Lenten Devotion for Thursday, April 3

By John Moore

Read John 19:23-27

Today as we journey through Lent we pause to consider the underwear of Jesus. I can picture it now. The children giggling and asking “under where?” The middle schoolers blushing at first but then giving in to the giggling fit, the high schoolers rolling their eyes, and the adults knowing smile as if they are above the embarrassment of discussing underwear.

The middle school youth guy in me exclaims, “Yes! Awkward topic nobody wants to talk about that can relate to Jesus, here we go!”

As we begin to dig into the verse a much more serious voice emerges. “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”

The indignity of the situation compels a reaction.”THIS SHOULD NOT BE!” The king of glory who created the entire universe is being subject to the most humiliating of circumstances. Not only is he stripped naked but in a final stroke to his dignity his underwear is put on a table and treated as the prize in some cruel gambling game.

Doesn’t some part of us want to scream at the soldiers, “What are you doing?!? At least let Him die with a little dignity!”?  Until in a horrifying moment we begin to realize that in a short while Jesus will say, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” and we realize that the person who will not let Jesus die with dignity is us–me.

What a moment of guilt and shame.

But Jesus doesn’t leave us with guilt and shame. In fact, the indignity of dying naked was spoken of by King David years before. The underwear of Jesus has been put on display in scripture for all to speculate about for years.

Jesus is willing for our sakes to endure being stripped of every shred of private dignity. All so that we could have the opportunity to have an incredibly profound relationship with Him.

We pray: Jesus, Thank You for enduring humiliation on the cross for us, so that we can have an amazing relationship with You.

Family discussion:

Have you or any of your family members ever been publicly humiliated? Maybe underwear was involved? (Don’t we all have stories of wedgies or pantsing?) What does it mean that Jesus endured this same sort of humiliation?

Everyday object:

Consider bringing out a pair of underwear. Maybe just having it out during devotion time is slightly humiliating. Jesus endured far more humiliation for our sake.