The following small article was written to my brother at 9:37 a.m., Monday, April 21, 2014.
Jesus did not portray Himself as a wealthy man with servants who treated Him much as royalty is treated, hurrying to the table after He ate and departed to see if He was through eating. Remember, the chief priests and Pharisees urged Pilate to make the tomb secure as they feared His disciples would come and steal the body and then claim He had risen from the dead. (See Matthew 27:62-66). When Peter entered the tomb “he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass” (See Luke 24:12). John’s account adds: “Then cometh Simon Peter following him (John), and went into the sepulchre, and seeth 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” (See John 20:6-7). This proved NO ONE stole Jesus’ body, not the other disciples, not His enemies – NO ONE! If you are going to steal a body you wouldn’t strip it naked before departing the tomb with the corpse. You wouldn’t neatly fold the garments placed on the dead body. And the napkin wasn’t a dinner napkin! It was the napkin used with a burial shroud, much larger than a dinner napkin. Oh, He is coming back alright, but He didn’t leave a neatly folded dinner napkin to indicate He was returning. And He is not returning to a tomb. I think this synopsis makes a bit more sense than the folded dinner napkin scenario, doesn’t it?
The following follow-up article was also written to my brother at 11:16 a.m., Monday, April 21, 2014.
I wish the errors of the theologians, preachers, Bible teachers, etc. were as inconsequential as that of the folded napkin. If one would just read the account of Jesus’ burial and resurrection slowly and carefully – actually reading the closing chapters of each gospel account carefully, they would, or should, realize that the number one thought paramount in the minds of the Jews was that Jesus was a deceiver, that He could not have come back from the dead due to the horrible death he died, i.e., the beating, the spear in the side, the crucifixion itself. They should then realize the true significance of the folded head napkin and carefully laid aside burial shroud. Grave robbers, those who are trying to avoid detection by Roman tomb guards, those who come into a darkened tomb at night, would NOT disrobe the body and carefully lay aside the grave clothes. Upon seeing such, the disciples had to have immediately entertained the idea that He had indeed risen from the dead, although not yet quite believing the same not knowing the scriptures that foretold that this would occur. It was just too good to be true. But, just as the risen Lord asked for a bit of fish and honeycomb to eat in order to show them he was not a mere apparition, He could have also said, “Remember the graveclothes when you entered the tomb?” Who disrobes a corpse before stealing the same when haste is paramount in getting in and out of the tomb and away from the vicinity as quickly as possible without raising suspicion. If the theologians and preachers, etc., could only set aside their preconceived ideas, the beliefs they were spoon-fed by their predecessors, pastors, seminary professors, etc., they might then see their more profound and far reaching errors such as Sunday observance replacing Sabbath observance, death actually being death until a resurrection, God giving all humankind a grand opportunity at inheriting eternal life, instead of just a few and most of them being white folks! I fear most of them don’t even have God’s Spirit. They are just religious, morally upright, fine human beings and all, but NOT sons of the Most High God – at least not yet. Remember, Jesus did say, “My sheep HEAR my voice.” They listen to the truth and receive the same, not attempt to argue it down and proceed to embrace and teach spiritual error all their days in the flesh, even attacking and disparaging the children of God who do have, walk in and teach the ways of God more correctly.
Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley