Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8; John 20:1-9
What was it exactly that the other disciple believed when he saw the tomb empty and the linen cloths lying on the ground? The implication is that Peter had already 'seen and believed'. Is it simply that they now believed Mary Magdalene's story, that somebody had taken the Lord and laid him somewhere else? Perhaps this is all for the moment. John tells us, what is painfully clear from all the gospels, that 'as yet' they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. It seems unlikely then that they came to believe in the resurrection of Jesus just by seeing an empty tomb and abandoned clothing. They had not encountered the Risen Lord, they had not received the gift of the Spirit.
So what do they believe, at this moment in the story? They have taken the Lord's body and we don't know where it is. Is it possible that, 'back in their homes' (v.10, omitted by the lectionary), they realised that the strangest thing about the empty tomb was not what was not in it but what was in it: linen clothes lying on the ground. Why would grave robbers or anybody else taking the body away stop to undress the corpse so as to escape with a naked corpse instead of a camouflaged one?
They might have thought then (as I did with the help of Professor Google) of scripture passages that speak of linen clothing being left behind. Linen clothing is spoken of most often in the Bible in relation to liturgical furnishings and to priests and their functions, firstly in the Tent of Meeting and later in the Jerusalem Temple. There are two passages that speak of linen clothing being left behind.
So what do they believe, at this moment in the story? They have taken the Lord's body and we don't know where it is. Is it possible that, 'back in their homes' (v.10, omitted by the lectionary), they realised that the strangest thing about the empty tomb was not what was not in it but what was in it: linen clothes lying on the ground. Why would grave robbers or anybody else taking the body away stop to undress the corpse so as to escape with a naked corpse instead of a camouflaged one?
They might have thought then (as I did with the help of Professor Google) of scripture passages that speak of linen clothing being left behind. Linen clothing is spoken of most often in the Bible in relation to liturgical furnishings and to priests and their functions, firstly in the Tent of Meeting and later in the Jerusalem Temple. There are two passages that speak of linen clothing being left behind.
On the Day of Atonement, Aaron, the high priest, is to leave his linen clothing in the holy place (Leviticus 16:22-24). He is passing from one reality back to another, from the presence of God above the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies back to the people gathered outside for whose sins he is offering the sacrifice of atonement. The linen clothing is not just decent and appropriate for one ministering in the sanctuary, it serves to mark the separation between the holiness of God and the profanity of the world outside.
After the Exile, when the Temple is being prepared for the return of the glory of the Lord, we find a second reference to priests leaving their linen vestments in the holy place. This is in Ezekiel 44: some sections of the Levitical priesthood are allowed to take up their duties again, but they must do so respecting the older law that marked the separation of the holy and the profane. Once again, at certain moments, they are to shed their linen clothing and leave it lying there.
So linen clothing being shed evokes the Day of Atonement and we have just completed our celebration of that Day. There are two striking differences, however, between the ritual described in Leviticus and the sacrifice accomplished by Jesus. One is where he emerges from. Whereas the high priest emerged from the Holy of Holies, Jesus is returning from what we might call the Unholy of Unholies, the place of death, the kingdom of sin. Saint Paul says that God made him to be sin so that we might be redeemed. It is from there that our High Priest, shedding his linen clothing, emerges into the light of a new day.
The second difference is that our High Priest is also our scapegoat. In the Leviticus liturgy the priest sacrifices a goat and a bull and then sends another goat into the wilderness, having laid on him the sins of all the people. But our High Priest has taken on himself the sins of all the people. The goat has become the lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
You see what a rich seam of thought and association is opened up by thinking about the linen clothing left lying in the tomb. It is all about the Temple, and priesthood, and sacrifices, and the separation of holy and profane. Now our High Priest has offered the one and final sacrifice for sins. He has dissolved the separation between the holy and the profane - this is represented by the tearing of other linen cloths, the curtains in the Temple. No more temple, no more priesthood, no more sacrifice in the sense these things had before.
It sends us back to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in Saint John's gospel, to the cleansing of the Temple, and Jesus' claim that he could rebuild it in three days. After his resurrection from the dead, we are told, the disciples understood the scripture and that he had said these things. They - like we - are only at the beginning of understanding what it means to say Christ is Risen, Jesus is Alive. The walls of separation have been torn down, not just between human beings, but between the human being and God. Where is Jesus' body now? It is the Church, it is the Eucharist, it is the poor. He has given His body for us. He has given His body to us.
There is much more that could be said about this rich seam of thought and association. The last reference to linen clothing in the Bible is in the Book of Revelation. There, in 19:8, we are told that the Bride, being dressed for her wedding feast with the Lamb, is clothed in linen garments and that these garments are 'the righteous deeds of the saints'. In Him we have become a priestly people and like priests of old we are to clothe ourselves in linen. But this clothing is made up of actions and dispositions, gifts and fruits, the way of living of those who belong to the Body of Christ, who live by his Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Peter and the other disciple are a long way from understanding all this on Easter Sunday morning. And so are we. But over time, with God's help, they and we enter more deeply into the meaning of what we celebrate today: He is risen! And everything is radically changed.
So linen clothing being shed evokes the Day of Atonement and we have just completed our celebration of that Day. There are two striking differences, however, between the ritual described in Leviticus and the sacrifice accomplished by Jesus. One is where he emerges from. Whereas the high priest emerged from the Holy of Holies, Jesus is returning from what we might call the Unholy of Unholies, the place of death, the kingdom of sin. Saint Paul says that God made him to be sin so that we might be redeemed. It is from there that our High Priest, shedding his linen clothing, emerges into the light of a new day.
The second difference is that our High Priest is also our scapegoat. In the Leviticus liturgy the priest sacrifices a goat and a bull and then sends another goat into the wilderness, having laid on him the sins of all the people. But our High Priest has taken on himself the sins of all the people. The goat has become the lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
You see what a rich seam of thought and association is opened up by thinking about the linen clothing left lying in the tomb. It is all about the Temple, and priesthood, and sacrifices, and the separation of holy and profane. Now our High Priest has offered the one and final sacrifice for sins. He has dissolved the separation between the holy and the profane - this is represented by the tearing of other linen cloths, the curtains in the Temple. No more temple, no more priesthood, no more sacrifice in the sense these things had before.
It sends us back to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in Saint John's gospel, to the cleansing of the Temple, and Jesus' claim that he could rebuild it in three days. After his resurrection from the dead, we are told, the disciples understood the scripture and that he had said these things. They - like we - are only at the beginning of understanding what it means to say Christ is Risen, Jesus is Alive. The walls of separation have been torn down, not just between human beings, but between the human being and God. Where is Jesus' body now? It is the Church, it is the Eucharist, it is the poor. He has given His body for us. He has given His body to us.
There is much more that could be said about this rich seam of thought and association. The last reference to linen clothing in the Bible is in the Book of Revelation. There, in 19:8, we are told that the Bride, being dressed for her wedding feast with the Lamb, is clothed in linen garments and that these garments are 'the righteous deeds of the saints'. In Him we have become a priestly people and like priests of old we are to clothe ourselves in linen. But this clothing is made up of actions and dispositions, gifts and fruits, the way of living of those who belong to the Body of Christ, who live by his Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Peter and the other disciple are a long way from understanding all this on Easter Sunday morning. And so are we. But over time, with God's help, they and we enter more deeply into the meaning of what we celebrate today: He is risen! And everything is radically changed.
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