The most exhilarating message I have ever given was during a sunrise service at San Gabriel Community Church. I remember it so vividly because I was facing the rising sun while I preached about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. It was surreal to think about how the very same sun had risen on an empty tomb more than two thousand years ago.
That year, I had spent hours preparing to speak about how Peter and John discovered the empty tomb in John 20:1-10. John’s account begins with Mary Magdalene visiting the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark. She saw that the tomb stone had been rolled away! She ran to Simon Peter and immediately told him, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Naturally, Peter was concerned that someone had stolen the body, so he dashed out of the home and raced towards the tomb. We know from the Bible’s account that John joined Peter running to the tomb. They both raced towards the tomb to see what had happened to Jesus’ body.
We know that John was faster than Peter because John 20:4-5 tells us that he overtook Peter and arrived at the tomb first. John then stooped down to look into the tomb, but he did not go inside. The Bible gives very specific details about what happened next. It says, “Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.”
This reference to the folded face cloth is significant for several reasons. First, we know it is important because John goes out of his way to describe this smaller handkerchief that had been folded and left in the tomb. John could have just written about the burial clothes and the face cloth in general, but he didn’t. He drew the reader’s attention to the face cloth because he wanted to show that it needed to be considered differently than the other burial clothes.
The second reason the face cloth is significant is because it had been folded. Why would Jesus have taken the time to fold this cloth? You would expect most people would not be thinking about folding pieces of cloth that had just been wrapped around a dead body, especially if it was their own. Jesus was different. He was thoughtful and purposeful. He folded the cloth because he wanted to let the disciples know that his body had not been stolen.
If the body had been stolen, do you think the thieves would have taken the time to fold the face cloth and leave it in a prominent place? No. They would have been wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. If the face cloth was folded, it meant that criminals were not in charge of the situation. It was Jesus who was in control. He was not in a rush. He had taken off the strips of cloth that surrounded his body in the grave. He had put them in one place and he had removed his face cloth, folded it, and placed it in a different place so those coming after him would recognize what had taken place.
Peter and John arrived on the scene and began acting like amateur detectives. They were looking for clues and we know from John’s account in his gospel that they recognized the significance of the folded face cloth. The third observation makes this clear. John 20:8-9 says, “Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;” The third reason the folded cloth is significant is because John’s sight of the folded face cloth led him to believe that the body hadn’t been stolen and that Jesus had actually risen from the dead.
The second disciple to go into the tomb was John. He had been the first one to arrive at the tomb, but he didn’t have a clear view of the face cloth because he had not actually gone inside. It was Peter who went barreling into the tomb. He saw the burial cloth and the folded face cloth, but John’s gospel doesn’t tell us how Peter reacted. John’s account does tell us John’s response. It tells us that “he saw and believed.” The emphasis here is on the fact that John saw the burial cloths and the folded face cloth. We know he understood the significance of the face cloth because his account tells us that he “believed.” This idea of belief is to consider something to be worthy of one’s trust. He believed that Jesus’ body had not been stolen. He believed that Jesus had risen from the dead!
If you keep reading in John’s account you will see that the next part of the account describes how Jesus appeared to Mary and the disciples. First he appeared to Mary in the garden and then later that night he appeared to a group of the disciples in Jerusalem. The sequence of events is staggering to consider. Why didn’t he just appear to them right away? Clearly he wanted to let them see the empty tomb for themselves. He wanted them to have a visceral, powerful experience of having their faith strengthened by the hard facts of the gospel. They may have doubted that Jesus would rise from the dead, but now they had to believe it. He was alive! The tomb stone had been rolled away, the burial cloths had been discarded and the face cloth had been carefully folded and left as a memento that Jesus had risen from the dead!
I remember being deeply impacted by studying the significance of Jesus folding his face cloth and leaving it for the disciples to discover. It helped my faith in God and my appreciation of the work of Jesus Christ increase. My prayer is that you will take the time to study the historical account of Jesus’ resurrection so that you will be struck by the power of our risen Lord! He is risen. He is Risen Indeed!
