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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
With this installment, we begin our four part review concerning The Seamless Tunic [Coat] of Jesus, the one for which the soldiers cast lots at his crucifixion. Of the four inspired historians, this detail is given only by John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke speak to the fact that the soldiers took his clothing as booty for their part in the proceeding, but John alone includes the details about the one piece garment that was valuable enough to cause it to be of such special interest.
The Seamless Tunic (1/4)
We begin our review by citing the apostle Paul's address to a mixed multitude in the city of Antioch in Pisidia some fifteen to twenty years after the crucifixion of Jesus. “Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God [reverent Gentiles], to you the word of this salvation has been sent. For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.” (Acts 13.26-30; emphasis mine, jb).
Next we revert back to the scenes where His garments were taken along with the seamless tunic. “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, 'Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,' that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: 'They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.' Therefore the soldiers did these things.” (John 19.23-24; emphasis mine, jb).
One can correctly infer from the two citations (above) that the death of Jesus did not bring an end to the troubles that he was causing among the Jews in Jerusalem. Paul was a Jew and here he was speaking in a Jewish synagogue to a group of Jews and Gentiles, telling them that this message of salvation (the message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus) was intended for them! Rather than quell the stir that Jesus had caused, His death only provided the impetus for His followers to proclaim His message to others far and wide. The connection between these two seeming disconnected realities (the fact of Jesus' death and the unstoppable expansion of His disciples fervor) is the connection we want to exploit in this miniseries.
Note again what Paul said concerning the death of Jesus (see Acts 13.26-30). Specifically he said that the rulers in Jerusalem “...did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath.” But in acting as they did, they “...fulfilled all that was written concerning Him.” Looking again at what John wrote about the soldiers and the dividing of the garments of Jesus, he said that they did these things “..that the scripture might be fulfilled.” These details, these seemingly inconsequential details, form the seamless cloth from which the entirety of scripture is woven much the same as the tunic of Jesus was woven in one valuable and curious piece.
God has used and still uses the choices of men, even those choices which are made completely contrary to His will, to further His cause. Our view of the one piece tunic will include a review of God's wisdom and power in using such minute details and the powerful effect this has on the hearts and minds of honest people who read these details. God turns deeds meant for harm into deeds that help honest men!
Questions:
1. What did the Jewish leaders hope to achieve by putting Jesus to death?
2. Looking at what Paul was doing a couple of decades later, what effect did the death of Jesus have on these objectives of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem?
3. According to Paul, these Jewish leaders did not know Him (Jesus) or the “...voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath.” Why did they not know Him of the Scriptures?
4. Can you think of other biblical events which men intended for harm which God used as a means to help men with good and honest hearts? List some of these events.
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