The so-called “Shroud of Turin” has gained much interest. It is unknown how it got to Turin and even if it is the burial cloth of Jesus. Scholars are still in search of the origin of the shroud that Jesus was allegedly covered with in the tomb.
I have always been interested in
forensic evidence. As scripture says, “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of
this world? For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but
we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the
Greeks foolishness; (1 Cor 20:20, 22-23).
While everyone else is looking
for the Holy Grail, I have found it. It is, in my opinion, the vessel, that is
translated “cup” that held the Holy Spirit of God as Jesus. I am no longer in
search of the Holy Grail, so now I consider the Holy Shroud of Christ.
The argument in the passage above
is about the crucifixion. The Greeks would need reasonable evidence and
the Jews some type of sign. In a sense, the burial shroud of Jesus tells the
story of the crucifixion. Experts say that all the evidence of the crucifixion
is on that shroud. First is the uncommon crown of thorns not usually put on corpses.
Likewise, abrasions showing that the deceased’s picture on the shroud is
evidence that He carried what could have been the cross. Likewise, it shows that
it was a crucified man with nail marks in his hands and feet, and that the man
had been pierced in the side.
The others crucified were not pierced.
Apparently, it was uncommon, but Jesus died too quickly, and because certainty
was required that the King was dead, as is usual for any king, they made sure
that He was dead.
It is also known that Jesus was
covered with a burial cloth. How much is uncertain. Perhaps I can shed some
light on that shortly.
“When Joseph had taken the body,
he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth” (Mat 27:59). Mark gives more information.
Joseph wrapped the body in fine linen, not some of the person, but all the
body. Luke concurs with that assessment… “on Him” — on the body of Jesus.
Now we turn to Jewish burial customs: The Jews have always required that burial customs be common for all. They standardized the funeral process:
Step 1: Preparing the body for
burial by cleansing.
Step 2: Wrapping the body in a
shroud which has parts: “shirt, pants, head covering, belt, and for some, a
long jacket.”
Step 3: Lastly, a “wrapping sheet.”
Therefore, the shroud, since it is
essentially the burial clothing is not the Shroud of Turin. It should be called
the “Covering of Turin” or better said, the “Covering of the Body of Christ.”
It was not a face covering but the overlay — the wrapping sheet for the whole
body.
However, there was a napkin of sorts that was folded neatly, according to the following:
He (some other man) stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then comes Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and sees the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. (John 20:5-7)
Jesus was “naked” at His death. Not
fully naked, but mostly so. Nakedness was considered indecent as with the “nakedness”
of King David who wore only his lower garments.
It is supposed that Jesus had on only his pants because He was whipped
severely on the back. That would have torn any clothing that He had worn
beneath his gown. If He had on a short, it would have been ripped badly.
Jesus had a crown of thorns on
his head. It was His head covering. (John 19:5). The soldiers had cast
lots for his “shroud” — the shirt, pants, belt, and long jacket.
His head-covering was the crown
that they put onto Him. Then they put onto Him a purple robe of royalty (Mark
15:17.) and finally after “they had mocked Him, they took off the purple from Him,
and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him” (Mark 15:20). Lastly,
after the death of Jesus, “They parted His garments, casting lots upon them,
what every man should take” (Mark 20:24).
Unless I’m missing something, the
soldiers removed what was left of the blood-stained and torn clothing of Jesus,
ostensibly as souvenirs.[1] That action reveals to me that they respected
Jesus because they wanted the King’s bloody personal clothing.
With that said, Jesus was dressed
to some degree while on the Cross. When He died, they divided His clothing.
There was no napkin for His face, so Joseph applied it later, or perhaps Joseph
was persuaded that Jesus was God enough that like the thief, Pilate, and the
centurion; he knew that Jesus would be raised from the dead as He had implied
so many times.
In other words, Joseph may have folded
the face covering all neat, clean, and folded. I’m just looking at the facts
and drawing some conclusions from what I read.
Nowhere that I know of did Joseph
put onto Jesus a traditional shroud of multiple pieces. Think of a suit that is
on a modern corpse; that is a “shroud.” A face covering would not be required because
Joseph was surely confident that Jesus is the Lord God just as He said He is.
By not putting on the face cloth reveals faith.
What was Moses not allowed? To
see the Face of God… “You (Moses) cannot see My Face: for there shall no man
see Me, and live” (Exod 33:20).
Jesus had just died so that we
need not. Out of respect, Joseph of Arimathea, knowing the Torah very
well, would never cover the Face of God again. However, a burial covering was
tradition. That alone would cover the Face of God but because of that, the so-called
“Shroud” should reveal the Face of Jesus, and it did!
Again, keep in mind that the
burial cloth was not a shroud but a linen covering in the manner of the Shroud
of Turin.
The “linen” in which Jesus was wrapped
was a clean loosely woven cloth from the Greek
It was indeed cloth to be found
in that era, and scientists have found a reason for the carbon-decay method to
be inaccurate; contamination by human hands, mostly in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries to which it was dated.
I believe that is now settled, so
I have no way of arguing that point myself. Science, however, wants it to be
fake, so to call it real means that they are wrong. Again, scientific pride stands in the way.
(To be continued)
[1] In like manner, I
contacted the office of President Donald Trump and requested his bloody suit in
which he was shot for a souvenir of a man I respected.
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