As many of you know, about 25 years ago I served as a chaplain in the Delaware Army National Guard assigned to a M.A.S.H unit. My first year as a chaplain was fairly routine. One weekend a month we’d gather and do various kinds of training but there was usually no urgency. We just kind of went through the motions. In fact, other than my weekly chapel message I didn’t have that much to do. No soldier came to me for counsel. We all just put in our two days a month and that was it. But in August of 1990 Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and everything changed. The tone in my unit became very serious. No longer was being in the army a pretend thing. It became very real as National Guard and Army Reserve units all over the nation were activated and deployed to Saudi Arabia in preparation for an invasion to re-take Kuwait. Late that August the time for our summer training rolled around and we set up our mobile hospital in the most mosquito infested area of Delaware for our two weeks. I remember the first morning after we rolled out from under our mosquito netting and gathered for formation our CO told us war was coming and we needed to get our affairs in order. He said we could be deployed at any moment so we needed to make sure our families were ready for us to LEAVE. Important decisions had to be made when it came to finances and child-care. Wills had to be finalized. Insurance policies had to be verified. Our spouses and children had to be ready for our departure. Their care needed to be arranged—both during our long absence and in case the worse was to happen.
Well, when he said THAT silence descended over our unit. Everyone had been watching the news and had been expecting this so they began to get their affairs in order. Thankfully our unit was not deployed—and as it turns out the US had far fewer casualties in that first Gulf War than was estimated. In fact many of the medical units that WERE deployed to the area treated almost no patients. But this memory surfaced in my mind as I prepared for this week’s message because in Jesus’ third set of final words spoken from the cross—our Lord got HIS earthly affairs in order. Take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 19 and let’s read together verses 23-27 and you’ll see what I mean.
23 – When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining.
This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 – “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled which said, “They divided My garments among them and cast lots for My clothing.” So this is what the soldiers did.
25 – Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 – When Jesus saw His mother there and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Dear woman, here is your son.”
27 – and to the disciple, “Here is your mother,” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Now, getting JESUS’ affairs in order wasn’t that complicated of a process because Jesus had no estate to dispose of. You may recall that Luke records a time when He had taken inventory of His possessions and said to His disciples that He had basically nothing. Do you remember His words? “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Luke 9:58) Think of what Jesus was saying here. During His earthly ministry even wild animals had more to call their own than He did—for Jesus had almost nothing to call His own. In fact, during those three and a half years as He ministered along the highways and byways of Palestine He had to borrow pretty much everything. I mean, not only was He born in a borrowed MANGER, Jesus preached one of His greatest sermons from a borrowed BOAT, rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed COLT, ate the Last Supper in a borrowed ROOM, was crucified on a borrowed CROSS, and buried in a borrowed TOMB. As the world counts riches, Jesus lived and died a very poor man. In fact Luke 8 tells us that when it came to money for food Jesus was dependent upon his friends—particularly His female disciples. (Luke 8:1-3).
And to make matters worse, on the night before His death Judas betrayed them all, taking with him what little remained of even THEIR meager funds. This brings 2nd Corinthians 8:9 to my mind, where Paul refers to Jesus and says, “Though He was rich, for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” Jesus DID indeed become poor for our sakes. In fact, the only thing you could say He owned at the end of His life were the CLOTHES on His back. And speaking of clothes, Jewish men of that day usually wore five pieces of clothing: a head piece, which was some type of turban or cloth about the head, sandals, an outer robe, which hung loosely about the body, usually all the way down to the ankles, a girdle—which was what we would call a belt or a sash that held the loose-hanging robe close to the body, and AN UNDERGARMENT.
And—Jesus wasn’t even allowed a say in who got those clothes. No, as our text for this morning says, the Roman soldiers in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion claimed all of Jesus’ garments. This was their “right” under Roman law but there was a PROBLEM. The crucifixion detail was made up of FOUR “enlisted men” and an officer—a Centurion. The Centurion did not have a right to Jesus’ clothes which meant the FOUR soldiers had to come up with a way to divide FIVE pieces of clothing. So, first they all picked something. One took Jesus’ sandals; another His turban, another His sash and another His robe. This left only the undergarment and they GAMBLED for it. I remember seeing gambling “boards” carved into the floor of the Antonio Fortress where Jesus was held—the same ones these soldiers no doubt used to determine who would win Jesus’ undergarment. In so doing John reminds us that they fulfilled prophecy, for hundreds of years earlier Psalm 22:18 had foretold this by saying, “They divide My garments among them and cast lots for My clothing.”
Well, this UNDERGARMENT they gambled for was a loose-fitting tunic—sort of a long undershirt made of a soft material that went all the way to the knees. Think of it as a night gown. It was referred to as “the chiton.” (Pronounced KEY-TONE) Usually the mother of a Jewish boy made the chiton for him when he reached manhood and was ready to step out into the real world on His own. Legend—which I think is probably true—says that Mary gave Jesus’ His chiton as He left their home to begin His earthly ministry. And John tells us that Jesus’ chiton was special in that it was SEAMLESS—it was woven from one piece of material—obviously very lovingly made.
Now, there is a great deal of spiritual truth in our text that I want to point out to you this morning, and the first is found in a proper understanding of this UNDERGARMENT.
You see, according to William Barclay, John’s description of the tunic of Jesus matches the description of the high priest’s tunic—which was also woven in one piece from top to bottom. The word for “priest” literally means “bridge-builder,” because a priest was someone who, by making sacrifice for sins, built a bridge between God and man.
(1) And, as all Christians know, that is exactly why Jesus came—to be our BRIDGE-builder. He was born to die for our sins and in so doing build a “bridge” so that we can have ACCESS to God.
Before Jesus died on the cross our sin had separated us from our sinless, Holy God. This is what Ephesians 2:13 means when it says, “Now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” You see, in a very real sense, on the cross when Jesus’ clothes were taken from Him, He then put on our sin. He clothed Himself in our sin.
As 1st Peter 2:24 puts it, “Jesus Himself bore our sins on His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.” So, this seamless undergarment—should remind us that JESUS took our sin on Himself as He hung on that tree and in so doing built a bridge between us and God. Because of His sacrifice we can now boldly approach God’s throne of grace. This is why, as He hung on the cross that day, the veil to the temple—that six inch thick curtain that divided the Holy of Holies, the place where God dwelt, from the rest of the temple; This is why this veil was torn in two from top to bottom: to proclaim the glorious truth that our sin is atoned for—the sin barrier is removed and we can now have access to God.
As I said earlier, during the first Gulf War my M.A.S.H. unit was never deployed but several other Delaware units were. And early one Saturday morning my CO called and told me that instead of coming to our unit to report to one of those Delaware units to help with their out-processing. It was an engineering unit and to prepare them for deployment every soldier had to go to several stations. They had to get physicals and shots. They had to make preparation for their pay so that their families would be provided for. They had to do mountains of paperwork. They had to meet with JAG officers to prepare their wills if they didn’t already have one. A special life insurance policy was made available. And one of their final out-processing stations was to meet with a chaplain—which was me. So I spent the entire day counseling people about their concerns—fears about deployment. I listened to a lot of sad stories—saw a lot of tears—even in the faces of officers. I confess to dealing with my own anxiety about being deployed. One soldier that stands out was a young single mother and she was absolutely distraught about being sent overseas for who knows how long. She told me she had signed up with the guard in their office in the local mall one day to make extra money. In fact this processing weekend was her very first weekend in the guard. The recruiter in the mall had lied to her. He’d told her she’d never be deployed. She would have to serve just one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer. Well, that morning she was terrified because she had no one to care for her child while she was in Saudi Arabia all those months. She cried and cried. She said she had spoken to her sergeants but no one would help because in all the haste to get the unit ready to deploy no one had time. She had tried to get the ear of the commander but to no avail. His staff told her he just did not have time to talk with her and that she needed to get her act together. Well, one thing I had learned in chaplain school is that chaplains always have the ear of the commander. In fact when I entered the guard I was given the rank of 1st LT for that purpose. So I went to the CO of her unit. I didn’t have to worry about being stopped by his staff. I just walked right up to him and explained this young woman’s situation and asked if there was anything we could do. He consulted a couple other officers and they told me later that day that they had arranged it so that she could be transferred to a non-deployable unit. This single mom was greatly relieved.
Well, the “priestly undergarment” that the soldiers gambled for reminds us that Jesus, the SON of God intercedes for us. Because He bore our sin, through Him we have access to the CO of the Universe. We don’t have to worry about anything or anyone preventing our coming to Him. There’s no angelic staff to keep us from His presence. Because of Jesus we can now come boldly into God’s presence, “and find grace to help in time of need.”
Okay—keep in mind that Mary no doubt gave Jesus His chiton and picture in your mind’s eye the sequence of events. The four soldiers divided Jesus garments and then as they begin to gamble over the fifth—the chiton—verse 26 says, “Jesus therefore saw His mother.” Now, why did John point out that He saw her just then? I mean she’s no doubt been there all along watching and weeping. Why hasn’t Jesus acknowledged her before this point? Could it be because of He saw them gambling over this seamless garment? I think so. When the soldiers touched the tunic, they touched something that was very near to Jesus’ heart, the garment custom-made for Him by His mother—given to Him a few years earlier. I think it stands to reason that, as they began talking about and haggling over this tunic Jesus would then turn and look at His mother. And then settle the most important part of His earthly affairs by saying, “Woman here is your son.” and then to John, “Here is your mother.”
Barclay writes, “There is something infinitely moving in the fact that Jesus—in the agony of the cross, in the moment when the salvation of the world hung in the balance—thought of the loneliness of His mother in the days when He was taken away.” And I would agree. I mean, even though He was occupied with the most important event in the history of redemption, Jesus still stopped to make provision for the needs of His mother. He obviously remained a faithful firstborn Son until the end, fulfilling his responsibility to care for Mary—something He had been doing since her husband, Joseph’s death years before.
Okay—as we focus on this interchange, let’s put ourselves in Mary’s shoes for a moment. She is older now. The hair at her temples is gray. Wrinkles have replaced her youthful skin. Her hands are calloused. She’s raised a houseful of children and now she is watching her firstborn be crucified. John tells us that she was not alone that day but rather stood there with him and three other women: her sister: Salome (the wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John), Mary the wife of Clopas—who we know nothing about, and Mary Magdalene. These five companions must have felt out of place at the foot of the cross. I mean they were definitely in the minority that day. They stood among a great throng of people who were anti-Jesus, the soldiers, the Jewish religious leaders, the angry mob—all of whom were heaping insults on our Lord. Referring to this Herschel Hobbs writes, “In this vast ocean of hate there was for Jesus a tiny island of love and understanding.”
Well, the pain of watching Jesus suffer all that physical and verbal abuse must have been hard for all five of them but especially for Jesus’ mother. I mean, it is difficult enough to have a child die young. But to watch your adult son brutalized and tortured and hung on a cross…think of it! Put yourself in her place. Can you imagine the thoughts and feelings going through her head? No doubt as she stood there that day she reviewed Jesus’ brief life in her mind: the angel’s announcement that she had been chosen to bear the Son of God—the trip with Joseph to Bethlehem for the census—Jesus’ birth in that stable. And—I’m sure the day she and Joseph had presented the baby Jesus at the temple stood out in her mind for do you remember what happened on that day? The aged Simeon had predicted that a “sword would pass through Mary’s own heart.” Of course at that time she could not have possibly understood what Simon was saying. She could not have known all his prediction would involve—but over the years it had come true—in fact, several “swords” had pierced Mary’s heart.
The FIRST was a couple years later when the innocent babies were massacred in Bethlehem because of Herod’s fear of the Messiah. Remember? An angel warned Mary and Joseph and they escaped by taking Jesus to Egypt. But surely she knew that soldiers entered the houses to murder the infant sons of Bethlehem because of Her Son. The whole region wept, and Mary knew that she and Her Son were the cause of it all. The “sword” struck again when she and her family listened to the whispers that implied that her Son was conceived in shame. She overheard the ridicule, the insults, and the threats.
Then, think of what it must have been like to have Jesus grow up in an ordinary, imperfect Jewish home. We can only imagine the strain on the family relationships. The other children no doubt always felt inferior to their older brother Who never disobeyed, never lied, and in short, never sinned. Mary knew of His perfections and had to endure the misunderstandings, mocking, and scorn heaped on Him by His half-siblings. When Jesus preached His first sermon in which He claimed to be the Messiah, Mary probably watched as their neighbors in Nazareth tried to push Him over a cliff.
Mary knew that during the latter part of His ministry, the Jewish religious leaders wanted Jesus killed and hunted Him like a hawk does a mouse. And finally, now, at the cross, the “sword” pierced Mary’s heart deeper than ever before. In fact, as the soldier penetrated His side with the spear, I’m sure she felt as if her own side were being pierced.
So can you even begin to imagine her grief that day? She who had planted kisses on the brow of that little Child now saw that brow crowned with thorns. She who had held those little hands as He learned to walk now saw those hands pierced with nails. She who had cradled Him gently in her arms now saw Him writhing alone on the garbage dump of Jerusalem. Arthur Pink summed all this up by saying, “Never such BLISS at a human birth, never such SORROW at an inhuman death.” And then, I think another thing that added to her pain was Mary’s realization that her testimony could have freed Jesus. I mean the Jewish rulers knew that Mary was the mother of our Lord. All she had to do was say, “I am His mother. I should know Him better than anyone else. What He says about being the Son of God is not true. Therefore, please set Him free.” The authorities would have jumped at this opportunity to prove that Jesus was a deceiver. But Mary didn’t do this because she knew He was indeed the Son of God! So as she stood at the foot of the cross that day knowing all she had to do for Jesus to be freed was for her speak up and lie—That day she was YIELDING HER WILL TO GOD’S—in the same way she had done 34 years earlier when the angel came to tell her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that she would give birth to the Son of God. In this way Mary helps us to see the importance of trusting and yielding to God’s will—even when it’s hard to do so—even when we don’t understand God’s purposes.
Okay—let’s look closely at Jesus’ words. To Mary He said, “Woman behold your son.” And, I want to point out that nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus ever call Mary, “mother.” He always refers to her as “woman” or “dear woman.” Now, that may seem kind of disrespectful in our minds. I mean, we’d never call our mom’s “WOMAN” — you know, “Woman, where’s my breakfast?” but to do so in Jesus day wasn’t impolite in any sense. In fact the Greek word here is “gunai” and it was an expression of great respect. We know this because this word was often used to address queens or women of distinction. So Jesus wasn’t being disrespectful—just the opposite, but using this term does underscore the fact that He was much more to Mary than a Son. He was her Savior as well. (Luke 1:47) You see “gunai” was also a term of SEPARATION. No doubt as a child growing up Jesus called Mary “mother” but as I said a moment ago, from the time He left to embark on His earthly ministry there is no record that He ever again used that term to refer to her. Others did but not Jesus. He always called her, “gunai.” Therefore, while Jesus held Mary in the greatest of respect—by using this word, He was also implying that there was now a DIFFERENCE—a SEPARATION—in their relationship. Jesus was no longer her Son—instead He was her Savior, which I am sure Mary would agree is far better!
This verbal interchange also reminds us that Mary was no sinless co-redeemer. She was as dependent on the divine grace of Jesus as you and I are. Her relationship to Him was the same as that of any obedient believer to the Lord. She was a disciple; He was the Master. In fact Christ Himself rebuked those who wanted to elevate Mary to a place of extraordinary veneration. I’m referring to Luke 11:27-28, which tells us of a time when a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice to Jesus and said, “BLESSED is THE WOMB that bore You and the breasts which nursed You.” When she said this Jesus retorted, “More than blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” Don’t get me wrong. Mary was indeed BLESSED—but it was because she was obedient to the Word of God—the same way any other believer is blessed.
And then, the other half of this third saying was directed to John as Jesus said, “behold your mother.” Tradition says that John cared for Mary from that day on as if she were His mother and that she lived with Him in Israel until her death eleven years later. Now, we might wonder, why Jesus did this. I mean, as the eldest son, Mary’s care was His responsibility, but why not give her over to the care of one of Mary’s other sons? I mean, contrary to the false doctrine of some faith systems, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. No, the Bible records that after Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary lived as husband and wife and had several children of their own. In fact, Matthew 13:53-56 says that they had four boys named James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas—and at least two daughters. Why not ask some of them to take care of Mary? Well, for one thing they were not in Jerusalem at the time. They were still living in the area around Galilee to the north. But the MAIN reason Jesus did this is because prior to the resurrection, His half-siblings had rejected Him. They didn’t believe in Him. They even seemed to resent Him in much the same way that Joseph’s brothers did—when they sold him into slavery in Egypt. Throughout His earthly ministry Mary supported Jesus—but His half-siblings did not and so it stands to reason that shortly before His death, He would put her in the care of one who would not only love her and care for her but also one who loved Jesus and believed in Him—one of His closest followers.
And at this point I want to remind you of another important truth.
(2) You see, the deepest relationships of life are not genetic or physical but SPIRITUAL.
I mean, Jesus was raised under the same roof with several half-siblings but He had a much closer bond with John and the other disciples than He did with His own family. How often have you felt a oneness and kinship with other believers—a far deeper and warmer bond than you experience with your own flesh and blood? That’s one of the marvelous things about the family of God. Roots deepen quickly within the ranks of the faithful don’t they? I know they do for me. Sue and I have made deep, close friendships over the years with other Christians. We honestly feel like we who make up RBC are family. And this has always been true. In fact, in every church where we have served we have found friends like you, “who DO INDEED stick closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)
That’s the way it is with Christians. I’m so thankful for the members of my mom’s church in Dover who take care of her as if THEY were her children. They shop for her groceries—check in on her several times a day—-take her out to dinner—take her shopping—they call me with any concerns. I mean, they are just like family. Without them, mom would already be in a nursing home. In fact, I believe their friendship has lengthened her life.
So, one thing this saying from the cross teaches us is how precious genuine Christian friendships are! But there are two other lessons we can learn here, and the first is this.
(3) Just like Mary and John and the others we are called to stand NEAR to the cross of Christ.
I mean, as we live day to day in a fallen world—a world that is often hostile to the cross, we are called to stand up for our faith—to be known as followers of the Jesus. It took courage for John and the women to stand so close to Jesus’ cross that day It was very dangerous to be associated with a Man Who was believed by the Romans to be worthy of crucifixion, but that’s what they did. That mocking angry crowd didn’t cause them to flee or to pretend not to know Jesus.
They stood near the cross that whole day. If you had been there how close would you have stood—nearby or at a comfortable distance? Would you have been intimidated by the mob or would you have gladly let the angry rabble-rousers know that you were a follower of the Man hanging on the middle cross?
I mean, it’s one thing to stand in a comfortable church sanctuary and sing, “Jesus keep me near the cross,” but quiet something else to actually do it. After all, Jesus was “despised and rejected by men” so it would have taken a great deal of courage and love to stand there that day. And it STILL takes courage to be known as a Christian—because Jesus is still “despised and rejected” by men. The cross is still a stumbling block of offense to many. Don’t raise your hand, but have you ever kept your relationship with Jesus to yourself so as to avoid ridicule? You know we tend to believe that only teens yield to peer pressure.
But the truth is adults are just as guilty of going with the flow. We want to be liked. We want to be accepted—not despised or rejected. In a very real sense we are all chameleons. We don’t want to stand out in the crowd. So we tend to conform ourselves to those we are closest to—we become like the people we value the most in life. Well, what about you? Are you more like Jesus or your worldly peers? How close to you stand to the cross? Remember in Mark 8:38 Jesus says,
“If anyone is ashamed of Me and My word sin this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His father’s glory with the holy angels.”
And then the final thing I want to point out is that…
(4) Jesus has called us to be His HANDS and FEET.
Just like John we are commissioned to take Jesus’ place in this world. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul compares us to a body—with Jesus as the Head. And that’s a great comparison to make for Jesus is still here on this planet—it’s just that we are the flesh He is using right now.
We are given the same responsibility John was given that day—to care for people in Jesus’ name, people He loves just as much as He did His mother. I say this because one time when Jesus was interrupted by a man who wanted to tell Him that His mother and brothers were looking for Him He said, “Who are My mother and my brothers? Then pointing to those seated in a wide circle around Him Jesus said, “Here are My mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is My brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:33-35)
Jesus loves all the world—and His love is to flow through us. This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 25:40 when He said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it for Me.” This is what He was trying to get Peter to understand when He said, “Feed My sheep.”
I once read the story of a German church that was bombed repeatedly during World War II. When the war was over the parishioners discovered that the only thing left was a life-size statue of Jesus and even this had been damaged—both hands had fallen off. But as the people gathered money and made plans to rebuild they intentionally decided not to repair the broken statue. They said it would serve to remind them that, as Christians, they were to be Jesus’ hands. This inspired the following poem:
Christ has no hands but our hands
to do His work today,
He has no feet but our feet
To lead men in His way
He has no tongues but our tongues
to tell men how He died
He has no help but our help
to bring them to His side.
In short, Jesus took our place on the CROSS and we are to take His place in the WORLD.
As we come to our time of invitation this saying from the cross brings several questions to mind. First, are you dying to self-will so that Jesus’ love can flow through you to others? Are you letting Jesus use your hands and feet? And then, are you standing up for Jesus—even when it’s not popular to do so? Would you say that you are living your life in such a way that it could be said you standing NEAR the cross? Third, do you have a church home a place where you can cultivate relationships where you find friends that are closer than a brother? This D.C. area brings people from all over the world to serve Uncle Sam—and here at Redland we love to be a place where they can find a loving spiritual family. We see that as God’s calling to us and we’d love to have you join our church this morning! And then, if you are not a Christian, let me ask YOU a question. Are you ready for death? I mean, are your affairs in order? The only way to get them in order—the only way to be ready for death is by accepting Jesus Christ as your Jesus as your Lord and Savior—letting Him to be your bridge-builder! We sing now to give you an opportunity to walk forward and share any of these decisions with me. Won’t you come now as we stand and sing?