In His Name Devotionals
THE CARPENTER’S CLOTH
In His Name Devotionals
THE CARPENTER’S CLOTH
“Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen” (John 20:6, 7 NIV).
The usual explanation for the folded up face-cloth is: “An orderly arrangement, not in disarray, as would have resulted from a grave robbery.” But could there perhaps be an additional explanation? In our understandable eagerness to rush to the heart of Bible truth, is it possible that we might occasionally run by or even overlook the majestic whispering of God?
In his book, “The Carpenter’s Cloth,” Sigmund Brouwer wrote: “During Jesus’ time there was one way a carpenter let the contractor know a job was finished—A signature, so to speak.” Consider a hot afternoon in Galilee. Can you imagine Jesus completing the final pieces of a job He has worked on for several days? Can you visualize the Lord’s strong carpenter’s forearm, covered with sawdust and sweat—face shiny with heat—as He takes a welcomed drink of cool water.
Can you picture Jesus standing to the side of His work, pouring water over His face and chest, splashing it over His arms to clean Himself? Reaching for a nearby towel, patting His face and arms dry?
Then, in the carpenter’s tradition, Jesus folds the towel neatly in half, and then He folds it in half again, laying it on the finished work as He walks away. Whoever inspected understood the simple message of the carpenter’s folded towel— the work is finished.
Is it logical to assume that perhaps the Lord’s disciples were aware of this common carpenter’s tradition? If so, then is it at least possible that on that Sunday of sorrow, three years after Jesus had set aside His carpenter’s tools, Peter understood the meaning of the cloth that had covered Jesus’ face—folded neatly there in the empty tomb?
Could it be that our Savior left behind an expression of God’s eternal love in the simple message of His earthly profession—the carpenter’s cloth? It is finished!
