Mark 5: 21-43

Every morning all humans do the same thing. We get up, take a shower, brush our teeth, and then decide what we are going to wear. Generally in western culture it remains true that "Clothes make the man", or in the name of a popular website, "Clothes make the girl". Got a teenager? Then you know what I'm talking about. Then you know oh-so-purse-painfully how important it is to have the "right look". To wear the "right duds" so you can be the "right dudes". Even if you are not a "fashionista", it is almost impossible not to be influenced by what the current culture says is "cool" (or "hot"). Who doesn't want to "look good" and so "feel good" about themselves?

Every week the tabloids are filled with planted or paparazzi celebrity photos - either looking their best or revealing their worst. But whatever shape they are in, what those celebrities are sporting influences the fashion choices of thousands. Designers count on it. In fact they literally "bank" on it. If someone fabulous and famous wears something, it will sell. The "knock 'em dead" designs on red carpet runways are immediately copied into much cheaper "knock-offs" so that those with a bit of disposable income can outfit themselves like royalty. Even countries without "royal families" have their "royalty".

But while all of us - whether teenager or ladder climbing corporate bureaucrat - think that our clothes lend use power and prestige, the opposite was the case for Jesus in Galilee in the first century...

(from http://www.sermons.com)