freedom07

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?
>
>
> The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over
> the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.
>
> The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly
> folded
> and was placed at the head of that stony coffin. Early Sunday morning,
> while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that
> the
> stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
>
> She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus
> loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I
> don't
> know where they have put him!"
>
> Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple
> out
> ran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen
> cloth lying there, but he didn't go in.
>
> Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen
> wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was
> folded up and lying to the side.
>
> Is that important? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes! In order to
> understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a
> little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.
>
> The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish
> boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the
> master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The
> table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out
> of
> sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not
> dare
> touch that table, until the master was finished. Now if the master was
> done
> eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers and mouth with that
> napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear
> the
> table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done." But if the
> master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside
> his
> plate, the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, "I'm not finished
> yet."
> The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

__________________
Romans 6:4
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

smellycat

2 in 1.

JeremiahD84

Thats awesome!

CSchultz

I agree.

Probably for the same reason that He had to remind us all,....

"It is finished."

Just my humble opinion.

wingnut

Thanks for the post.

Where does one learn this stuff about ancient customs?

epistemaniac

I see this story all over the net... but I wondered what reference was consulted to attribute this interpretation to the passage .... and believe me, I am not trying to be a wet blanket or nit picky or anything else... I had just never heard this story before in relationship to Peter and John in the tomb looking at the grave clothes etc, so I thought I would do some checking and see if I could find any other source to corroborate this story, but... I could not .....

so.... could any body tell me where the story originates? I have looked all over the place and cannot find who originally wrote this or what source on Hebrew customs was consulted to have led someone to come up with this interpretation.... the story is innocent enough, and again, I am not trying to be nit picky or anything... I just am trying to find out if there is any real authority or scholarship behind this story... I looked in a great number of commentaries but could find no support for the story... here are the sources I checked:

Pillar, Baker New Testament Commentaries, Calvin, Barclay, NET Bible notes, Bible Knowledge Commentary, Believer's Bible Commentary, Believer's Study Bible, Clarke's, College Press, Concise Bible Commentary, A Critical and Exegetical Commentaryon the Gospel According to John, Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 36: John (Second Edition), The Wycliffe Bible Commentary : New Testament, An Exposition of John by AW Pink, The Gospel According to John by Westcott, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: John, The Jerome Biblical Commentary, Life Application Bible Commentary, John, The MacArthur Study Bible, The Nelson Study Bible : New King James Version, The New Bible Commentary, The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 27: John, The Pulpit Commentary: St. John (Vol. II), and lastly, Craig Keener's IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament.

If anyone can find some other support for this story I would appreciate a link or a reference, if you have the time to check it out....

in the meantime, out of what I did look at, here are a few comments on the verse;


"Another factor of Jewish burial in ancient times is also of special interest for understanding John’s account of Jesus’ resurrection. In The Risen Master, published in 1901, Henry Latham calls attention to a unique feature of Eastern burials that he noticed when in Constantinople during the last century. He says that funerals he witnessed often varied in many respects, depending upon whether the funeral was for a person who had been poor or for one who had been rich. But in one respect all the arrangements were identical. Latham noticed that the bodies were wrapped in linen cloths in such a manner as to leave the face, neck, and upper part of the shoulders bare. The upper part of the head was covered by a cloth that had been twirled about it like a turban. Latham concluded that since burial styles change slowly, particularly in the East, this mode of burial may well have been practiced in Jesus’ time. He argued that this is all the more probable since the practice in 1900 meshes nicely with what is told of the graveclothes in John’s Gospel.

There is additional evidence for this thesis. Luke tells us that when Jesus was approaching the village of Nain earlier in his ministry, he met a funeral procession leaving the city. The only son of a widow had died. Luke says that when Jesus raised him from death two things happened. First, the young man sat up; that is, he was lying upon his back on the bier without a coffin. Second, he began to speak. Hence, the graveclothes did not cover his face. Separate coverings for the head and body were also used in the burial of Lazarus (John 11:44).

We have every reason to believe that Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus buried Jesus Christ in a similar manner. The body of Jesus was removed from the cross before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, washed and wrapped in linen bands. Seventy-five pounds of spices were carefully inserted into the folds of the linen. Aloe was a powdered wood like fine sawdust with an aromatic fragrance; myrrh was a fragrant gum that would be carefully mixed with the powder. Jesus’ body was encased in these. His head, neck, and upper shoulders were left bare and a linen cloth was wrapped about the upper part of his head like a turban. The body of Jesus was then lovingly placed within the sepulcher where it lay until sometime on Saturday night or early Sunday morning. (Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John : An expositional commentary (Pbk. ed.) (1565). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.)

Not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up by itself indicates that the cloth which had been around Jesus’ head was in a position separate from the linen cloths with which his body had been wrapped, and that it was rolled up. The verb “to roll up� is not found in the Septuagint, and elsewhere in the New Testament it appears only in Matthew 27.59 and Luke 23.53, where it is used of wrapping Jesus’ body for burial. In the present context it is possible to take the verb to mean “neatly rolled up,� in contrast to the grave cloths, which may have been left lying about in some disorder. But more probably the verb should be taken to indicate that the cloth with which the head had been wrapped was left in the shape that it had (that is, an oval loop) when it was wrapped around the head of Jesus. If so, the grave cloths are pictured as lying flat in the place where the torso had been, while the cloth with which the head was wrapped retained its oval shape and was lying in the place where the head had been. (Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993], c1980). A handbook on the Gospel of John. Originally published: A translator's handbook on the Gospel of John, c1980. Helps for translators; UBS handbook series (606). New York: United Bible Societies. )

"The burial clothes consisted of a shroud around the body and a head-cloth (compare 11:44). Yochanan’s painstaking description of their undisturbed location, especially the separate position of the still folded head cloth (v. 7), tells us that Yeshua’s body was miraculously loosed from the burial clothes, so that they collapsed in place. (Stern, D. H. (1996, c1992). Jewish New Testament Commentary : A companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (Jn 20:5). Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications.)

"This cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Clearly, John perceives these details to be important, but their exact meaning is disputed. Some have thought that the burial cloth still retained the shape of Jesus’ head, and was separated from the strips of linen by a distance equivalent to the length of Jesus’ neck. Others have suggested that, owing to the mix of spices separating the layers, even the strips of linen retained the shape they had when Jesus’ body filled them out. Both of these suggestions say more than the text requires. What seems clearest is the contrast with the resurrection of Lazarus (11:44). Lazarus came from the tomb wearing his grave-clothes, the additional burial cloth still wrapped around his head. Jesus’ resurrection body apparently passed through his grave-clothes, spices and all, in much the same way that he later appeared in a locked room (vv. 19, 26). The description of the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head does not suggest that it still retained the shape of the corpse, but that it had been neatly rolled up and set to one side by the one who no longer had any use for it.5 The description is powerful and vivid, not the sort of thing that would have been dreamed up; and the fact that two men saw it (v. 8) makes their evidence admissible in a Jewish court (Dt. 19:15).(Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (637). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.)

it seems as if the major point here was that the grave clothes, laying as they were, did not indicate a grave robbery had taken place, for everything was too neatly in place for that to have happened... but rather the main point is that the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead!! praise God!! we can use our imaginations when we look at the scripture when we interpret, of course.... my personal concern just to not go beyond what the text itself says, to not go beyond what is written... we know Jesus has promised to come back, we know that clearly form other passages... but does this passage teach this? I don't think so....

blessings,
Ken

freedom07

I have also never heard this before and I'm married to a Messianic Jew. reading this really brought a blessing to my heart, but I also question certain things about yeshua that are not quoted from the Bible. I am also doing research on this. God Bless!
May we never add to or take away from God's intended Word.

__________________
Romans 6:4
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

epistemaniac

amen!!

wingnut

Thanks Ken

Jasher

I don't know - but it seems that it definately shows that he had a good mother who brought him up right - Neat and tidy.