A Slight Recycling

Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday is such a glorious time of celebration for God’s children. How wondrously breath-catching it must have been for the women who had followed Jesus to be shown--Jesus was alive! And then the news came to the remaining Eleven as well as others like the two walking home to Emmaus, eye witnesses—He is alive!

But first there had to be Gethsemane. Last year around this time I wrote about our personal gethsemani comparing those to the ponderous huge stones that grind the olives down to dry skins and pits to yield luscious olive oil.

The olive tree orchard/mill I mentioned in last week’s post had a huge old stone olive press in their courtyard at the start of the tour we took. The guide didn’t call the stone a gethsemanes because that is an Aramaic word and the stone we saw in Arizona came from Italy. But the function was the same: to grind away at the fruit, separating the skin and pits from the precious olive oil.  

We know from the Gospel accounts that Jesus so dreaded the anguish he was about to face that he sweat drops of blood as he prayed to his Father about the task laid before him. Yet He was obedient, loving us so much He was willing to pay the sin-debt we owed. Because of our sin, He was separated from His Father since God will not look upon sin. This was a soul-wrenching pain we cannot fathom in our humanness  because God is always with us on this side of the Cross.

So having faced that night in Gethsemane, the brutal beatings, the anguish of being isolated from His Father, and finally the excruciating, suffocating death on a cross, Jesus’ body was laid in a tomb. His followers had to do a hurry-up job to prepare His body for burial because Sabbath was soon to begin and Jews were prohibited from working.

Cutting a wondrous story short, on Sunday, Jesus appeared to the women who followed Him. John and Peter checked out their unbelievable story, where they, too, found an empty grave.  However, John records that the grave clothes were in a heap but the napkin that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head, was neatly folded and set aside separately. (See John 20:3-8)

Now think of a dinner party using cloth napkins. If a guest is called away from the table for some reason, the napkin will be folded beside the plate ready to be picked up again for use when he returns. However, if the guest is finished with the meal, the napkin is merely crumpled up beside, or on the plate.

Jesus was leaving a visible sign to His followers. He had been called away but was returning. And much to their joy, He did return on Resurrection Sunday.

But the good news continues. The Bridegroom was called away but His napkin is folded, ready to be used again. And He is returning for His bride, the Church. That’s us, folks!  Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Happy Resurrection Sunday!