Shroud of Turin and the Resurrection of Jesus
: Some Say
Does the Shroud Contradict the Gospels?
According to Mark:
43Joseph of Arimathea, a
prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for
the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for
Jesus' body.
44Pilate was surprised to
hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he
asked him if Jesus had already died.
45When he learned from
the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph.
46So Joseph bought some
linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in
the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of
rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the
tomb.
- Mark 15:43-46
New International Version
The sindon, largely interpreted to mean
shroud, is found only in the synoptic Gospels. The word is not
used in John's Gospel.
John uses the word othonia to describe the cloth in
which Jesus was wrapped for burial. John is the only Gospel writer to
mention that the othonia was in the tomb. John also tells us that the
sudarion (napkin or sweat rag) that had been about his head was lying in
a place by itself. Some exegetes say that the correct translation is
lying lying in its place.
6Then Simon
Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the
strips of linen lying there,
7as well as the
burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head.
The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the
linen.
- John 20:6-7 (NIV)
According to Noel Currier-Briggs:
The most balanced opinion holds that
othonia is
the generic term for all the cloths I have mentioned, and
sindon refers to the largest of them only, namely the
Shroud. The soudarion
seems to indicate something
smaller, probably the cloth which was sometimes laid over the
face, rather than the band of cloth tied under the chin and over
the top of the head. (emphasis added)
What "cloth tied under the chin and over the top of
the head?"
The consensus of many biblical and
shroud scholars is that there were three types of cloth used in the
burial. There was the shroud (sindon), the sudarion (napkin) and strips of cloth used to
bind the jaw closed and to tie the hands and feet together to avoid
flopping when the body relaxed following rigor mortis.
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