Monday, April 21—Day 48
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
John 20: 1-10

Strips of Linen

Over the years I’ve read and reread this exhilarating John 20 resurrection story, but it was not until preparing for this Lenten reflection that I noticed the cloth.  Peter and two other disciples reached the tomb first after Mary Magdalene broke the news to them that the body was gone.  As the first to arrive—perhaps the beloved John—bent down to look in, he saw first the strips of linen, the grave clothes with no body to clothe.  Peter, the next to arrive, also noticed first the linen strips and the cloth used to wrap the head of the deceased.

I wonder if the cloths lying in the empty grave was an “aha” moment for these disciples indicating that Jesus was indeed alive.  Mary Magdalene assumed he was stolen, not risen, and she said she didn’t “know where they had put him.”  But when the third disciple arrived at the grave, the story doesn’t say he saw the grave clothes.  The story says that he “saw and he believed.”  Why would the strips of linen and the cloth be a clue for the disciples to believe that Jesus was indeed alive?

The clue is found nine chapters earlier, just a few weeks before the discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb.  It was by another tomb, the crypt where Jesus’ friend Lazarus lay dead.  The story in the Gospel of John chapter 11 says that when Jesus heard that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was gravely ill he waited a few days before going to Bethany to see him.  By the time he arrived, Lazarus was not just dead, he was really dead.  Jewish tradition of the ancient Middle East held that after four days, bodies were officially and irrevocably dead.  Jesus came on day four, of course.

When he arrived, he asked Martha the question at the heart of the story, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”  Martha had minutes early declared her creedal belief that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.  But Jesus was asking her to believe more than in what he said was true, for when he asked her this question Lazarus was still dead.  He wanted her to believe that he had power over death.

So Jesus called Martha and the disciples to an act of faith by having them roll away the stone covering Lazarus’ grave.  Jesus prayed in verse 42 that what the disciples were about to see would cause them to believe.  And then with a loud voice Jesus roared, “Lazarus, come out.”  And the dead man began walking, “his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a grave cloth around his face.”

And Jesus said to his followers, “Take off the grave clothes, and let him go.”

Strips of linen.  The disciples who saw the strips of linen unraveled at Lazarus’ feet saw them also in the tomb that held the body of their Redeemer.  And when one of the disciples noticed, the Scriptures said he saw and believed.  Jesus, who weeks earlier had demonstrated his power over death by raising Lazarus from the dead, also walked out of the tomb.  And the strips of linen gave the truth away.  They saw and they believed.  
Barry Corey, President, Biola University 

Prayer
We thank Thee for the beauty of this day, for the glorious message that all nature proclaims:
The Easter lilies with their waxen throats eloquently singing the good news;
The birds, so early this morning, impatient to begin their song;
Every flowering tree, shrub, and flaming bush, a living proclamation from Thee!
Open our hearts that we may hear it too!

Lead us, we pray Thee, to the grave that is empty, into the garden of the Resurrection where we may meet our risen Lord. May we never again live as if Thou were dead! In Thy presence restore our faith, our hope, our joy. Grant to our spirits refreshment, rest, and peace. Maintain within our hearts an unruffled calm, an unbroken serenity that no storms of life shall ever be able to take from us.  From this moment on, O living Christ, we ask Thee to go with us wherever we go; be our Companion in all that we do. And for this greatest of all gifts, we offer Thee our sacrifices of thanksgiving. Amen.
(Peter Marshall)