Lay Out Your Clothes

The baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River is a popular theme in early Christian art. As ancient ruins are excavated and explored, catacombs and early churches are treasure troves of information about the life of the early Christian community because of their art. The paintings and mosaics in the catacombs and early churches of Jesus being baptized by John depict for us, in far more detail than they ever would have put down in words, baptism in the early church.

Immersion was the common practice, going to a river and being laid back and then brought back up out of the water. But, in places where water was scarce, baptisms were practiced less frequently and water was caught in a cistern, sometimes as small as a bathtub, during the rainy season so that they could have a pool of water for baptisms. Dr. George Rice, a New Testament professor, wrote an article on baptismal art, “Numerous ancient pictures, mosaics, and reliefs can be found in churches and baptisteries illustrating the baptism of Jesus. Generally He is standing waist deep in water, unclothed, and John is on the bank, clothed, with his right hand on Jesus’ head preparing to immerse Him. It seems clear that these pictures reflect the baptismal rite as it was practiced in the early church.”

The Christians in the church at Colossae had taken off their old clothes when they were about to be baptized, been baptized nude, and put on new, white clothes after their baptism. The part of the letter that we read this morning is building on their common experience and weaving more meaning into the baptismal ritual.

The symbol needs to connect to practice – take off your old clothes, and your old ways. Being part of the community means removing self-indulgence, habitual anger, and lying. All three behaviors will break relationships and will fracture the community. And clothe yourselves with 5 virtues: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

Biblical scholar William Barclay points out that “It is most significant to note that every one of the virtues and graces listed has to do with personal relationships between [people]. There is no mention of virtues like efficiency, cleverness, and even diligence and industry – not these things are not important. But the great basic Christian virtues are the virtues which govern and set the tone of human relationships. Christianity is community. Christianity has on its divine side the amazing gift of peace with God, and on its human side, the triumphant solution of the problem of living together.”

And New Testament professor Dr. Lewis Donelson says of this list, “It would be hard to find a better description of the peculiar character of Christian love.”

Several years ago, a story was told about a little girl at her 4 year-old check-up with the pediatrician. The doctor looked in her ear, and asked, “Do you think I’ll find Big Bird in here?” To no reply. He had her open her mouth and say “Ah,” and as he pressed down on her tongue with the tongue depressor asked, “Do you think I’ll see Cookie Monster down there?” The girl didn’t respond. The doctor placed his stethoscope on her chest and asked, “Do you think I’ll hear Barney in there?” To which she replied, “Oh no, Jesus is in my heart. Barney is on my underwear.”

When we are baptized in Christ, we become part of the body of Christ. Christ is the head, and we in the church are the body. Colossians talks about it as being in Christ and Christ being in us. We read at the beginning of Colossians 3 that we have been raised with Christ and Christ sits at the right hand of God. There we sit as Christ’s body, next to God.

It’s an ancient version of “What not to wear”! Do not wear your selfish, fleshly indulgences, your anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language, and lies. When you go to pick your clothes there are 5 easy-to-remember tips.

Clothe yourselves instead in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. CKHMP – the only mnemonic device I could come up with is: Christian key to have more peace. Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Kids, you can work on it this week and get back to us…the five initials are CKHMP.

Let’s look closely at each one. The word we translate “compassion” translates literally “the bowels of sympathy.” Have you ever had a gut-reaction? A gut-feeling? A gut-wrenching experience? The ancients did too. They believed that emotions originated in your bowels. When you see someone suffering or in distress, it should cause emotions to rise up in you. In the ancient world, if an animal couldn’t work or a person was sick or maimed or disabled or aged, they simply went to the wall. They weren’t useful anymore, so there was no provision for them, there was no mercy. Clothe yourself in compassion.

And with chrestotes, kindness. This isn’t just “being nice to each other,” it is the action that rises out of compassion. “The ancient writers defined chrestotes as the virtue of the man whose neighbor’s good is as dear to him as his own. (Barclay)” It is literally the absence of harshness. The same word is used to describe wine that has aged and the bitter sediment has fallen out. Ensure that the fabric of your life has no harshness, no bitterness, and feel compassion for others, responding in kindness.

The next two are have not always been held as virtues for which to strive. Humility and meekness can sound, if we don’t slow down and really understand what is meant, like low self-esteem and weakness. That is not AT ALL what they mean, though. Humility, even in ancient Greece, always included some meanness, some groveling. Christian humility comes first from understanding that God is greater than we are. God is Creator, we are creatures. From that, we understand that we are ALL creatures, so no one of us better than any other. We are all children of God. Meekness is related because as God’s children, we all belong to God. “Praotes” can be translated gentleness or meekness. It really means under control. Aristotle defined “praotes” as the happy balance between too much and too little anger. When you are meek, you are always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time, because you are so self-controlled, you are God-controlled.

Finally, we are to be patient. There are two different Greek words that can be translated patient. One means putting up with things or enduring difficult circumstances. That’s not the one here. The one used here refers to patience with other people. The word is “makrothumia” – macro means far or long and thumia comes from the root word thymos meaning “indignation, wrath, anger, heat, or passion with the sense that anger boils up quickly and then subsides again.” Patience is slow to anger. Literally, it is holding back from flying into a rage, or letting frustration boil over.

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, lay out your clothes. I’m curious how many of you lay out your clothes the night before. I’ve seen that suggestion in parenting magazines related to getting to school calmly and on time. I’ve seen it as a way to commit to working out the next morning. I’ve seen it as a suggestion for going to sleep easier and as a suggestion for waking to a calm morning. I’ve seen it as a way to prepare for worship on Sunday morning. But, I’ve never done it. Because I don’t want to commit to clothes the night before. I like to go to my closet and choose based on my mood. Do I want something bright or something muted? Do I want something particularly comfortable? What shoes do I feel like wearing?

But Colossians tells us that when we are baptized, we rise with Christ. And we put on our new clothes. We no longer choose our clothes based on our mood. We now lay out our clothes following 5 styling tips. We clothe ourselves with compassion, gut-felt mercy, kindness, with no harshness or bitterness, humility, remembering that we are ALL children of God, meekness, strength and power under God’s control, and patience, slow to reach the boiling point of anger. CKHMP: Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

And next Sunday we turn to the fashion concept of layering. Over all these things, put on love, that brings all these things together perfectly. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.