Folded Head Cloth

April 14th, 2009

Expecting family or friends for lunch this Easter?  I wonder if for special occasions you set out the table with folded napkins in anticipation.  Off on holiday, do you set out your folded clothes on the bed ready to pack into the case?  

A very interesting detail is recorded by John about the burial cloths found in the tomb on that first Easter Day. The head cloth wrapped around the body of Jesus wasn’t just thrown on one side, discarded, or even the result of a grave robbery.  It was found folded up by itself.  

Brought up in the Hebrew tradition, you would clearly understand this sign.   With a Master and Servant culture, when the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it.  The servant would then stay out of sight until the master had finished eating. The master would rise from the table, wipe his hands and mouth and clean his beard, and then would toss the napkin onto the table – meaning ‘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 dare not touch anything because it was a sign that the Master was returning.

The folded head cloth means there is unfinished business - he was coming back. But there is also the promise of his return again at any time.  

David Thatcher
 

Filed under: Thought of the Week