“The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”” John 11:44
I have just bought, and received, possibly the last 2 pair of bluejeans I will own on this earth! I have tried other brands, and while I hate what the company stands for, I love Levis. They just fit and last. I have a pair that is over 20 years old! Doing the math, I don’t really expect to live here past 83. I don’t really WANT to either! So you might say I’m dressed for work!
My oldest son is fancy! He likes nice clothes and can afford to buy them. I get HIS ‘hand-me-downs.’ He buys those preshrunk, prewashed, pre-worn out jeans for as much as $150 a pair! Me? I’m like my dad. I clearly remember him telling me about the time he got a pair of bluejeans as a kid. “They were stiff…I didn’t wash em for a month…when I put em on, I felt like a king!” A child of the depression era, he didn’t have much. A new pair of jeans was all it took to feel like royalty!
Growing up, I’d occasionally get a pair of jeans for Christmas. And I did and felt the very same thing. Those stiff Levis, unwashed jeans just kind of ‘broke in’ around me. Over time, the knees would get thread bare and the ‘bell-bottoms’ of the ‘boot cut’ got frayed. When they were ripped too far in the knees, I’d take a pair of scissors and make ‘cut-offs.’ Over time the shorts frayed into stringy edges. Cutoffs were considered COOL… AND RARE…because you couldn’t BUY ‘em that way! You wore ‘em down!
Last night was kind of nostalgic for me. While putting on my new jeans to go teach Bible Study my eyes fell upon an old snap, pearl buttoned, cowboy shirt that used to belong to my dad. Instinctively, I reached for it. At the bottom of my closet lay a pair of ‘fancy’ cowboy boots my son had given to me. I reached down and pulled them on. Standing there in front of the special crowd of desiring learners at Church… in my new jeans, my dad’s shirt and my son’s boots, my 2 daughters sat there listening to what came out of my mouth. MOST of which I learned from my own father! You might say I was in ‘tall cotton,’ because, to me… THIS is the meaning of life!
When Jesus walked up to confront the tomb of his friend, Lazarus wasn’t feeling anything! In a spectacular display of His Lordship, Jesus used the moment to carefully point out that HE ALONE is ‘The Messiah’ and one true God. After the build up and a tear, He simply did what He STILL does. He brought Life! His final words AFTER the event are just as spectacular! “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
I remember a time in my life, when as a young lad, Jesus, the Master of the Universe, said those very same words at the tomb of MY heart! I received a new pair of duds that day. Today, I am reminded that they are NOT fancy robes… but WORK clothes. Stiff, tough, long lasting WORK clothes! And if you know Jesus… you know what I am talking about. So today, I am going to work… cuz when I’m filling THESE Jeans, I feel like ROYALTY!
Maybe it isn’t so outrageous that they are called Levis!
