The Best Robes

Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet...for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found. Luke 15:22, 24

The robe...the best robe...goes to.........the runaway, poor excuse for a son. The one who squandered all of his inheritance...who didn't want daddy to tell him what to do, how to do it, or where. He didn't want to work, but party. He spent it all frivolously and ended up with NOTHING. Not a penny for food, let alone a nice wardrobe. He was dirty, filthy, and scrawny. He lost all of his respectability, and self-respect. And coming home was a matter of self-preservation. He rehearses his confession speech hoping for a job, a way of making a new life as a slave. That, according to daddy, was not going to happen.

I can see re-dressing the poor boy. No one wants a kid smelling like a pig barn hanging around the family. A change of clothes, sure, but the best robe? He hadn't taken care of anything he had been given as his inheritance, so why give him the best of anything? Didn't he have to prove he was going to turn over a new leaf...to be a different person than the one who had left in pride and self-indulgence? The sandals, too, would match the quality of the robe. The ring gave him authority as a member of the family again. So restoration was full. No consequences...just the best.

So those of us with a sense of fairness think this is just the most unjust thing ever. Why trust the boy at all, let alone treat him like royalty? The best, remember, for the worst... We sympathize with the brother who feels neglected for sticking around like a good kid.

This takes me to the end of the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia”. The kids have participated in the war, done their part, as did multitudes of others, but in the end, those 4 children were given crowns by Aslan, including Edmond who had caused so much of the problems in the first place. I can not sit and look at the scene without envisioning the day when we receive our crowns and rewards in heaven, when the whole world knows that we are the true children of God. There will be no missing jewels, no tarnish, no second-best in the kingdom of heaven. If we are the children of God, we ARE the Children of GOD. We will be washed clean of all that we have done wrong, cleaned up and dressed up in white robes. Don't ask me if we will have shoes...everyone had to take them off when they were in God's presence...but we will have the best robes, whether we are clean-cut Baptists or reformed prostitutes. We will all have all of the advantages of sonship. This is a reality described in this parable. We are all equal in the eyes of God. We are the thief on the cross, Mary at the foot of the cross, and Edmond of the Spare Room...and we will all be in heaven, dressed in the best. Lord knows we don't deserve it, but we get it anyway. We squandered all of our inheritance and wasted our lives and made fools of ourselves first. We have no where else to turn, so we turn in desperation to God. We come ashamed, embarassed, ill-clad and starving, He sees us coming, and runs to make sure we don't loose our nerve and try to find another way to make a living without Him. His Son's Blood does the cleaning, and the robes are given out. Not servant robes, but robes of righteousness put on by His servants. And they are pleased to do His bidding. Scriptures say that angels long to look into this strange interest that God has with man, that He would buy them back, to why Christ would do all this suffering and redeem the empty bottles of our lives. He isn't buying full bottles of cool drink, but buying back the empty trash bottles that are good for recycling. He washes us and fills us with something better than what we contained before, ourselves, and that is part of Him, His Holy Spirit. And why wouldn't He give that Spirit in us the best He has to offer. We are the empty vessels refilled! And re-clothed.

Wow...that is true for me and for you if you are a child of God. Come home and He will come running, and all that He has is yours. Wow...if that doesn't fill your eyes with tears of gratitude, you need a heart check. Maybe a movie about a Lion could help your perspective.