Not much is known about the seamless robe
which the soldiers cast lots for while Jesus was being crucified.
There’s a book by author Marjorie Holmes
called The Messiah. This was the third in a series of books about
the life of Jesus that were based on biblical knowledge about Jesus, but then
Ms. Holmes filled in the blanks using historical fiction.
In her book, she said that Jesus’
grandmother, Anna had made the seamless robe for her grandson Jesus as an act
of love. She had given it to him before
he left to travel to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, which would be his
last here on earth. The author describes Anna’s feelings of agony and despair
as she watched her grandson being crucified, along with the other women at the
foot of Jesus’ cross.
While none of this is biblical, it does
help us to think about this particular robe of Jesus. Jesus had parents and
grandparents, and they must have shown human love and emotions and gave gifts
as acts of love just like any other normal family does. This is what I enjoy about reading historical
fiction. It helps us to see historical events from a variety of perspectives.
There are also some traditions held by the
church surrounding the soldiers gambling for Jesus’ seamless robe.
[Trier, Germany Cathedral - Jesus' Seamless Robe Relic]
It is said that the robe is held as a
relic in Trier, Germany. Here is what
the information page on the cathedral’s website says:
“The most precious relic in Trier
Cathedral is the Holy Robe, the tunic of Christ. According to tradition, Helena, the mother of Constantine brought the seamless robe of Christ to Trier. The Holy Robe is mentioned
for the first time in the 11th century; the history of the Holy Robe is
documented with certainty only from the 12th century, when it was removed from
the west choir to the new altar in the east choir on May 1, 1196.
Since the Cathedral renovation in 1974,
the Holy Robe has been kept in its wooden shrine from 1891, lying under an
air-conditioned glass shrine. The last
great pilgrimage, in 1996, became a celebration of all the faithful, with its
continuation in the annual Holy Robe Days.
Only during the Holy Robe Days is the Holy Robe chapel accessible, but
the garment cannot be viewed. The original state of the textile has altered
because of past events and the unfavorable storage conditions, as repairs have
frequently been made.”
The question of the genuineness of the
Holy Robe cannot be answered with certainty.
For the faithful, the symbolism is important: the relic signifies Jesus
Christ himself, his incarnation and the other events in his life up to the
crucifixion and his death. The undivided and seamless garment is also a symbol
of Christian unity and evokes the binding power of God, as is expressed in the
Trier pilgrim's prayer:
"Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer, have mercy on us and all the
world. Be mindful of Thy Church and bring together what is divided. Amen."
The symbolism of the unity of Christ’s
Church exemplified in the seamless oneness of Christ’s seamless tunic is
interesting. Too often the Church fails
to be unified and instead we rip and tear at the fabric of the unity of the
Church for which Christ prayed in the Gospel of John.
Our Protestant heritage does not put much
emphasis on relics like other streams of our Christian faith do. It seems impossible to prove that the tunic
in Trier Cathedral is the true seamless tunic of Christ or not. After all, eleven hundred years had passed
since the crucifixion until the first recorded mention of the garment being in
Trier.
But then again, faith has never been about
proof, has it? Faith is belief in that
which we cannot prove by evidence alone.
So, what do we know about the garment from
the biblical stories that are recorded in the gospels?
The Gospel of Luke tells us that when
Jesus was being crucified in between two criminals, he said, “Father, forgive
them; for they do not know what they are doing.
And they cast lots for his clothing.”
This was common practice for Roman
soldiers to divide up the clothing of executed criminals among themselves. When
these soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ clothes, they fulfilled the prophecy in
Psalm 22:18. “They divide my garments
among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
In Mark’s telling of the crucifixion,
probably the first written account which we have, it says in chapter 15, verse
24, “And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots
to decide what each should take.”
In Matthew’s gospel it says in chapter 27,
verse 35, “And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among
themselves by casting lots; then they sat down there and kept watch over him.”
It
is from John’s Gospel account of the crucifixion that we get the most detail
about this robe which Jesus had been wearing.
Beginning in chapter 19, verse 23 John writes, “When the soldiers had
crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one
for each soldier.
They also took his tunic; now the tunic
was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.
So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it
to see who will get it.” This was to
fulfill what the scripture says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and
for my clothing they cast lots.” And
that is what the soldiers did.”
There is one very important lesson I think
we need to focus on from these few, short verses in the various gospel accounts
of the soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ robe, and it is this: Don’t gamble on
your future with Jesus.
Casting lots is like rolling the dice to
see who will win the prize. Casting lots
is like drawing straws to see who will go home the winner. This is no way for
us to trust our future with Jesus.
There are two important characters in
these stories that can help us in our faith.
The first one is one of the criminals who was crucified beside Jesus.
One of the criminals joined with the
others in the crowd in mocking Jesus, while the other recognized the truth that
he and the other criminal had indeed committed crimes for which they deserved
death on a cross.
One of the criminals rebuked the other one
for deriding Jesus. He recognized that
Jesus had done nothing wrong that would merit his death sentence.
Then the one criminal said to Jesus,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you
will be with me in Paradise.
This criminal recognized the kingship of
Jesus, and asked to be remembered by him. He put his whole trust in Jesus.
He had a faith which could not be seen. He
had true faith. He didn’t gamble with his future; he placed it securely in the
hands of Jesus.
The other important character from whom we
can learn in this story is the Roman centurion.Unlike the other soldiers who
were gambling or casting lots for Jesus’ garments, this soldier came to faith
in Jesus.
In telling the story about the dividing of
Jesus’ robe, Luke tells us that when noon came on crucifixion day, darkness
covered the whole land until three in the afternoon. During this time, the curtain in the temple
was torn in two. Then, Jesus cried out, “Father, into your hands I commend my
spirit”. Having said this, he breathed his last breath. When the centurion saw
what had taken place, he praised God, and said, “Certainly this man was
innocent.”
Mark’s gospel account is even more
telling. He says, “Now when the centurion,
who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said,
“Truly this man was God’s Son!”
Like the one criminal, the centurion also
placed his faith and trust in Jesus, and proclaimed his faith with the words
that he spoke. He did not gamble on his
future either, but placed his faith in Jesus who he believed to be the Son of
God.
Like these two biblical examples, we
should not gamble with our life either.
We are to place our faith firmly with Jesus. This leads us into a deeper
awareness of our sins and of our need for forgiveness.
This is what leads us to accept the
forgiveness which Jesus offers to us, believing that when we place our trust in
Jesus we will be with him in God’s kingdom.
And then, like the centurion, we are
prompted to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God with our lips to others,
so that others will receive God’s grace and forgiveness in their lives.
Placing our faith and trust in Jesus, and
the unity of the Body of Christ are the messages of this story, and the lessons
we can learn from this seamless robe that Jesus wore. Seeing Jesus for who
Jesus is, and working for unity and oneness in the church.
In these days when the Son of God is not
physically on earth, one of the ways we see him as he is, is when we encounter
him in another person.
The story is told about a Wise Old Sage
who was meditating in his Mountain cave.
When he opened his eyes he discovered an unexpected visitor sitting
before him - the abbot of a well-known monastery.
"What is it you seek", asked the
Wise Old Sage?
The abbot recounted a tale of woe. At one time his monastery had been famous
throughout the western world. Its cells
were filled with young hopefuls, and its church had resounded to the chant of
its monks.
But hard times had come on the
monastery. People no longer flocked
there to nourish their spirits, the young men aspiring to join the monastery
had dried up, and the church was almost silent.
There were only a handful of monks left and these went about their
duties with heavy hearts.
Now this is what the abbot wanted to know -
"Is it because of some sin of ours that the monastery has been reduced to
this state?"
"Yes", replied the Wise Old Sage,
"a sin of ignorance."
"And what might that sin be?"
"One of your members is the Messiah in
disguise and you are ignorant of this", replied the Wise Old Sage. And having said so he closed his eyes and
returned to his meditation.
Throughout the long journey back to his
monastery the abbot's heart beat fast as he thought that the Messiah - the
Messiah himself – had returned to earth and was right there in his
monastery.
How was it that he had failed to recognize
him? And who could it be? Brother Cook?
Brother Sacristan? Brother
Treasurer? Brother Prior? No, not he; he had too many defects,
alas. But then, the Wise Old Sage had
said he was in disguise. Could those
defects be part of his disguise?
Come to think of it, everyone in the
monastery had defects. And one of them
had to be Messiah.
Back in the monastery the abbot assembled
all the monks and told them what he had discovered. They looked at one another in disbelief. The Messiah?
Here? Incredible! But he was supposed to be here in disguise. So, maybe...
What if it were so and so? Or the
other one over there? Or...
One thing was certain. If the Messiah was there in disguise, it was
not likely that they would recognize him.
So they took to treating everyone with special respect and
consideration. "You never
know", they said to themselves when they dealt with one another,
"maybe this is the one."
The result was that the atmosphere of the
monastery became vibrant with joy. Soon
dozens of aspirants were seeking admission to the order. And once again the church echoed with the
holy and joyful chant of monks who were aglow with the spirit of love.
The world will know that we are Christians
by our love. May our lives help build
the unity, the seamlessness, of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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