A Palm Sunday question: what happened to all the cloaks that parade-goers threw on the ground as a carpet for Jesus’ donkey-riding? How would they have responded when asked, “So, what are you going to do with your dirty clothes now?”
This would not be a small question. A cloak was probably the most necessary outer-garment in the minimal wardrobes of these palm-wavers. When their cloaks hit the ground—dusty or muddy—they got really dirty!
For a few days at least, these salvation-seekers may have walked around during pre-Passover days not looking all that good. Smelling like the ground or worse. Knowing that, with other cloak-throwing folks, they were easily identified as Jesus’ people. In the coming days, they might realize that they had sacrificed significantly to welcome into town someone they fervently hoped would save them from all that bedeviled their existence. Perhaps they regretted their actions. Maybe they doubled down on following Jesus, no matter what that meant for their cleanliness.
Cloaks-in-the-dirt feels like an applicable metaphor for Jesus-following right now. To be direct: Being a Christian can be dirty, self-sacrificing work. Not just our clothes, either. These times seem to require sweat and tears, tired muscles, grimy faces, calloused hands and long days of down-to-earth reckoning about our purpose in life. Our finery-filled Easter parades will bring joy, but afterwards? After Easter, our work clothes will probably stay dirty because of our continuingly fierce efforts to bring God’s will to bear on society.
As today’s dirty-cloak people, we can find satisfaction in knowing that, in the end—whatever that means and whenever it happens—our Spirit-inspired grit and determination will affect the greater good that God wills. And they’ll know we are Christians by our …
…Dirty cloaks!
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