Why Did Jesus Fold the Napkin?

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
Outran 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.

Was that important? Absolutely!

Is it really signifi cant? 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 finished eating, he would rise from the table, wipe
His fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up 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've finished'.

But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table,
Because...........

The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

I think Jesus packed more messages into His words and actions than we can ever "unwrap" completely, but if now and then we find a new one, we can enjoy it.

I have read the comment that the Acts of the Apostles does not come to a neat ending, it just stops, as if saying,

this story isn't finished. Y'all take it from here.

The story's not finished. and even

I just can't believe that I am 67 years old and this just now caught my attention. Did I not read this before or did I just let it sift through the layers of my brain. I find this now so very deeply moving and have not stopped thinking about it since I received it in an email. The Lord surely did leave us a road map and if we just open our hearts and mind, we will see the many things he did leave us to steady us and give us faith to keep on believing him, even in the midst of doubters I find His words comforting, now more than ever.
I ask myself a few question since learning this.
1. did not my sunday school teacher ever teach this at Easter
2. did not the preacher teach me this when I listened to his sermons
3.why did my father never speak of this in his teaching of the Lord to me
4. was I just careless in listening or to busy wondering if a friend would come after chruch
5. did I close my ears and drift away, wondering how He would help me that day, never looking past that moment in time.
6. now I wonder will my children listen as I sent them these words to read, I pray they do and find the meaning and comfort in that Folded Napkin.

I'm not very distressed that I never saw the significance of the folded napkin. Because different things are meaningful to different personalities and mental styles, I think the Lord left more signs about than any one person would need. And for years, one thing had been meaningful to me:

Think of the disciples, hiding out together after the Crucifixion. Demoralized, afraid, they were in no condition to take on the world; but within days, that's just what they did. They broke out of hiding with a death-defying boldness, with a message that proved unstoppable.

Where did these fear-filled people get the power to do that? Did they decide to make up a Resurrection story and pass it about? Would they put their lives on the line for a known lie? I don't think so. Something larger than themselves had happened, so great that death itself did not scare them away from their message. From fear to boldness; that speaks to me.

And a third person might see a different sign -- maybe the transformed lives, even today, even one's own life.

But the neatness -- I have no further need for this cloth of death -- that is good.

I've been intriqued by this post, but never took the time to just read through it.

You know, there are so many things that we don't know. Now, we have all heard others say, "Well, we won't be able to know everything until we get to Heaven." Meaning, of course, that our minds are finite and we can only know so much.

Well, I know that this is partially true. I mean, I may not know why God chose to take Dad home before I could make it to his death bed. When the message arrived to our ship, we were in the middle of a Naval inspection of how we handled combat and I know that the Captain sat on that message until the last operation was over. Then, I was notified that Dad was on the brink of passing and that I needed to get home as quickly as possible. The Captain even arrange for me to go on emergency leave and they flew me out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on a Navy plane that evening. But it was too late... I had troubles with that in the past, but have accepted it over the years. But was that because of an imperfect world, or did the Lord, for a specific purpose, bring that about for my sake? I won't know until I get to Heaven.

However, I could know about the napkin. (Now, of course the folded napkin would not have any meaning to me until I learned from you about Jewish tradition). But, why wasn't I aware of the napkin? Because we are not versed in the Jewish culture and religion. Is that important? Well, it is knowledge enhancing, but there is so little we know. And perhaps that is why we study more and grow in our knowledge. Luke 2:52 says of young Jesus that He increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. So, we grow. And we share! One thing for sure, each little piece of the puzzle adds so much to our understanding.

I went to seminary... and survived with my faith intact! But anyway, I learned a lot in my studies there. Yet, I only studied a small section of the Bible and got only a survey of Theology. I, by no means, exhausted the knowledge that was available through all the studies and courses and all the knowledge and experiences of the professors. And all the men, studies, and books we have do not exhaust the infinite knowledge of God that we will know when we get to Heaven.

But let me share some interesting things that you may not know.

When I took Biblical Hebrew, I learned that God was known by more than one name. m'h'lx (close as I can get without having Hebrew letters) is reversed in English and is xl'h'm or Elohim, pronounced Eloheem and means God, but is the God in Genesis 1. hIh' (English reversed 'hIh) is as close with these letters as I can get to the unspeakable name of God in Genesis 2. Elohim in Genesis 1 is the out there God that you cannot look upon without dying. 'hIh God is THE LORD that walked in the Garden with Adam and Eve. However, man is smart and devised a way to say the unsayable name of 'hIh God. By putting in vowel markers, the name can be pronounced as such. First, let me do some transliteration and then you will see. ' is Yod and is either the letter J or Y; h is Hay (looks more like Pi with a piece missing on the top bar) and is our letter h. I is Vav or Waw and can be a V or W in English. Put in either e, o, or a and you come up with:
'(e)h(o)I(a)h equals Jehovah
or
'(a)h()I(e)h equals Yahweh
Why some use Jehovah and others use Yahweh is beyond me...Well, for the present time anyway. Maybe I will google each of them...

How 'bout this... This will put a new light on your understanding. The Hebrew word for "man" is MDX which turned around for English is XDM. Put in the vowels and you have Ad(a)m or Adam. So when God made Man from the dust of the ground, he made Adam (man) in Hebrew... Does that mean that when I say to Dan "Hey, Adam" that I could be saying "Hey, man" in a Biblical sense? Oh, well....

Here's an interesting one. Melek in Hebrew means King. So when you see a Biblical name such as Abimelek, could that be a derivative of king?

Well, anyway, there is a lot to learn and so little time to learn it all in... That is , until we leave this world for our eternal world to come...

Thanks for ticklin' our brains!
Yours,
-William