What does it matter the color we paint our houses? Or the cars we drive?
Red, blue, or orange, it’s just a color.
Yet, in some neighborhoods, to wear certain colors means we identify with a criminal gang. Sport the wrong colors, and we can spark a conflagration of events, one we never intended.
Do we drive a red automobile? Pay attention to the rules of the road, for studies show that red cars attract officers’ attention. That’s the one color that receives a higher percentage of citations than all other colors.
What about purple? What should purple signify to us?
Let’s start with this distressing image from John 19:2:
“And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.”
Who wants to wear purple? Especially if our accessory must be a twisted crown of thorns?
However, let’s also look at four passages from the book of Revelation:
Revelation 3:21. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”
Revelation 5:8. “And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Revelation 12:9. “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
Revelation 20:2. “And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
Now, where did that crown of thorns go? These verses are all about the power of the Man in Purple. Pilate was making fun when he paraded Jesus before the people, but little did he know the import of his words in John 19:5:
“So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the man!’ ”
Behold the man! By all means, behold the man, for he is the Son of God, the Mighty Redeemer, the Risen Christ, and the Glorious King of Kings.
Who wouldn’t want to wear purple?
An elderly woman once ran with a group of peers whose unifying item of clothing was a purple shirt. Their shirts signified that they were not going quietly into the night and fading away into old people who had given up on life. Rather, they intended to be bold and brash, to make their mark on the world around them, and to make sure they were noticed.
That’s what the color purple should mean to Christians. Jesus didn’t choose his purple robe, but it said more about him than Pilate ever intended. Jesus did not go quietly into the night. His life was not ended upon the cross. Instead, he rose with majesty to make his mark on the world.
The best thing of all? Everyone noticed. Purple matters. Let’s claim it for Christ.
When we wear the colors of Jesus, we will make a difference in the world.
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