Monday, March 21, 2011

The Clothes Were Neatly Folded

During our Sunday dinner, I asked my oldest son what he learned at Sunday school. The lesson was on the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. One of the details he shared was that "Jesus' clothes lay neatly folded."

"Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself." (John 20: 6-7 ESV).

That spawned an interesting discussion around the table. Why did Jesus take the time to fold his clothes? The Creator designed the world in an orderly, meticulous, highly detailed fashion. Did that same precision to detail and orderliness carry over into everything He did on this earth--even folding his clothes?

My husband thought it was significant that these details are included in the Bible. They certainly didn't have to be. Yet in nearly every Resurrection account in the Gospels, you will read that the cloth was folded. What is the significance of that detail? I don't know. I'm still pondering that one.

But...

If Jesus, the Lord of all, can take the time to fold a cloth neatly (and deems it important enough to tell us about it in the Bible), surely I can improve some of my own habits--aiming for neatness, not sloppiness.

He could have just let all the cloths lie in a rumpled pile, but he didn't. How does that example speak to us? What one habit can we work to improve in our own lives?

5 comments:

  1. I am off to fold the laundry laying in a pile on the top of the dryer. :)

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  2. What a slap in the face. We have had a crazy couple of months with birthdays around here, and another month to go, but there will always be things to do instead of fold the clothes. Or big picture of keeping the house in order. There is a verse I think you have mentioned before about being orderly in our lives. I have dropped the ball lately and now time to get back to it. Thanks for the reminder!

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  3. Wow. I am so intrigued by this detail! Thanks for posting about this. How fascinating.

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  4. This is how our pastor explained it, back in biblical time when a master was finished with his meal he would just toss his napkin on the table to let his servant know that he was finished. If the master got up from the table but wasn't finished he would fold his napkin to let his servant know he was returning. Jesus folded the cloth to let us know that He is not finished and He will be returning!

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