A few weeks ago the communion meditation was powerful and I keep pondering it. I had never heard this anywhere before. When Peter and John went to the empty tomb the Bible says that Peter went in and saw the linen strips that Jesus had been wrapped in lying there and in a separate place the cloth that had been around his head. The Bible specifically says the cloth that had covered the Lord's head was folded and set aside. Tim shared that he had recently read that in those days when a man was served his dinner he would take the napkin from the table and put it on his lap or tucked up under his chin. When he was through with dinner he would lay the napkin aside and that would be the signal to the servants that he was through. But if for any reason the man was called away before he was done he would carefully fold the napkin back the way it was and lay it beside the plate. That action would signify to the servants that he would be back. The apostles would have immediately recognized the significance of the folded cloth. It was the Lord's signal to them that he would be back. How powerfully that must have spoken to them. They still didn't understand everything but they wouldn't have missed that message.
And so today as I look at that seemingly insignifcant portion of John 20 I find great comfort in knowing the napkin was folded, not wadded up and laid aside.
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. John 20:3-7
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