This morning in the news I read this Smithsonian Institute article about the “Shroud of Turin”, and the article mentioned additional research testing done that fuels the always ongoing controversy concerning the shroud’s authenticity. This topic probably surfaced because Passover and Easter occurred last weekend.
Whether or not the shroud is authentic is not important, but for the record, I‘m one who does not believe the Shroud of Turin was the shroud used for the burial of Jesus.
Jesus was raised from death and released from the tomb. This is what the Bible tells us.
“Then Simon Peter came, following him (John), and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.” (John 20:2-7)
Several questions come to mind:
Why these details only about the napkin?
Why was the napkin rolled up and placed “not lying with the linen cloths”?
What was the significance in recording these details about the burial napkin?
What happened to the napkin?
My assumption is the body of Jesus was rested on his back, which would mean his body would have been face up while in the tomb.
John, a witness, was specific when he said the napkin, “had been on his head.”
From this I understand “on his (Jesus) head” to mean his face, because it's part of his head, and the key word here is, “on”.
I don’t know the answers to my questions about the napkin, and I don’t have to know; and whether or not the Shroud of Turin is authentic, is not important.
This is what I do know, because these details from eye-witness testimonies are made known to all who seek Jesus who was crucified:
- While on the cross, Jesus cried with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit;
- All present saw Jesus was dead on the cross, and one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. Blood and water came out;
- Jesus’s death was confirmed by the centurion before Pontius Pilate released the body to Joseph of Arimathea;
- Joseph took the body of Jesus down, wrapped/bound him in the clean linen shroud, laid him in the never used tomb, and rolled a great stone against the door of the tomb;
- Those who sought Jesus’s death, were convinced he was dead, so much so they sought and arranged for a company of guards to be placed at the tomb to guard it;
- They made the sepulchre secure by sealing the stone and setting the guard there;
- After the Sabbath there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it;
- After the women arrived, they found the stone was rolled away, and saw the angel;
- The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said, Come, see the place where he lay.”
- The women went in the tomb, but they did not find the body of Jesus;
- After the women departed from the tomb, the risen Jesus met them and spoke to them.
For as the angel said, “He is not here; for he has risen, as he said.”
Jesus himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
(John 11:25-26)
Jesus asks that question, not me.
The choice is yours also to make.
The Oddblock Station Agent
127 April 13 2026
