Crucified criminals had no rights. Even their clothes did not belong to them. So the soldiers took them; it seems to have been accepted as a ‘perk’ of their job. They divided out Jesus’ clothes between them, but the woven wool undergarment was useful and it would have been senseless to cut it into pieces of cloth – so they selected one man by casting lots, and he took the garment home.
 
The soldiers might have felt in charge, and superior to Jesus. After all, they had the power and the right to take everything Jesus owned. But were they really in control of the event or the prisoner? No. God had already known about their looting and dishonouring of His Son – 1,000 years previously. It was predicted by David in Psalm 22, which contained multiple prophecies about the death of Jesus. The soldiers’ actions simply fulfilled the Scriptures, although they had no idea that was what they were doing. They took everything from Him: but He knowingly gave everything for them.
 
We are often more arrogant and ignorant than we realise. We may think that we are in control of circumstances and have power to do whatever we like. But God has always been ahead of us. He has tracked us since before we were born knowing our characters and even our choices. The truth is that the Lord knows everything, even the words we are about to speak before we say them (Psalm 39:4). Yet we are not robots controlled by an imperial dictator: all our choices are free, like Jesus who freely chose to give everything He had - so that our shame might be covered by His righteousness. Such powerful truth should cause our hearts to open up in worship and serve Him with willing cooperation.