“Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.” (Luke 23:52-53 NIV)
Nothing is insignificant with God because everything He does has purpose. Over Easter, my husband and I watched the production of “Jesus” by Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA. When Jesus died on the cross, they showed Mary watching as His body was wrapped in linen. As she watched, she flashbacks to when He was born in Bethlehem. We watched as she carefully wrapped Him for the first time in swaddling clothes. The impact of realizing she had wrapped His body when He was born, then watched Him be wrapped when He died, was emotional. I had never seen Mary’s pain illustrated so vividly. This scene made the wrapping of Jesus’s body even more significant. I gained a new perspective. I realized, nothing is insignificant with God. With God, all things are significant, because they have purpose.
With God, all things are significant, because they have purpose.
My husband gained a perspective I didn’t. When the play showed the young Mary swaddling Jesus, he wanted to know why swaddling? What he found confirmed, everything is significant because of its purpose:
“Priestly shepherds were those who raised lambs for the sacrifice by the priests in the temple in Jerusalem. It was in the lower portion of this watchtower that the birthing of the future sacrificial lambs would take place. The shepherds would wrap the newborn lambs in swaddling clothes to protect the body of the lambs, which would be offered as sacrifice at the Temple just four miles away in Jerusalem. After the lamb was born it was wrapped in swaddling clothes to keep it protected without spot or blemish (as the scripture required a perfect lamb), and then this lamb would be laid in a manger until it had calmed down.”
The Powerful Meaning of Swaddling Clothes
From one scene in a play came many different purposes: preparing Jesus body for burial, Mary’s heart as she watched Jesus’s story unfold, the swaddling clothes that had a deeper meaning than just keeping a newborn warm. Nothing is insignificant to God, even if we don’t understand its significance.
You are not insignificant to God. He made you with a purpose only you can fulfill. He knitted you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-14 NIV). We are the clay, He is the Potter (Isaiah 64:8 NIV). He knew you before He formed you (Jeremiah 1:4-5 NIV). You are His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10 NIV). You are significant, because everything is significant to God. God has a purpose for you, and it’s significant!
Question of the Day:
How does knowing you’re significant to God change your perspective?
Further Reading: Judges 8:18-9:21 NIV, Luke 23:44-24:12 NIV, Psalm 99:1-9 NIV, Proverbs 14:9-10 NIV
