As a child one of my favorite stories was The Emperor’s New Clothes written by Hans Christian Anderson. Maybe you remember the story. Two swindlers—con men—arrive in the capital city of an emperor who spends lavishly on clothing at the expense of the empire. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply the emperor with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid or incompetent. The emperor hires them, and they set up looms and go to work. A succession of officials, and then the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but pretends otherwise to avoid being thought a fool. Finally, the weavers report that the emperor’s suit is finished. They mime dressing him and he sets off in a procession before the whole city. The people uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all. The people then realize that everyone has been fooled. Although, startled, the emperor continues the parade, walking more proudly than ever.
Like the people, we know who the fool is.
Clothing can say a lot about a person. Unfortunately, people have a tendency to form opinions about others from the clothes that they wear. The people in the story didn’t take long to judge the emperor as a fool judging from what he was wearing or not wearing. The Apostle Paul gets into clothing with the congregation in Ephesus. Primarily he is talking about the new clothes one gets when becoming a Christian or follower of Jesus. Though he is using a militaristic image of clothing—the full armor of God, he is talking about the demeanor of the faithful.
He is encouraging the faithful to withstand the forces and powers of the world around them that would take them away from Jesus and his teachings. Using the image of the Roman soldier’s armor he speaks of the qualities of the Christian’s new clothes. These new clothes are made up of truth, righteousness, faith, peace, salvation, and readiness . . . the attributes Jesus lived. These are the things that keep one centered on being a faithful follower of Jesus . . . that keep one protected from the influences of the world around them . . . that gives them the confidence to walk through the world and live as Jesus lived. What better image could the apostle have used than the armor of a soldier?
This image of “new clothes” is not new to us. We have heard it in the scripture. We have heard it in our hymns. Upon giving our lives over to following Jesus we see changes in our lives . . . we change. We change in how we see the world around us, we change in how we see ourselves and others, and we change in how we see our relationship with God. In our change we do things differently . . . we put on a new image . . . new clothes. Outside of the fact that the militaristic image Paul uses, I understand exactly what he is encouraging the people to do. He is telling them to let their lives be cloaked in Christ.
As I said earlier, clothing can be a reflection of who we are. This is probably why I have a tough time with the image that Paul uses . . . I just do not picture Jesus or his teachings in that way. Paul uses an image of might and power . . . Jesus is an image of love. Whatever the case, what we wear says a lot about us. When we gave ourselves over to following Jesus, we made a change in how we live, how we see the world, and how we relate to others. How others see us has changed.
The question is . . . what do they see?
For me clothing needs to be comfortable and functional. I am not big into clothing or making a statement with my clothing. I am a jeans and sweat shirt sort of guy. Up until I met my wife, Dana, I pretty much wore clothing that was staunchly entrenched in the working class. Our first Christmas together she gave me clothing as gifts . . . khaki pants, Oxford button down shirts, flashy socks, and a necktie! Completely the opposite of what I was wearing at the time. As nice as the gifts were, I was shocked. These clothes weren’t me . . . they didn’t reflect me. She told me that my wardrobe needed to grow up and that I needed to start looking the part of what I was studying to be. To dress the part. Well, as you can see . . . she won . . . not completely though—I don’t have a tie on!
I’ll tell you what . . . I have known some pretty snazzy dressed dudes in my time, and they have turned out to be some of the meanest and evil people I have ever encounter. But to see them you would have thought they were the most upstanding citizens in the world. That’s what they wanted everyone to think . . . but, once you got to know them, they were as naked as the emperor!
As we began our journey the new clothing that we put on was a “spiritual clothing”. It was not so much reflected in the clothes that we wear as the way that we go about living our lives. It is reflected in our relationships . . . how we relate to God, ourselves, and others. As the familiar hymn tells us, “They will know we are Christians by our love!” These are the new clothes we wear as Christians . . . as the followers of Jesus.
As always . . . actions speak louder than words. Actions speak louder than the props we carry to display our faith. Actions are what people remember and how they see us. Our actions reflect our faith . . . reflect what we believe. Like that little boy . . . they see.
In the time that Paul writes his letter the way of Jesus . . . what we call Christianity . . . was new. It was different. It was not understood. It was a threat. As such the followers of Jesus experienced prejudice and persecution . . . even death. It was not easy to be a follower of Jesus. So, it is no wonder that Paul used such language to encourage the faithful in Ephesus.
Rely upon your faith, says Paul. Let your new clothing do its job. With faith anything is possible. Thus, it is that Paul encourages them to take a stand . . . stand your ground . . . to stand, stand firm.
As we stand in these difficult times . . . these divisive times, let us consider the faith we proclaim as the followers of Jesus. Let us stand firm in what we believe. Allow ourselves to show our faith not only in the words that we speak, but also in the actions that we take. Let the people and world around us see our new clothes of God’s love. As the apostle tells the Ephesians, let us “put the full armor of God” on. Trust in God . . . trust in your faith.
Saint Patrick said it well:
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
This is the “armor of God”. Amen!
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