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Thursday, March 15, 2012

The Folded Napkin

I received this in an email the other day. I just had to share it. I think it's so amazing how God thinks of every little detail.

Why Did Jesus Fold the Napkin?

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection? I
never noticed this....

The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was
placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave
clothes.

The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was
neatly folded, and was placed separate from the grave clothes.

Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, 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 out of the tomb,
and I don't know where they have put 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 cloth that had covered Jesus' head
was folded up and lying to the side.

Was that important? Absolutely!

Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you
have to understand a little bit about 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
that 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, and the servant
would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now 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 done'.

But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and
laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table,
because..........

The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

He is Coming Back!

1 comment:

Kristy QP said...

Love that. It always amazes me (though it shouldn't!) how much meaning can be packed into one verse and how often we can skim over it and not realise the significance. Thanks for sharing this :)