The resurrection is a very important tenet in Christianity: it forms the bedrock on which Christians build their faith. The apostle Paul confessed: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:14,17). After resurrecting, Jesus left his coverings in the tomb. Has it come across our mind why Jesus left the cloth in the tomb? Recently I read an article that explained that Jesus folded the napkin as a sign of his second coming. Others may say he left the cloth as evidence that the person who once lived there is no longer there. However, I do not seek to repeat any of these ideas in this post. My focus in this post is to answer “Why Jesus did not bring the cloth out but left it in the tomb”. Let me begin with the following verses which talk about the before and after the tomb experience of Jesus:
And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud.
Matthew 27:59
But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
Luke 24:12
From the above Matthew reports a clean linen shroud, and other Gospels reported new linen. Whether new or clean, the shroud is not a good thing. A shroud according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a cloth that is used to wrap a dead body”. It signifies all the coverings of dead hopes, dreams, joy, and opportunities. It is also used to cover our bad behaviours. Jesus leaving it behind signifies he no longer needs it. The resurrection signifies new beginnings. Scriptures say as such, “If we have died with him, we will also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11). Romans 6:10 also says “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God”. This means that we are dead to bad habits and alive to new habits. I explain more about this in my post on baptism. However, it is common nowadays to see professing Christians behave like their old self forgetting. Many of us are very much alive in sin than alive to God. It is common to hear Christians say “We worship God in the heart”. However, we forget that Jesus said, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45). This implies that our behaviour mirrors what is in our heart: put differently, whatever is in our heart shows itself in our behaviour. When we hold on to negative habits, it means we still have the shroud on, we are covering our dead self forgetting that we are now alive with Christ.
After the resurrection, Jesus did not need the shroud so left it in the tomb. On the other hand, after the resurrection, Lazarus brought his shroud out of the tomb. John recorded this about Lazarus “The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”” (John 11:44). In our case, after our resurrection, most of us are behaving more like Lazarus than Jesus. Jesus is ordering us to remove our shrouds because we do not need them any longer. Let us strive harder to make the resurrection reflect in our lives: leave the shroud in the tomb.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8:11
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14
In conclusion, the resurrection gives us the opportunity for new beginnings. As such we do not need to be ashamed of our past sins or be afraid of pursuing new goals. We need to pursue new ventures with the help of God while leaving bad habits which impede our progress. Are you striving enough?
Photo Credit:
He is Risen. Christian Devotional at Easter
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