Throughout the season of Lent, I’ll be sharing my Sunday messages on this blog. You can view the full service on the First Wayne Street UMC YouTube page.
In the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives us one of the clearest pictures of the Kingdom of God. The Son of Man gathers the nations. The sheep are separated from the goats, symbolizing those who will and those who will not inherit the Kingdom. And the dividing line is surprisingly simple. “I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing.”
What we see here is that our inheritance is closely tied to our treatment of the most vulnerable around us. While we do not earn our salvation, the fruit of our commitment to the way of Jesus should be evident in how we treat the hungry, thirsty and foreign among us.
Today were focusing on the next line in Jesus’ teaching, “I was naked and you clothed me.” It sounds straightforward. Give someone a coat. Donate clothes. Drop off a bag at the shelter. And yes, that is part of it.
But Jesus is talking about something deeper than fabric and thread. He is talking about dignity.
Clothing in the ancient world was not simply fashion. Clothing communicated status, belonging, protection, and honor. To be without adequate clothing meant more than being cold. It meant vulnerability, exposure and shame. This isn’t so different today, is it? We often judge people based on their appearance. I mean, not the good Christian folk here at FWS because you would never judge others…but some people judge others based on their outer appearance.
When Jesus says, “I was naked and you clothed me,” he is saying: When you restored dignity to someone who had been stripped of it, you cared for me.
Throughout scripture, nakedness often represents vulnerability. After Adam and Eve ate the fruit in Genesis, they suddenly realized they were naked. Not because their bodies changed, but because their awareness of shame and vulnerability changed.
Scripture shows us that to clothe someone is to restore dignity.
When Jesus talks about clothing the naked, he’s talking about responding to people who are exposed, whether physically, emotionally, spiritually, or economically. People who are exposed to hunger, addiction, homelessness, mental illness or systems that keep them struggling.
Clothing the naked is about seeing vulnerability and responding with compassion.
That’s why the words in James chapter 2 sound so direct. James writes: “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
James is writing to a Christian community in the first century struggling with poverty and inequality. Wealthy landowners existed alongside day laborers who lived paycheck to paycheck or worse, day to day, hour to hour, minute by minute (by minute by minute, I keep holding on – the Doobie Brothers)
Apparently, in response to some of these needs, some people in the church were offering nice words instead of meaningful help. For James, that equals a dead faith.
They had grown comfortable with responding to need with saying, “Be warm….God bless you…you have my thoughts and prayers.” James says: That’s not faith. Faith that never leaves the sanctuary isn’t really faith. Faith gets dressed, rolls up its sleeves and puts compassion into action.
This week our staff at First Wayne Street were reflecting on these very words from James. We realized something important: James isn’t criticizing people for having faith. He’s reminding the church that real faith always shows up in tangible ways.
One of the things our staff talked about is how easy it can be to respond to suffering with compassion in our hearts but not always with tangible actions. We can feel deeply for someone who is struggling. We can pray sincerely. But James is reminding us that faith moves us beyond sympathy.
Thoughts and prayers are crucial. Prayer is vitally important. But, prayer should always lead to action. If our faith-filled prayers don’t lead to faith-filled actions, those prayers just might be empty.
Real faith notices the person who is cold and asks, “What would restore dignity here?”
Sometimes that means clothing. Sometimes it means a meal. Sometimes it means helping someone navigate systems that feel impossible to navigate alone.
Meaningful, transformational ministry often begins with something very small: a pair of socks, a warm coat, a conversation where someone feels seen again. But those small acts are not small in the Kingdom of God. They are signs that faith is alive.
Because when faith is alive, it refuses to remain abstract. It becomes visible. It becomes practical. It becomes compassion we can touch.
When Jesus says “clothe the naked,” he’s not just talking about occasional charity. He’s pointing us toward something bigger because many people aren’t struggling simply because of personal choices. Many people are struggling because of systems.
Low wages. Lack of affordable housing. Inaccessible and expensive health care. Underfunded schools. Cycles of generational poverty.
The United Methodist Church speaks directly to this in our Social Principles. “The Book of Discipline (¶163) reminds us that all wealth belongs to God and calls the church to active ministry with the poor. It commits us to working toward eradicating systemic poverty, promoting equal opportunity, ensuring living wages, and meeting basic human needs like food, health care, and education.”
In other words, Christians don’t just bandage wounds. We ask why people are bleeding in the first place.
Now if anyone in Methodist history had opinions about clothing, it was John Wesley.
In Sermon 88: On Dress, Wesley didn’t hold back. He warned against spending excessive money on clothing while others went without basic necessities. Wesley said something pretty blunt…Every shilling we unnecessarily spend on clothing, he said, could have been used to clothe the naked and relieve the suffering of the poor. He implied that Christians shouldn’t adorn themselves with expensive jewelry and clothing not only because the money could be used to relieve suffering, but also because it produces pride and promotes greed.
In other words: Our closets are spiritual matters.
Now Wesley wasn’t saying everyone must wear sackcloth. He was saying: our priorities are spiritual matters.
If our closets overflow while our neighbors go without basic necessities, something in the Kingdom economy is out of balance. It’s been said that if we want to know what matters most to us, check our calendar, our bank statement, our closet, our pantry – and we’ll see where our priorities lie. If you check my pantry right now, by the number of Cadbury eggs you discover, you’ll see that I have some misguided priorities – and some concerning dietary practices!
In my time as a professional Christian, I have found that clothing is a hot topic in church culture. People have strong opinions about what’s appropriate.
I knew a woman who was judging a guy for wearing jeans with holes in them to church. She thought it was disrespectful. She was so offended that she said some not so nice things to him about honoring God – as if what we wear is the most important aspect of loving God.
What she didn’t know was that those were designer jeans that probably cost five hundred dollars. And that “inappropriately dressed” man happened to be one of the largest donors to the church.
Of course, not here, but in other places, there are people who regularly ask why pastors don’t wear robes or suits more often. Honestly, at this point I think most people have just settled for being grateful that I’m not wearing jeans and a Rage Against the Machine t-shirt on Sunday morning.
The point is, we can too easily get focused on how people look. Jesus is focused on how people live.
Recently the Peace Family studied a message from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. where he talked about love using the Greek word agape. Agape, he said, is the love of God working through human beings. It’s not sentimental. It’s not just liking people. It’s a love that seeks nothing in return.
Dr. King said that when we rise to this level of love, we love people not because they are likable, but because God loves them.
When that kind of love lives in us, we refuse to participate in systems that harm people. We work to break the chains of injustice.
That’s the love behind Matthew 25. We feed the hungry. We give a drink to the thirsty. We welcome the stranger. We clothe the naked.
Not because it makes us feel good. But because God loves them.
So what does clothing the naked look like here in Fort Wayne? It might look like something simple.
First, go through our closets. If you haven’t worn something in a year, it may be time to let it bless someone else. Donations to places like Salvation Army can make a real difference. I have pants and shirts in my closets that I’m holding on to, just in case I manage to lose 20 pounds without dieting or exercising!
Second, buy new essentials for someone in need. Socks and underwear are some of the most needed items in shelters. Donations to places like the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission or the clothing bank serving Fort Wayne Community Schools help restore dignity for people starting over. Previous church I served – spoke with the superintendent and principal of the school closest to our church and asked, “what do you need?” Superintendent said, “crossing guards.” Principal said, “socks and underwear.”
In that spirit, next week I’ll have a container out to receive donations of new socks and underwear. All sizes can be utilized. If you can’t give new socks or underwear, consider donating some items to the FWCS clothing bank, Salvation Army or Treasure House.
Third, and this is the Wesley challenge, buy less so we can give more. Sometimes the most spiritual act in the mall is restraint.
But ultimately, clothing the naked isn’t just about coats and socks. It’s about dignity. It’s about telling people they are not forgotten. It’s about reminding people they belong.
And spiritually, it’s about something even deeper. The apostle Paul says in Galatians that those who are baptized into Christ have “clothed yourselves with Christ.”
Christ covers our shame. Christ restores our dignity. Christ welcomes us when we feel exposed and unworthy.
We were spiritually naked once…vulnerable, broken, lost. And Christ clothed us in grace.
In Matthew 25 the righteous are surprised. “Lord, when did we see you naked?”
They didn’t know. They weren’t calculating holiness. They were simply living lives shaped by compassion.
And Jesus says: Every time you restored dignity…Every time you met a need…Every time you loved someone others overlooked…You were clothing me.
Imagine the kind of community we could be.
A church where closets become ministries. A church where generosity becomes instinct. A church where dignity is restored every single day. A church where people experience the love of Christ not just in sermons—but in socks, coats, meals, and mercy.
Because when we clothe the naked, we are not just giving away clothes. We are revealing the Kingdom of God. And one day when we stand before Christ, maybe we will recognize his face. Because we have been serving him all along.
Tuesdays with Morris 