"It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards. And now -"
"Oh yes. Now?" said Lucy jumping up and clapping her hands.
"Oh children," said the Lion, "I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!"
-- C.S. Lewis; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
This morning I was reading John 19 and 20. This is where Jesus is turned over to the Romans, beaten, killed, and has risen again. Christians know this story better than nearly any other in the Bible, and rightly we should since everything hinges on this event. Today I was blindsided by a section that I've read over many times, but today the intimacy of the moment struck my heart in a way that has left me off balance all day.
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 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. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
-- John 20:3-9
The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen .... holy cow.
I started to imagine what it was like for Jesus when he woke up. What were those moments like when he opened his eyes, and felt his body again? His last words were, "It is finished," and when he woke up it was finished. He did not have to defeat death and sin anymore, it was done. He had been given the most difficult job to do, and he saw it through to the most bitter end. All of the fear, anxiety, pain, and betrayal was behind him - he had won the ultimate victory. And then he woke up alone, wrapped, in the dark of a cave.
I imagine this was the most peaceful moment of His life. I imagine that he let his body come back to him slowly starting at his fingers and toes then moving inward. He took the time to fold the cloth that was covering his face. He did not throw it off, he folded it and set it aside.
I don't have any big spiritual insights in this. I am just blown away by the peacefulness of the folded cloth. It is such a simple act, but to me it speaks of a very introspective moment. In my past, when I've moved onto a new adventure, I've been more intentional about saying goodbye. I savor sights, smells, feelings so as to imprint them forever in my heart. That is what the folding of the cloth speaks to me. Jesus spent an unknowable time in that dark cave, savoring the feeling of a job perfectly completed to the glory of his Father.
Our God is amazing.
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