John 20:7 tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

Early that Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body and I don’t know where they have taken Him!”.  Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the napkin that had covered Jesus face was folded up and lying to one side.

Is that important? Absolutely! Is that really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about the Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.

When the Servant set the dinner table for the Master, he made sure it was exactly the way the Master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the Master had finished eating. The Servant would not dare touch that table until the Master was finished.

If the Master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, “I’m finished”.

Jesus is Risen.  He rose again on the third day as was described in prophesy.  Many people will play number games and say that Friday, when He was crucified to Sunday when he rose again is not three days.  It doesn’t matter.  We don’t know what day he was crucified.  It could have been a Thursday or he could have rose on a Monday.  What is important is that Jesus is not done with you yet.  Just like the head shroud, which also translates as napkin, Jesus is not done with you yet.  He went through indescribable pain for you.  Normal treatment by the soldiers back then says that He was whipped 49 lashes with a whip that had metal pieces in it. The reason that it wasn’t 50 lashes is that they had found that most people who were whipped 50 times….. died from the beating.  Then He had a crown of thorns forced onto his head so that the thorns pierced his skin and He was bleeding down his face.  Then he was forced to carry a wooden cross on his shoulder that was heavy and thick enough to support his weight.  It was so heavy that he needed help to carry it.  Then he had nails driven through his wrists – not his hands because it would have torn loose his hands from the weight of his body.   Through his wrists. Then imagine the pain of the nails driven through the arches of his feet.  If you have had something fall and hit you on the top of your feet, imagine the pain of a huge nail going through your foot.  Then there was suffocating that occurs when your arms are raised up in the air and you try to breathe.  The only relief is to stand and take the weight off your shoulders – you know – stand on the feet that have a spike through them.  Often the Roman soldiers would use the shaft of a spear to break the victims legs so they would suffocate faster.  In the case of Jesus, they stabbed him with a spear in his side so he would bleed out faster.  All that loss of blood was for you.  His head, his back, his feet, his hands and his side.  Then the greatest pain.  Jesus cried out and asked his Father “Why have you abandoned me?”.  The greatest pain to feel that your Father and God has abandoned you.  Despite this all, Jesus asks God to “Forgive them because they know not what they do”.  Jesus suffered all that pain, physical and mental, for you.  He shed all that blood for you so that you can be saved from your sins.  Jesus had gathered everyone from Tax Collectors to Prostitutes to Fishermen to be his companions.  He shed his blood for everyone.  Jesus did not care what you were before – only that you followed him.  Jesus told us that there is no one who is so far gone that they cannot be saved by the blood that he shed for each and every one of us.  He shed it for everyone forever and ever.  Like Peter said in Acts 10:39-43, ³⁹ “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰ but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹ He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

In the very last chapter and verse in the Book of Matthew, the last thing that is written in Matthew is Jesus’ Commission to go forth and spread the Word of God. In the very last chapter and verse in the Book of John, it says an important message too.  In John 21:25 it says, ²⁵ Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.  Jesus did many things called miracles. The miracle of rising from death is there.  I have been to Jerusalem and you can too.  You can touch the stone where he was first laid upon when he was taken off the cross. You can see the tomb that Jesus was laid in.  You can touch the stone that he was placed and the stone was rolled into place.  It is real.  Jesus really did die for your sins.  Every sin, Everyone, forever and ever.  All you have to do is embrace Him. Accept Him and know that Jesus continues to do other things as well to include saving people even today.

Jesus is Risen.  He is not finished with you yet.  Thanks be to God.