My daughter is two years old. She has an older sister who is five and an older brother who is eight. She loves them. Sure, she can be territorial with her (and their) toys, and she makes it clear when they annoy her, but as a whole she loves to play with them and often mimics them (for better or worse).
That’s why it was no surprise that one day, while she and I were in the basement, I turned to see her dressed in her sister’s sweater, and her brother’s baseball cleats. The look made me smile, but also a bit worried. Wearing the oversized clothes increased the risk of my already clumsy two year old tripping and falling on the hard cement floor.
As I kept an extra careful eye on her, it occurred to me that my daughter’s fashion choice was an analogy for when we sin against God. The first sin was committed by Adam and Eve when they grasped after divinity even though God had instructed them to simply follow His commands and He would provide for them. They tried to put themselves into a position to determine right from wrong even though they were the creature and God was the Creator. They tried on clothes that were too big for them, and they fell.
Like our first parents, we also grasp after divinity. When we don’t like God’s divine law or we are too weak to follow it, we try our hand in determining what’s right and wrong through our human rationalization. Consequently, we find that the clothes that we have tried on don’t fit no matter how hard we try to convince ourselves that they do.
Jesus rectifies this inclination during His earthly life. Even though He was God, He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Jesus humbly wears the clothes of the incarnation. He conforms His human will with His divine nature. He lowers Himself and is raised up, and we are called to do the same in Him.
This is not to say that we should never wear clothes that are too big for us, or stretch ourselves spiritually. Clothes that are a bit big for us are meant to be grown into. But we have to wait for God to give them to us. Jesus does this as He accepts His Father’s will in the garden, and we do it each time we wait on the Lord to act or speak into our lives rather than taking matters into our own hands.
So even though my daughter did not fall that afternoon, I encourage us all to reflect on our choices. Do we make decisions as if we are God? Or do we humbly submit to our Father’s heavenly will? Do we follow the example of Jesus? Or do we fall to the same temptation that Adam and Eve did? In answering these questions honestly, we can discover if we fit into the clothes that we have been given, or if we have been grasping beyond our capacity. Because if we conform ourselves to Jesus and His perfectly fitting clothes, we will find that we will grow in Him and receive our heavenly banquet garments that are fit for a King.
