WHAT! Jesus was nude in public!
Some people maybe surprised to learn that Jesus was naked in public and not just when He was crucified.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Welcome, and thanks for joining me for another episode of Naked Truth.
00:10Naked Truth is the podcast, the videocast, that explores social nudism in a non-sexual
00:17way and Christianity, and how the two can work together.
00:21I'm your host, BJ, and I really don't want you to miss out on an episode, so hit the
00:27subscribe button, or the follow button, or whatever is there, so that you get notified
00:32when there's a new episode.
00:34If you've missed an episode, go to our website, NakedTruth.online.
00:39That's NakedTruth.online, but for now, let's get into this episode.
00:44Thanks again for joining me.
00:47Hi, it is so good to have you join us for this episode of Naked Truth Online.
00:56I've titled this episode, What?
00:59Jesus was Nude in Public.
01:02When it comes to nudity, some Christians may think that any form of public nudity is inappropriate
01:09and indecent.
01:10Therefore, they may actually be surprised to learn that the scripture indicates that
01:16Jesus himself was actually nude in public settings.
01:21In matter of fact, when we do a study of scripture about nudity, we get a very different
01:26view to what many of us was brought up to believe today.
01:32For instance, in the Old Testament, the prophets preached naked, Isaiah 20, verse 2.
01:41At that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loosen your
01:48sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet.
01:53And he did so, going naked and barefoot.
01:58And look at Micah, chapter 1, verse 8, Because of this I must lament and wail, I must go
02:05barefoot and naked.
02:08In 1 Samuel, chapter 19, verse 24, we discover that Saul was amongst the prophets naked.
02:15He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel, and lay down
02:23naked all that day and all that night.
02:27Therefore they say, is Saul also among the prophets?
02:32And there are more Old Testament scriptures, and I might explain some of them in more detail
02:37some other time.
02:40But in this episode, I just want to look at just five of the times when scripture records
02:46Jesus as being naked in public.
02:50Now I say just five, because there's probably more, but let's just look at these five.
02:55Number one, Jesus was naked at his birth.
03:01Like everyone else, Jesus was born naked.
03:05I have heard it said many times that if God wanted us naked, we would have been born that
03:10way.
03:11Well, we were.
03:14Every one of us was born naked, including Jesus.
03:18We were born the way God wanted us, innocent and free, and totally and naturally reliant
03:27on our mother for food and nurture.
03:30Just as God had designed us innocent and free, and totally rely on Him as our source
03:37of provision and nurture.
03:40Think about it, God, the mighty Creator, could have easily, easily made us to be born with
03:47some form of covering.
03:49But just like in the Garden of Eden, we came into this world naked and unashamed, and sometime
03:57later on, we covered ourselves and became ashamed.
04:01Now many would think that a naked baby or young child is normal, yet if we were to walk
04:06down the street on a hot day, holding the hand of a young naked child, some adults would
04:12think it's inappropriate.
04:14So these days, even an unashamed innocent child is expected to cover up.
04:21Personally, sometimes I wonder exactly what Jesus meant when He told us to convert and
04:27become like little children.
04:30Matthew chapter 18 verses 3 and 4.
04:33Truly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter
04:40the kingdom of heaven.
04:42Whoever then humbles himself as a child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
04:48It is also interesting to note that in one of the non-canonical books, the Gospel of
04:53Thomas, there is a verse that says, and this is Thomas verse 37.
05:00His disciples said to him, On what day will you be revealed to us?
05:06And on what day shall we see you?
05:08Jesus said, When you unclothe yourselves and are not ashamed, and take your garments and
05:15lay them beneath your feet like the little children, and trample on them, then you will
05:22see the Son of the Living One, and you will not be afraid.
05:27Now even though the Gospel of Thomas never made it into the canon of scripture, I include
05:32it in this episode as my experience testifies to the truth in that one verse.
05:40Little children will also happily and innocently socialize and interact with each other, nude
05:47and without shame.
05:49As a social nudist, I can testify that nothing compares to the freedom you feel when you
05:55can interact socially with others, naked and unashamed.
06:00We were born with no shame about nudity.
06:03Maybe we should also live that way.
06:06Number 2, Jesus was probably naked at his baptism.
06:12Although accounts of Jesus' baptism in the Bible do not record him as being naked, other
06:17documents record that New Testament baptisms were done naked, and this followed on into
06:24the early church.
06:25Therefore, it is commonly believed that Jesus himself would have been baptized naked.
06:34There is an early church document known as the Apostolic Tradition, and in that document
06:39we find this about baptism.
06:41At the hour in which the cock crows, they shall first pray over the water.
06:46When they come to the water, the water should be pure and flowing, that is, the water of
06:51a spring, or a flowing body of water.
06:54Then they should take off all their clothes.
06:57The children should be baptized first.
06:59All of the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer.
07:03If there are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for
07:07them, or someone else from their family.
07:10After this, the men will be baptized.
07:12Finally, the women, after they have unbound their hair and removed their jewelry.
07:19No one shall take any foreign object with themselves down into the water.
07:25Now I do understand that the Apostolic Tradition is not the source of the truth, that is the
07:31Bible and the Bible alone.
07:33But it does show some tradition that has been passed down to the early church.
07:38Now personally, I'm not a fan of tradition.
07:41But the tradition of being baptized naked does line up with what baptism symbolizes.
07:48Remember water baptism symbolizes a new birth, and as discussed earlier, we are all born
07:55naked.
07:56Through the symbolism of baptism, we come to God with nothing.
08:01We leave everything from our old life behind and celebrate a new birth with nothing but
08:08pure reliance on God our Father.
08:12Just like our first birth, we came in with nothing and we had to purely rely on our mother
08:20for our food and our nurture.
08:22So too is the symbolism of baptism.
08:26We come up out of that water with nothing and our pure reliance should be on God our
08:32Father.
08:33Now, other than the Apostolic Tradition and some other documents, other than that, if
08:39you look at some early church artwork that showed baptism, you will see that it was done
08:46in the nude.
08:47This would not have been shocking in the world of the early church, as many Christians were
08:52slaves.
08:53Slaves in the Roman world worked naked as they owned no more than one garment, and many
09:00were given no clothing at all, particularly those who mainly performed hard physical labor.
09:06Now let me share one last thought of naked baptisms.
09:11The Bible and the Book of Romans record this in Romans 6 verse 3.
09:16It says, Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have
09:22been baptized into his death?
09:25Coming up in this episode, we will see that Jesus died naked.
09:30And as we enter the waters of baptism, being baptized into his death, should we enter the
09:36water any other way but naked?
09:39Now on a personal note, I have never been baptized naked.
09:44I was baptized many years ago in a lake, but I remained clothed, because that's what I
09:49was taught back then.
09:51So does this make my baptism invalid?
09:54I don't believe so, but I do long to be baptized naked.
09:59I desire to be baptized again, and next time I want to be baptized naked, representing
10:07more accurately the death and rebirth.
10:10To do so, I need to find another believer that will be prepared to baptize me naked
10:15somewhere where the water flows, that is not hidden from the public eye.
10:20I am sure that one day God will make a way for that to happen.
10:26Number 3.
10:27Jesus was naked when he washed his disciples' feet.
10:31John chapter 13 verses 4 to 5.
10:34Jesus got up from supper and laid aside his garments, and taking a towel, he girded himself.
10:43Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them
10:50with the towel with which he was girded.
10:54Now I have been in some meetings that practice foot washing, and as much as I understand
10:59the humbling experience of it, today it hardly meets the same humility that it would have
11:06in the New Testament times.
11:08In New Testament times, because the two common ways of transport was by animal or walking,
11:15people's feet were often covered with dirt and animal poo.
11:20As a result, washing someone's feet was normally done by one of the lower slaves.
11:25And it was also common that slaves and people that would perform dirty jobs did so naked,
11:32to keep any garment that they may own clean.
11:36We see that Peter leaves his disciples' fish naked, John chapter 21 verses 7 and 8.
11:44Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.
11:51Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fish's coat unto him, for
11:58he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea.
12:03So to take off your garments to wash feet would have been normal.
12:07However, when Jesus did it, it was a sign of humility, where he did the job of one of
12:15the lowest slaves.
12:19Just picture the scene.
12:21Jesus leaves the table, strips naked, wraps a towel around him, and then bends or knurls
12:30down to wash his disciples' dirty feet.
12:34Finally wiping them dry with the towel that was wrapped around him, freely and naked,
12:42Jesus humbly and unashamedly washed his disciples' feet.
12:51Number four.
12:52Jesus was naked at his crucifixion.
12:56Jesus died naked.
12:59Many of the artistic images of the crucifixion of Christ do not depict Jesus as being totally
13:05naked on the cross on a public display for all to see.
13:11But that is exactly how Roman crucifixions were done.
13:16Not only would Jesus have been naked, but the thieves on the cross next to him would
13:21have been naked as well.
13:23Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his outer garments and made four
13:35parts, a part for every soldier, and also the tunic.
13:41Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.
13:46So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose
13:53it shall be.
13:55This was to fulfill the scripture, they divided my outer garments among them, and for my clothing
14:03they cast lots.
14:06In this scripture, the number of items being dispersed is five, four parts to each soldier,
14:15and then the tunic.
14:17And because they didn't want to rip the tunic into bits so they can all have some, they
14:22decided they would cast lots for the tunic.
14:26But the fact that there were five items of clothing, that would equate to Jesus' whole
14:32outfit.
14:34And it was common practice for executioners at a crucifixion to take the victim's remaining
14:40clothes as a bonus payment.
14:45So despite many artistic portraits of Jesus' crucifixion, he did not have any form of clothing
14:53wrapped around his genitalia area when he was crucified.
14:57There wasn't a piece of white linen or anything like that.
15:01There wasn't this blood-soaked material wrapped around his genitalia area.
15:05He was pinned to that cross, whipped, tormented, teased, spat upon, and he was totally naked.
15:17And finally, number five, Jesus was naked after his resurrection.
15:24Have you ever thought about the fact that when Peter and John went to the tomb of Jesus,
15:30they found the tomb empty, but Jesus' grave clothes were still there.
15:35Here is the account from John, John 20, verses 5 and 7.
15:41And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.
15:50And so Simon Peter also came following him and entered the tomb, and he saw the linen
15:56wrappings lying there, and the face cloth which had been on his head, not lying with
16:02the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.
16:07So what was Jesus wearing outside of the tomb?
16:11Now not long after the account that we just read, when Peter and John went to the tomb,
16:17there's another account of when Jesus appeared to Mary.
16:22John 20, starting at verse 11 and going through to verse 15.
16:28But Mary was standing outside the tomb, weeping.
16:33And so as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white
16:39sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.
16:46And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?
16:52She said to them, Because I have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have
16:58laid him.
16:59When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not
17:06know that it was Jesus.
17:08Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?
17:13Whom are you seeking?
17:16Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away,
17:23tell me, where have you laid him?
17:26And I will take him away.
17:28Mary was not expecting to see Jesus, so when she saw him, she mistaken him for a gardener.
17:36And gardeners would normally work naked.
17:39The scripture is quiet on what Jesus wore after his resurrection before his ascension.
17:46We know he still had a physical body as he invited Thomas to examine the holes in his
17:51hands and side.
17:53John 20.27 Then he said to Thomas, Reach here with your finger, and see my hands, and reach
18:02here your hand, and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing.
18:10In concluding this episode, it does appear that nudity was common in the New Testament
18:17times, and therefore no one expressed any form of amazement or surprise at seeing a
18:25naked person.
18:26It wouldn't have been seen as being indecent or not normal, or shameful like we look at
18:31it today.
18:32And even though in this episode we have looked at five times Jesus was naked, the reality
18:37is there was probably many more times as nakedness was common, especially amongst slaves and
18:44people of lower socio-economical status.
18:46It was also practical when performing tasks that may be dirty or laborious.
18:52Jesus came humble and naked as a baby.
18:58Jesus died shamed and naked as a thief.
19:03Jesus rose victorious and naked as a king.
19:08And he ascended glorious and naked to the Father.
19:13He came naked.
19:15He lived naked.
19:17He died naked.
19:19He rose naked.
19:20And he ascended naked.
19:23Could we be like Christ today and not be shamed of a naked body?
19:28And that's all from me until the next episode.
19:31Check us out online, NAKEDTRUTH.ONLINE, and catch up with all the blogs and podcasts you
19:38may have missed.
19:40Send us a message on that website.
19:42We would love to hear from you.
19:44God bless.
19:45See you next time.