On Oct. 31, 2008, eighth grader Alex Woinski was sent home from school. School officials said that his Halloween costume was disrupting the other students at the Paramus, New Jersey middle school. Alex dressed up like Jesus. Alex was decked out in sandals, a robe a fake beard and a crown of thorns. Alex was joining 500 other students at his school’s Halloween celebration, and on this day, he was the chosen one to go home. Alex said he wore the costume because his friends told him his long hair makes him look like Jesus. The students that were interviewed said that they were not offended by his costume. School officials said that too many students were drawn to the costume and it became a distraction. One school official said, “The children were asking where is the boy who is Jesus Christ? It was disrupting the education process.” The school said the costume was a disruption and denies its religious nature had anything to do with Alex being sent home. Yeah, right. No witches, demons, ghosts or goblins were sent home, only Jesus.
I love that fact that the students were drawn to Jesus. There is something magnetic about His presence. There is something compelling about His character. Wouldn’t Jesus be a wonderful disruption to anyone’s day? I can think of hundreds of distractions that would be far worse, can’t you? Just picture children raising their hands in class and asking, “Can we see Jesus?”
This is a year old story, but it has a present day application. Shouldn’t we dress up like Jesus every day? Shouldn’t we clothe ourselves with His character? We don’t need to wear sandals and a fake beard, but we do need to clothe ourselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). These are character traits of Jesus that should shine through our lives so others can see Jesus in us. Every day is a perfect day to dress up like Jesus. What a great distraction Jesus is to an otherwise routine day.
By the way, Alex Woinski said he “resurrected” his costume on Friday night and received a whole bunch of candy.

Putting on Christ every day,
Pastor Tim