by Pastor Doug Brauner

…Is His Scarlet Robe

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“They stripped [Jesus] and put a scarlet robe on him. They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, ‘Hail! King of the Jews!'”
Matthew 27:28-29 New Living Translation

I’m not sure that I would want to live on Scarlet Drive. Don’t get me wrong, the homes on Scarlet Drive are very nice town homes, some with a wonderful view of Pikes Peak, but there’s something in the word scarlet that troubles me. Maybe my struggle is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter.

Hester Prynne was forced to wear her sin on her chest every time she appeared in public. Her sin was that of adultery and giving birth to a child out of wedlock. The scarlet letter “A” that she wore reminded her of that sin. She could never escape. The people of Boston never let her get away with her sin.

What’s the scarlet letter on your chest? We all have them. It’s funny how the Bostonians couldn’t see their own scarlet letters, or maybe they saw them but deflected attention away from themselves by pointing out Hester’s sin. “At least I didn’t commit adultery like her!” Maybe we also point out other people’s sins so that we don’t have to deal with ours.

Jesus was stripped naked, humiliated, when he stood before the soldiers, then mockingly clothed in a scarlet robe. Even before a nail was driven into his hands, even before he spoke the words, “Father, forgive them,” Jesus wears our scarlet letters, our sins.

We are aware of our sins, but when God looks at us he doesn’t see a scarlet letter. Jesus wore our sins. Jesus wore your sins. He was clothed with your sin that you might be free. There is no accusing finger, no public ridicule for you because of Jesus.

So, maybe it would be okay to live on Scarlet Drive. What a great reminder of what God has done for us in Jesus.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado