Is this True?

I got the following email and wonder whether it is true. I googled it briefly but did not learn anything other then that others are wondering as well. Is there an expert out there that knows?

Here goes:

"An unusual approach to a biblical story

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 at the head of that stony coffin.

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 out ran 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

Is 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 todo 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 was
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!'""

Thanks!
ginnyrose

Wow. Pretty neat. I never really gave it much thought, along with a lot of other things I guess. :-)

Thank you for pointing this out. this is something to gnaw on for a while.

Reply to ginnyrose
My reaction when I read your post was that I’m still trying to untangle myself from the filthy rags. Christ Jesus was with out sin but I was a filthy lowdown rotten stinking dead sinner.

I am not sure as to where the content of the email came from, but Clyde Box (sp?) preaches a sermon on the folded napkin. To me it is a neat idea, but I would rather trust in the second coming because of Christ's words and not a folded napkin :-) .

Interesting that Lazarus needed someone to untie him - Jesus didn't, He was already free!

Interesting observation...I never thought of this before. Wonder what the significance of this is?

I consider the email I shared beautiful BUT I hate to share something like this with others only to be told later it is the product of someone's imagination. To pass on fictitious pieces as being authentic discredits Christianity, will just provide critics more fuel with which they can and do mock us Christians as being gullible, ignorant. And it is not being truthful.

I am still waiting to hear from someone who will say with a definite "Yes" or "no".

Blessings,
ginnyrose

What do I think?

I know one thing it must have been awesome to have experienced what they did. To have witnessed Jesus' preaching for three years, see him crucified and then resurrected. I think it would really humble a body to have been witnesses of these events.(Why would God choose me, of all people, to be a partaker of these events?) No wonder they were willing to endure persecution. Perhaps this is the clue to what will enable [i]anyone[/i] to suffer for the name of Jesus!

Blessings,
ginnyrose

Again, I do not know the source of the email, but I heard Bro. Box (sp) rant and rave about the folded napkin for about 45 minutes. After hearing all that he had to say, my thoughts are as follows:

1. You should never base your theology only on Jewish tradition. (Which was the basis of 45 minutes of ranting and raving on a folded napkin.)
2. The Jewish tradition was for the dinner table, not grave clothes.
3. The New Testament contains many explicit statements that Jesus will be coming back. "I will come again." "This same Jesus will return in like manner." Et al.
4. The disciples appeared to have missed the "obvious" meaning of the napkin, for they were completely taken by surprise to see Jesus.
5. If this was such an obvious indication that Christ is coming back, why is it nowhere picked up by any other Scripture passage, the apostles, the early church, or any of church history? (To my knowledge.)

So, ginnyrose, I would say that it is a neat idea, but a very far-fetched idea. It makes for nice emails, but a very poor basis for theology. Just my "two cents."

The folded napkin was a sign that the body was not stolen as the Jews tried to say. Who would steal a body then take the time to fold a cloth? Who would have left any cloths behind, unwrapping a body then stealing it?
With John being the last gospel written, the readers by that time would be aware of the stolen body story.

His mother nagging at Him... "Jesus, before you go hang out with your friends, you get back in there and make your bed!"

Too funny, Krispy.

:-P

Hi ginnyrose...

I've actually received this same email several times. It was forwarded by individuals who asked the same questions about the accuracy of its claims (particularly in regard to the Jewish "folded napkin" custom of the first century). Most of these emails were the same as the one you included (verbatim).

After a couple of years of searching, I am still stumped. I've even emailed scholars of ancient Jewish customs, and they responded that they had never heard this tradition. I've read through several commentaries, and none of them shed much light on this passage other than the obvious -- that Jesus resurrected. My mother thought that the reason for the inclusion of this might have been as a warning against believing the myths surrounding the Shroud of Turin (strips of linen and a facial hankerchief vs. a singular burial shroud).

Last night, a quick google search revealed a recent long, heated discussion over this email on the Snopes (urban legend) website. I thought that it was interesting that some of the unbelievers on that website were questioning the wording in the email's text ("[i]...every Jewish boy knew this tradition[/i]."), since there is so little evidence to prove that these words are true.

While this is a nice sounding story, I don't know that we should regard it as anything else. I think that it is safe to say that this should still be viewed as an "urban legend" until displayed otherwise. Anyway, thank you for bringing this up! It's nice to know that I wasn't the only person wondering about the origin or truthfulness of this email.

:-)