The Apostle and Jesus’ Burial Cloths
On Easter morning, John and Peter, after hearing Mary Magdalene’s report that Jesus’ body was missing, raced to the tomb.
As John stooped to look in, Peter raced past him and entered the tomb. The rest of the gospel passage focuses on the linen burial cloths they found there in minute detail, as if to emphasize their importance.
Gospel writer John describes the scene this way:
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary of Magdala went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.”
What was it about the arrangement of these linens which caused the apostle John to believe that something extraordinary had occurred?
If we turn to the literal interpretation of the original Greek of John 20:6-7 we find that Jesus “withdrew from the grave cloths without disturbing their arrangement.”
According to this translation, it seems as if the body had simply vanished, leaving the linens exactly in place.
The head cloth, however, which had covered Jesus’ head, was not “in place”. It was lying separately and rolled up as if being deliberately placed there.
This sequence of events was a sign to the apostles of what was about to happen, and within 12 hours Jesus and his apostles would be reunited.
Artwork on this page, from the top:
Eugene Burnand (Swiss, 1850-1921). The Disciples Peter and John running to the sepulcher on the morning of the Resurrection, 1898. Oil on canvas. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
James Tissot (French, 1836-1902 ). Saint Peter and Saint John Run to the Sepulchre, 1886-1894. Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper. Brooklyn Museum.
James Tissot (French, 1836-1902 ). Meal of Our Lord and the Apostles, 1886-1894. Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper. Brooklyn Museum.
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Mary of Magdala was part of a group of women who financially supported Jesus' ministry out of their own resources.