Keep Your Clothes On!

Do you remember Joseph? No not the carpenter, the patriarch remembered more broadly as the star of a musical (which I've never seen).

What was so special about him anyway? Well his mother was Rachael the finer of two sisters and later wives of Israel (Jacob). She gave birth to Joseph later in life and thus Joseph became the apple of Israel's eye. Well through a course of jealousy-sparking dreams, and lack of p.c. commentary, Joseph ends up sold into slavery. His brothers then take his multi-colored cloak, dip it in blood, and present it as evidence of Joseph's death to their father.

Then, as Joseph rises to a place of privilege in Potiphar's house, his runs into the same issue. Potiphar's wife gets the hots for him and tries to lead him down a path of destruction. Joseph preferred death to sin, and so left his cloak in her hand and fled. Then, she presented his cloak to her husband as proof of Joseph's iniquity. Making Joseph as good as dead one more time.

Lesson number one: keep your clothes on. When it doubt don't let people steal your clothes.

Lesson number two: may we be reminded of the true and better Joseph, who was the favored Son of His Father. He didn't just wear a cloak of colors, he wrapped himself with all the colors of light (Ps 104:2)! And like Joseph, Jesus was sold into the slavery we deserved. Like Joseph He was stripped of all his honor. And like Joseph, because of the sin and pride and jealousy of his brothers (Heb 2:17), he was presented as dead to his Father. But unlike Joseph, Jesus actually died. He was actually turned over to the slavery of sin on our behalf. It wasn't the blood of an animal that stained his cloak, it was his very own. It was his blood presented on our behalf, that we might now share in the honor of the beloved soon.

And like Joseph's second encounter, Jesus was thrown into prison on our behalf. Like Joseph his did not love his life so much as to give into the demands of sin. No, he preferred death to sin, and lived a life that lead him to that death. So remember, keep your clothes on. Not just those fading garments of cotton and polyester, but clothe yourselves with the New Man. Clothe yourselves with the honor and love and majesty given to you by the One who set aside his cloak on your behalf.