"When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 'Let's not tear it,' they said to one another. 'Let's decide by lot who will get it'" (John 19:23, 24 NIV).

 It's a pity that Christians should model these Roman soldiers and, going one step further, commit even greater sins. 

As prophesied in Psalm 22, the soldiers took advantage of the imminent death of those being crucified to take their clothing. The Scripture says that the Lord’s robe was a seamless one, and they gambled for it. His enemies stripped Him of everything, leaving Him naked, shamed, and exposed to the watching world. They are not unlike many who claim to be His friends, although the soldiers at least, decided not to rip the garment but to gamble for it, with the winner gaining the prize.

In what ways do we strip the Lord of everything and take what is His for ourselves, and in doing so, ruin it? His prized possession, that for which He died, is the church. However, whereas He died to break down the walls of sin that divide us, we work very hard at creating walls to divide us. We fight for His church, not to improve it, but to make it our Kingdom, to leave our mark, to be right, to have our fifteen minutes of fame on the stage of history. Sometimes we know what we are doing—and deliberately and with calculation do it anyway. Other times we mistakenly believe that we are somehow doing it for His glory. If we were honest, we would admit that our desire to seize what is Christ's is really to satisfy some deeply held need of our own. We are blind to the damage that we do to what is the Lord’s as we operate without reference to anyone else. 

Christ's last expressed desire before His betrayal was for unity among those who were called by His Name (John 17:11, 21-24). Unhappily, unity does not characterize the church universal, nor the church local. Two church leaders, both of whom I admire for their tremendous gifts, can't get along. Both need to be "in charge." Their need to control within the body means that they can't, and won't, work together, even though they believe the same things. They hope no one notices—but everyone does. They have ripped the seamless robe of the unity that Christ desired in His church to meet their own control issues and insecurities. 

We take lightly our calling, failing to understand that loving the Lord means obeying Him (John 15:10-14). We do what is convenient, what is "in our best interests."  We do not lay down our lives for our brothers. To do so, would give them precedence and take it from us. We rip the seamless robe of unity which is characterized by self-sacrifice and portrayed so beautifully for us on the cross.

The Roman soldiers saw how beautiful the robe was; how well-made, how valuable, and tried to preserve its integrity. What will it take for us to be willing to gamble our own interests away in an effort to preserve the unity, the integrity of the church? Or do we really care that we leave Christ naked, shamed, and exposed to the ridicule of the world because we want the glory that is His for ourselves?