are no longer on the dusty and death struck hill of Golgotha, but to a white tiled floor. We no longer see men hanging in pain, but beautiful pillars, and breathtaking stones. We don’t see the failing light of the sun, but the flickering of candles. We are no longer on Mount Calvary, but find ourselves on Mount Moriah, in the temple.
In college, I was always intrigued by a framed picture our campus pastor, Pastor Smith, had in his office. In this picture was framed a piece of masking tape that read: SMITH. Above it was a picture of President George W. Bush, with him in the background, in his academic robes. President Bush was the commencement speaker one year, and Pastor Smith did the prayer for the service. It seemed to be the highlight of his career. I remember him talking about it saying, “Secret service prepped the stage and told me to stand here, the piece of tape that read ‘SMITH.’ They told me that if I step off of it, they would immediately tackle me to the ground. I was to go nowhere near the President. I wasn’t to touch him, talk with him, or take one step closer. If I did, they reminded me of what would happen.” He was to go no further. He was to keep his distance. He was to look, but not touch.
That was the temple curtain for the Holy of Holies. It was meant to create distance with God. It was meant to keep people away from Him. It was designed to create space, and prevent direct access. It was there for separation from sinners. And we can know all about separation, can’t we? We can experience it with people, as relationships can be fractured, tense, dead, or non-existent! We can experience it with the life we have, and the life we want! We can experience it with God, as He can feel distant, absent, or upset. As Jesus gets ready to breathe His last, the temple curtain is split in two, from top to bottom. God does the tearing.
The Holy of Holies was the place where the blood of the atonement sacrifice was sprinkled once a year, on the Day of Atonement. Only the High Priest could enter, and only on that day when atonement was made for the sin of all the people. Now, with the sacrifice of Jesus, no other sacrifice needs to be made. The curtain is torn! The book of Hebrews says it well when it says, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the Holy Place, not taking the blood of goats and calves but His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
In other words, the separation is removed! The distance is gone. It is removed with others, as we are given a chance to share that grace that is poured out on us. The distance with God is gone, too. We are no longer told to keep our distance from Him, but we are invited into His presence by the blood of Jesus. We have open access. We can live in His presence. We can go to Him with any trouble, need, or praise. The distance is removed, and we are brought near. Moreover, the tearing of the curtain signifies that God’s heavenly gifts are no longer to be found in the temple sacrifices, but in Jesus, Who is the once-for-all sacrifice for the world’s sin. They are found in His Word, and Sacraments, the places where He has promised to be.
The last piece of fabric that sticks out is the burial cloths. After Jesus has died, Joseph of Arimathea asks for the body to give it a proper burial. He donates his own tomb, and wraps the body in linen cloths. With that, Jesus’ life goes full circle. At His birth, He is wrapped in linen cloths. At His death, He is wrapped in linen cloths. For His birth, the linen cloths are the sign of His identity, that He is the Savior and Christ the Lord. For His death, the linen cloths are a sign, too, a sign that He has died. But Luke isn’t done yet. He also says the linen cloths are a sign that He is alive! Luke 24:12, “But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went marveling at what had happened.” The linen cloths proclaim that Christ is risen!
The empty cloths proclaim His identity as the Son of God (Rom. 1:4) and that He is the Savior of the world Who has destroyed the powers of death. The empty cloths show the proof of our justification, for He is risen from the dead. The empty cloths show that our resurrection is certain, too, one day, when He will return.
The fabrics of the crucifixion tell a wonderful story. The garment of Jesus proclaims how our sin, guilt, and shame are taken away. The torn curtain shows our access to God by the blood of Christ. The linen cloths proclaim our own resurrection from our tomb.