Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. 1 Peter 5:5 urges us to be “clothed with humility.” In Psalm 109:18, David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves “with cursing.” Garments can symbolize character, and like his garment, Jesus’ character was uninterrupted perfection.
But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe: the wardrobe of indignity. Stripped before his own mother. Shamed before his family. The indignity of failure. For a few pain-filled hours, the religious leaders were victors, and Christ appeared the loser. Worst of all, he wore the indignity of sin. Scripture says, “He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). The cloth of Christ on the cross? Sin—yours and mine.