On this night like no other
For some reason I followed close behind
As the soldiers and Sanhedrin guards
Left the city walls, heading quickly
Down the Kidron toward Gethsemane
Past the tombs of the wealthy
Into the olive grove
 
I had lost everything that night
In gambling my inheritance away
All I had left was a linen wrap to clothe me
A gift of unwavering love from my mother
As I angrily left home so long ago
 
I had heard of this Jesus being sought for crimes
As I gambled near the courtyard fire
Longing for any kind of warmth,
As my life had now rendered me homeless
With nowhere to turn
 
Yet I felt somehow a need to follow
To see if this event unfolding might profit me
As I wrapped my fine linen cloak against the chill
Passers by admired its beauty
In my poverty I was still seen as successful
 
Yet upon seizing this Jesus, I’ll never forget
As He turned and His eyes caught mine
And my fine linen cloak no longer warmed me
Against the chill of my sinfulness
It no longer disguised my true self
It no longer concealed my sinfulness
 

And as I turned to run away in shame
And a soldier grabbed it away trying to catch me
I ran, naked into the night
Naked before God and Man
Exposed to all that I had done
Exposed for who I really was
Ashamed to be seen by Him
 
Later that night as I hid in my total nakedness
A kindly voice called me to come out
And be clothed in his horse’s blanket
He gave me bread and a place to sleep
And told me to be still and follow him
 
That kind man they called Joseph
That very night asked me to help him
To go to Golgotha to help him bury a friend
As we arrived, to my surprise, there it was
My fine linen wrap, now in Joseph’s pouch
 
My wrap, given by a guard to Joseph that night
Now used to lower this Jesus from the cross
To wrap this man of God they all talked about
As he was held in the arms of His Mother
She wept and hid her face in it
 
What had hidden me from the nakedness of sin
Was now holding the lifeless body of Jesus
It had helped me pretend to be more than I was
My wrap, which hid my sinfulness
The gift of all forgiving love from my mother
Now wrapped around this Jesus