Dressing Up

September 9, 2022

The death of Queen Elizabeth II will expose us all to something we see only rarely these days: ceremonial pomp and order. The royal family along with various lords and ladies, barons and baronesses, and others whose status is unknown to me, will gather at Westminster Chapel in London for her funeral. Every one of them will be dressed in formal attire. Why do they outfit themselves in such an extravagant manner? 

It is a sign of respect to dress up for momentous occasions, something which many of us have forgotten in these casual days in which we live. Unless one is in white collar business, suits and ties are an endangered species, a dress on a woman is seen only at weddings, baptisms, funerals, and graduation parties. In an attempt to “meet people where they are,” even our pastors preach in jeans and T shirts these days. Call me old-fashioned, but though I’ve loosened up for attending worship, I haven’t been able to bring myself to preach in anything less than suit and tie.

There is good reason for doing so. In Exodus 28, God gave Moses instructions regarding the vestments the priests were to wear when leading worship. They were to wear “holy garments…for glory and beauty…that [they] might minister to Me as priest.” Note the words “glory” and “beauty.” We Christians are caught in the middle. Jesus came to bring God to us in human and approachable form. We are encouraged by the Gospel to “come as we are.” Cleaning up our act before coming to Christ is like saying I need to get well before seeing the doctor. We come like beggars with all our ragged and dirty sins, begging Jesus to clothe us in his righteousness. 

The intimacy of the Incarnation has opened the door to our salvation, but at the same time, it runs the risk of inuring us to the holiness and majesty of God. Ripped jeans and T shirts would not do for an audience with the Queen, so why are they appropriate for an audience with the King of kings? I’m not campaigning to shut people out of church; my opinions aren’t going to change much in our casual culture, but I do think we’ve lost something along the way. 

There is one major difference between how we approach God and how we would approach earthly royalty. Queen Elizabeth’s humanity was only seen by her immediate family and associates. Her public persona was always royalty. By contrast, Jesus’ humanity is seen by all, his royalty only by those who have come to know him intimately through repentance and faith. No matter how we dress on the outside, when we come before the King of kings and Lord of lords, we should be wearing the vestments of Christ’s righteousness, the garments of holiness only he provides. The wedding guest who wasn’t wearing the proper wedding clothes was thrown out of the party (Matthew 22). The invitation is to all the outcasts and lowly, but coming to the wedding means dressing for the part, putting on the righteousness of Christ himself.