THE KING’S BUSINESS
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have here two or three unmistakable touches of truth, clear indications that the story is not fabricated, but a record pf facts as they actually occurred, related with great precision, but at the same time with great simplicity. The apparently insig nificant; detail about the napkin not lying with the linen cloths but rolled together in a place by itself is full of the deepest sig nificance. It is not merely a proof that the tomb had not been rifled leaving dis order behind. More than that, it shows us that Jesus, in that supreme moment of His life displayed that same divine serenity and majestic calm that marked His whole career. In that supreme moment of His whole earthly manifestation, the supreme moment of the world’s history, there is no excitement, no hurry. Instead of excitedly snatching the napkin from its place and hurling it wherever it might fall, He quietly took it off and in an orderly way, rolled it- up and laid it down in a place by itself. Some would have us believe that the story is not fact but fiction, but where was the master artist in that day, or when has there ever been a master artist in any day, who is capable of this minute but sublime touch of life, and not merely human life, but divine life. There is also a true touch of local color in John’s " stooping down." When people visit what is now decided to be the true tomb of our Lord, they find themselves unconsciously, by the necessi ties of the case, “stooping down" to look into the tomb. vs. 8 , 9. "Then went (entered) in also that (therefore the) other disciple (add, also,) which came first to the sepulchre (tomb), and he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead." When Peter had rushed by him and entered the tomb then John also enters, and he saw the linen clothes lying, and the handkerchief lying in a place by itself, and the clear indications that the tomb had not been rifled and the body of the Lord taken away, and “he believed." It was ignorance of the Scripture that had kept both Peter
understood them, are really fraught with the gladdest meaning. Mary was looking for a dead Lord and she will shortly find a risen One. vs. 3, 4. “Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and came to the sepulchre (tomb;. So (And) they ran both together, (:) and the other disciple did out run (outran) Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.” Eagerly did Peter and John run to the tomb that was reported robbed. John, being the younger, reached the tomb first. We are not told anywhere in the narrative that John was the younger. In fact we are not told it in so many words anywhere in the Bible. We find it out from other sources and by inference from various things recorded in the narrative. Here we have one of the very many acci dental proofs of the truthfulness of the story. Everything that is told of each actor is in exact keeping with what we know about him from other sources and the story could not possibly have been made up in this way. vs. 5-7. “And he stooped down and look ing in, saw (And stooping down and look ing in he seeth) the linen clothes (cloths) lying, (;) yet went (entered) he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter (Simon Peter therefore also cometh,) following him, and went (entered) into the sepulchre, (tomb;) and seeth (and he beholdeth) the linen clothes lie (cloths lying), and the napkin (add A that was about (upon) His head, not lying with the linen clothes (cloths), but wrapped together (rolled up) in a place by itself." Though John first reached the tomb because of his being able to run faster, being younger, yet he was not the first to enter the tomb. True to his dispo sition, in gentle reverence, he does not enter, but stoops down and looks in. Peter, slower of foot, because older, comes lum bering on behind, but true to his impetu ous disposition, he does not stop to merely look in, but rushes headlong right in. He sees the linen cloths lying and the napkin that had been about Jesus’ head carefully “rolled in” and in a place by itself. We
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