He Clothed Them
Genesis 3:21 · Colossians 3:3 (NIV)
Mary has worked in movie theaters for more than 45 years. She is an elderly usher at the AMC in Maryville, Tennessee, and her manager says she keeps working because she loves it.
In late May, a 21-year-old named Brooklyn Green went to a movie there. She noticed Mary emptying the trash, bent over her cart. Brooklyn told local news that Mary’s hard work had caught her attention.
Brooklyn posted a short video and started an online fundraiser for Mary. She hoped friends and relatives might give about 500 dollars. The video spread, and donations passed 100,000 dollars within the first day. The total grew to more than 140,000 dollars. Good News Network revisited the story on October 13, and the news digest 1440 shared it this morning.
Brooklyn surprised Mary at work and showed her the total on a tablet. Mary said, "I'm overwhelmed and certainly blessed by the Lord and you wonderful people." WVLT’s report, carried by WSMV, said Mary asked for the fundraiser to be paused. She said she had already received more than she could have hoped for. She had told Brooklyn that she helps a mother and child and others in need.
Brooklyn noticed someone many moviegoers might walk past.
GOD looks first. Psalm 121 belongs to a group of songs that many scholars believe pilgrims sang on the way up to worship in Jerusalem. It says of GOD, "he who watches over you will not slumber" (Psalm 121:3). HIS eyes are open on the long shift and the late night.
Some people hide from being seen. That story goes all the way back to Genesis, the first book of the Bible. After Adam and Eve disobeyed GOD, "the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves" (Genesis 3:7).
Then GOD called to the man, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9). Adam answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid" (Genesis 3:10).
GOD came looking for the one who was hiding. Before the chapter ends, HE does something tender. "The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21).
A bishop named Irenaeus led the church in Lyon, in what is now France, around AD 180. In his work Against Heresies, he wrote about those fig leaves. He called them a covering "which affords no gratification, but which gnaws and frets the body." Irenaeus believed Adam would have worn that scratchy covering for the rest of his life to humble himself. Then "God, who is merciful," clothed them "with tunics of skins instead of fig-leaves" (Against Heresies III.23.5).
The painful covering is Irenaeus’s interpretation. Genesis tells us that GOD made garments for them. Even amid the consequences of their disobedience, HE cared for them.
David, the shepherd who became king of Israel, also wrote about shame. In Psalm 69 he prayed, "shame covers my face" (Psalm 69:7). Here he was enduring scorn for his devotion to GOD, a different situation from Adam’s disobedience. Many of us know that feeling too. Shame tells a person to cover up and stay out of sight. GOD goes looking for that person and brings a better covering.
The Gospel of Mark, one of the four accounts of the life of JESUS, tells of a man who lived cut off from everyone in his town. After JESUS set him free, the townspeople came out and found him "sitting there, dressed and in his right mind" (Mark 5:15). The man who had lived apart from everyone now sat clothed and clear-minded with JESUS.
The apostle Paul, whose letters fill much of the New Testament, wrote to the believers in the city of Colossae, "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). Adam hid from GOD in fear. In CHRIST, a life is hidden in GOD, and the hiding place is GOD HIMSELF.
Some readers are walking through a sadness that will not lift. Psalm 34, a psalm of David, says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18). GOD is close before anyone feels better. Reaching out to a friend, a pastor, a counselor, or a doctor is a good and faithful step.
A stranger noticed Mary on an ordinary shift. GOD saw her long before that. HE sees the person bent over work no one praises, and HE clothes the person who wants to hide.
It does leave me thinking about who I walk past on an ordinary day without looking up.
I am not here to prove myself. I am here to make HIM visible.
🙏 To the one doing work no one seems to notice, GOD watches over you and does not slumber.
🙏 To the one hiding in shame, GOD comes looking for you and covers you with what HE has made.
🙏 To the one walking through a sadness that will not lift, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
🙏 To the one who noticed someone this week, HE sees every kindness.
Grace and Peace.