The folded napkin within the sepulchre

John 20:4-7: So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

When Jesus was taken down from the cross, He was wrapped in graveclothes and laid in a sepulchre. When Peter and John came to the sepulchre upon hearing that the tombstone was rolled away and Jesus’ body was missing, they indeed found these things to be so, but more specifically, a whole verse of detail is given to the napkin. The napkin that originally covered the face of Jesus was now neatly folded and placed to the side, unlike the graveclothes that simply lay there in the tomb.

The significance of the folded napkin is best understood when looking at the Jewish tradition of that day. When a 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 the servant would wait just out of sight until the master had finished eating. If the master was finished eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers and mouth, clean his beard, and wad up the 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 finished.” But if the master got up from the table, folded his napkin and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not touch the table, because the folded napkin meant that the master was coming back. So when Peter and John entered the sepulchre and saw the folded napkin, they knew exactly what it meant, that their Master was alive and He was coming back!