“Putting on Christ”
Romans 13:8-14
Fashion was not important to me when I was younger, particularly in my late teens and into my 20s. I didn’t wear a lot of fancy outfits or anything. I was into jeans because jeans were cool. There was only one brand of blue jeans that fit the “cool” mode for me- Levi’s 501s were the only jeans I put on for much of my life. Lee or Wrangler didn’t work; they just didn’t fit comfortably for me. Nor were they cool. Levis cost a bit more, but were worth it to me. That was, of course, when I was younger. Now, style and fashion don’t matter. What matters is what is cheap- I now own a few pairs of Wrangler jeans and some Kirkland jeans I got from Buy Mart and Costco. When I put on these jeans, I don’t care about looking cool or how they fit anymore. That is what happens to your sense of cool when you have two grandkids, are trying to save wherever you can, and are approaching 64, which means jeans won’t look cool on me anymore, no matter what brand they may be!
Paul talks about fashion and style as well in today’s passage. Although he isn’t talking about wearing a comfortable pair of jeans, he mentions two other things for the Christian sense of fashion- the armor of light and putting on Christ himself. What exactly does Paul mean by these statements? To fully understand Paul’s recommended style for the Christian of the 1st century and for today, we need to see where this morning’s scripture passage is placed in the book of Romans. As is true for real estate, so it is true for scripture- location matters!
Our passage falls within the context of Paul's discussion of the new life in Christ. He has dealt with the church as the body of Christ (Rom 12:1‑8), with Christian love and forgiveness (Rom 12:9‑21) and the Christians' stance with governmental authority (13:1-7) With regard concerning how Christians are to interact with government, Paul considers the state and her governors under the authority of God. Hence, obedience is due to them. In addition, dues, taxes, revenues, and respect must be paid to them (v. 7). I wonder how Paul would feel today about those statements…
Then in our opening verse 8, Paul uses the same Greek word “opeileian/opheilein,” for “taxes or dues," as a play on words. Civil law in the first century required paying monetary dues or taxes. Paul plays a bit of a role in the words here, saying that love is the only "tax" or "due" owed by Christians- love being the agape form of love- unconditional love, and from God meant for ourselves and our neighbors. The word translated as neighbor in Greek (Eteron Eteron) means “other”. Paul wants us not just to show agape love to those who live next door. We are to show our love to the other, which means everyone else. Paul defines this agape’ love of the other as follows: "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (v. 10). When he mentions the law here, he refers to the 10 commandments. Just how is it that showing love to others fulfills the commandments?
Agape love for the other is fully connected with love from God, who is love (1 John 4:7-8). We do not show that love when we do not respect the unique, God‑given relationship between husband and wife. We do not show love to God’s own creation as we destroy the image and likeness of God in which men and women were made (Gen 1:27). We do not show love when we do not respect the property and belongings of the other. (Exodus 21:23) We do not show love when we desire another person’s spouse, house, or goods. By following these commandments, led by love, we show agape love to others.
So, beginning in the Hebrew Scriptures, the idea "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18-19) forbids vengeance against your neighbor and commands loving him/her as oneself. Jesus explicitly linked the commandment to love God with the commandment to love one's neighbor and saw this as the fulfillment of the law, just as Paul did. (Mark 12:28-31 and parallels). Love of the other is the only thing you and I owe to this world. I found a story about one church that is surrounded in worship by this message every Sunday.
Theologian Fred Craddock tells of returning to his childhood church in Tennessee. The first thing he noticed was the new stained glass windows. There were names on the bottom of each window, but he didn't recognize any of them. "You must have had many new folks join this church since I was a boy," he said to one of the members. "Oh, those people aren't members here," replied the member. "We bought those windows from a company in Italy. They were made for a church in St. Louis, but they wouldn't fit. So the company sold them to us. There aren't many of us here, and never any new people, so we decided to leave the names! So each Sunday morning we are surrounded by the names of people other than ourselves." They were reminded to love the other, the stranger, the neighbor, each time they sat in the sanctuary and looked at those names of others they did not know!
Part of Paul’s reasoning for showing love to the other was his belief that Jesus’ return was right around the corner. Paul uses imagery that would be well‑known to his Jewish-Christian and Greco-Roman audiences. Here, he uses the metaphor of waking from sleep. “We know what hour it is, and it is time to wake up! The hour of salvation is near!” Theologian Josephine Massyngbaerde Ford says, “Sleep in Greek mythology is the brother of Death and son of Night. Night is the time of beguiling and bewitching, of indecent conduct and godlessness. For the ancient people, night was also associated with evil spirits. Paul portrays it as a time of carousals, sexual license, and quarreling. Even today, psychologists suggest that night tends to bring on aggressive behavior.”
Many people today are frightened by the night's chaotic revelry and violence. At night, we lock our doors, activate alarm systems, turn on the outside lights, and huddle within our homes to keep back the night with its threat and danger. The night can still serve as a powerful image set in contrast to the way of Christian love. I still remember about fifteen years ago, while we were still living in Fort Bragg, CA. A man shot the well-loved former mayor and one other person, and escaped into the woods, evading capture for weeks. At night, we often heard the police helicopters and saw search lights shining in the woods just over our fence, trying to find the man. The night can be a scary place.
However, Paul tells us that the night is far gone and the day is at hand. Christ has brought light into our world. We are called to live trying to please Christ in this life, showing love to the other, and being ready for his return and the life to come. No Christian should be asleep or caught in perpetual night. How, then, are we to remain awake and alert? How can we keep away from deeds done in shadow? This brings us to Paul’s fashion sense and his call for us Christians to wear two garments.
First, Paul encourages us (v.12) to cast off works of darkness and put on the armor of light. The light shines in the darkness and gives us hope in the shadows. What does this suit of light signify? I think of Jesus’s sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:14-16. There, Jesus tells us, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket; instead, they place it on a stand, and it gives light to the whole house. Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory to God in heaven.” Wearing the armor of light means demonstrating our faith to others, shining the love Paul talks of through our words and deeds.
A couple of decades ago, I was lucky enough to take part in a touring opera for the schools in the coastal area of Fort Bragg. Another singer and I performed portions of Bizet’s Carmen for some elementary and middle schools. It was a full day as I portrayed Escamillo, the toreador, and sang the Toreador song. You likely know the tune, “Toreador, en garde! Toreador, Toreador!,” etc. Singing the famous solo certainly was fun, but what was even more fun and what really drew the attention of the students was that I wore “The suit of light,” a full toreador costume with shiny sequins. And a red cape. When I walked into one of the school auditoriums to sing, kids gasped and said “wow” as I literally shined before them. I loved wearing that costume for the day. Wearing that suit got their attention. Jesus wants us to get the attention of others by wearing the armor of light, doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly in faith with God.
But the armor of light isn’t enough. Paul suggests we also (v.14) “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” as a garment to turn us further from the darkness of night, enabling us to make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. Why the additional garment? Theologian Paul Gifford sees Paul here as encouraging the Christian to “Clothing of the soul in the moral disposition and habits of Christ.” Every time we perform an ethical act of Christ, we put on the armor of light and Jesus Christ more fully. And every time we turn from Christ and instead turn to an act of self-will or self-indulgence, we in effect take them off.
This past Wednesday, I put something on while working with others from our church and my Rotary club, helping build a home for the Long family. In this instance, I put on my tool belt. I only wear this belt when I work on a Habitat site. And, when I put the tool belt on, I do things I do nowhere else. Last Wednesday, I spent the first hour or so on the big chop saw, cutting 2X4s and other pieces of wood the right length to help frame one wall for the house. I then used a nail gun (which is really fun!), anchoring the wall once we raised it and put it in place. In the decades I’ve worked on Habitat sites, I have learned more about construction than I ever thought I would. I’ve hung sheet rock, poured concrete, put up brick and rebar walls for a school, constructed a roof for a home, built fences, built a storm bunker underground, hung doors, learned how to put up staggered siding on the outside of a house, and more. The more I have put this tool belt on over the years, the more I can call myself a construction guy (But only with a really good site boss who shows me what to do!)
The same is true about putting on Jesus. The more we put Christ on each and every day, the more Christlike we become, the shinier we are, and the more we draw others’ attention through love. I think of that every Sunday morning I put on my Celtic Cross. This cross was my mother’s, and her example of faith is one I think of as I put on Christ before each service on Sunday mornings. Theologian Eugenia Price wrote, “If Christ lives in us, controlling our personalities daily, we will leave glorious marks on the lives we touch. Not because of our lovely characters, but because of his.”
God be with us, as we remember Paul and Christ’s call to love the other. There are many “others” to love these days. Theologian Diana Butler Bass wrote about world refugee day this past Friday. Did you know, there are more displaced people around the globe than ever before in human history?
According to the UN Refugee Agency: As of the end of 2024, the most recent reporting period, 123.2 million people had been forced to flee their homes globally due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. Among them were nearly 42.7 million refugees. In addition, there were 73.5 million people displaced within the borders of their own countries and 8.4 million asylum-seekers.…. More than 1 in every 67 people on Earth has been forced to flee….
Let that sink in: 1 in every 67 people on Earth is a displaced person, is an “other.” Matthew 25 reminds us, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, an “other” and you invited me in…” With all of the wars occurring right now, plus the ones on the near horizon, the changes in climate affecting crops of the developing world, this trend of displaced people is not going to go down.
Butler Bass writes, “It is incumbent upon us to resist the dehumanization and demonization of immigrants and refugees and refuse to participate in unjust deportations and campaigns of state terror against innocent people. We cannot give in to social and political movements that deny the humanity and dignity of immigrants and refugees.
We must not accept the wanton cruelty being perpetrated in our towns and cities right now.” God be with us in our calling from this morning’s passage to love the others in our midst. May we remember each and every day to make that decision to put on the armor of light and Christ, guiding our character, so that he guides our words and our actions, and we become shinier and Christ-like every day. Alleluia! Amen.
