John #12

As well as the Gospel and letters of John this Bible study uses the book “Written That You May Believe: Encountering Jesus In The Fourth Gospel” by Sandra M. Schneiders (2003) Crossroad Publishing Co. New York, NY.

Background reading to study # 12- Written That You May Believe chapter 12.

The Gospel of John #12 – Seeing and Believing 08.12.10

This study is of the passage found in Jn 20:1-10 –the account of Peter and the Beloved Disciple at the empty tomb. Mary discovers the empty tomb and runs to tell Peter and the Beloved Disciple. The Beloved Disciple outruns Peter, reaching the tomb first. Peter enters the tomb and sees the linen wrappings lying there with the head cloth rolled up in a place by itself.The Beloved Disciple enters, sees and believes.

The Beloved Disciple is never named. He (or she) is a literary construct that allows the reader to enter into the narrative by associating with the figure. The Beloved Disciple represents the Christians of the Johannine community – the model Christian. The Beloved Disciple reaches the tomb ahead of Peter. This is mentioned three times. The text acknowledges that there is a rivalry between Peter and the Beloved Disciple (which is also evident in chapter 21). While Peter enters the tomb first, the Beloved Disciple reaches the tomb first and is the first to believe.

The Beloved Disciple has looked inside and seen the linen cloths, but when he enters the tomb the head cloth is also visible. What is it about the head cloth that promotes this belief?

Schneiders makes a connection between the face cloth and the veil that Moses puts aside after coming down the mountain, having seen God. In the same way Jesus puts aside the veil of his flesh in the resurrection. He puts aside the world to go to his Father. The head cloth symbolically represents this. However this seems to buy into a dualist theology that is not Johannine. Here Schneiders reverts to an old metaphysics that is incongruent with the rest of the Gospel. For Schneiders the face cloth is a sign, a sign that creates belief. However if this is so, it is not an effective one because it points outside this world. Jesus’ other signs in John (for example water, healing, bread and light) are immediate, physical and take place in the world. Here (according to Schneiders) the sign points to an Old Testament textural reference to suggest a metaphysical reality.

So what is the significance of the head cloth? Often it is depicted as a flat piece of cloth placed over the face of Jesus (like a smaller version of the shroud of Turin). In the Lazarus story in Jn 11:44 there is mention of a similar cloth: “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘unbind him, and let him go.’” This cloth (and the head cloth of Jesus) was likely a cloth wrapped around the face and jaw to stop the jaw dropping and staying fixed that way because of rigor mortis. This practice is still used today when laying out a corpse to make the corpse more presentable for viewing by the family.

This head cloth was not just dropped with the rest of the linen cloths but “rolled up (or around) in a place by itself”. This implies that it was deliberately wrapped up and placed by someone. Or, it could mean it retained its form from the head and was simply taken off and set aside. In any case it suggests Jesus took the wrapping off himself. Someone removing the body would surely not have taken the time to remove his linen cloths – or if they had (in order to create the illusion of resurrection) would not have thought to have carefully placed the face cloth in a separate place. In other words this seems simply another Johannine realist detail that goes with faith in a transformed human world. And in this case the belief of the Beloved Disciple comes simply because he has come to a position where he is required to make a leap of faith. Circumstantial evidence can bring you to a certain point, but belief cannot be arrived at through logic or reason alone. It is his personal relationship with and knowledge of Jesus that tips the balance.

Nevertheless it happens in a real world. For the Beloved Disciple the head cloth is the phenomenological sign that leads him to believe. For Thomas it is touching Jesus’ wounds, for Mary Magdalene it is hearing Jesus call her by name. Each person has a different process of relating to the new reality which is the resurrection.