John 20:1-9 – The Carpenter’s Cloth
Tonight I’m going to share a thought with you that I read several years ago, and it has blessed me ever since. In fact, likely, you remember it since I read it to you on my 1st Easter Sunday message in Doaktown and Blissfield. I hope that it encourages you in your faith. Let’s read John 20:1-9.
Well, let’s go back a bit. As you likely know, Jesus had been a carpenter. He had been an apprentice in his earthly father Joseph’s shop before He entered a traveling, preaching and healing ministry at the age of 30. Back then, a craftsman’s life was not much different from now. Getting from job site to job site required travel, because of course the house does not come to the carpenter. Likewise, as a preacher, Jesus did not wait for people to come to Him, but He went to them.
Of course, another aspect of carpentry is being able to work in harmony with many other types of craftsmen. Jesus the preacher certainly had to deal with many types of personalities. Andrew and Judas, 2 of His disciples, were Zealots, rebels who were sworn to overthrow Roman rule. Meanwhile, Matthew was a tax collector, a paid employee of the same hated Romans. Yes, Jesus knew how to work with others.
Being a carpenter also meant that His reputation as a carpenter was based on the quality of His work. But that was not all. A carpenter needed to make sure his work was practical and had purpose. A carpenter, probably much to the dismay of a perfect God, could not afford to spend days perfecting a job that might take others only a few hours to finish. Likewise, Jesus had only 3 years of preaching, and so He made His advice practical, purposeful, and to the point.
It was these common, everyday, down-to-earth qualities that attracted people to Jesus. When He spoke, He attracted many listeners because He didn’t speak over their heads. He spoke to their level of understanding. He talked about fields and fish and crops and rain and sunshine and money and married life and working and building and houses and water, and somehow people understood God better and understood God’s ways better. He worked a person’s soul they way He had worked wood: carefully, practically, beautifully.
His preaching became harder and harder as the time passed. He spoke less of God’s kingdom and more of the cost of following Him. He made enemies among the religious leaders, and the ones who did follow Him did it secretly. As time passed, those who loved Him loved Him more, and those who didn’t like Him liked Him less and less.
Until His preaching ministry reached a climax at the age of 33. He had told enough people that they needed to get their lives straightened out, and they had had enough. They arrested Him, tried Him and found Him guilty of breaking their laws. Because of the lousy leadership of a puppet governor – Pilate – and an apathetic monarch – Herod Antipas – He was sentenced to death. He was beaten, whipped, tortured and mutilated. He was forced to carry His cross through the public streets of Jerusalem and up a hill that looked a lot like a skull. The cross was dropped in the ground, and Jesus the preacher was lifted high as a reminder to all commoners that breaking laws was a crime punishable by death.
For six hours that Friday, Jesus hung from his cross, hanging between two thieves. Darkness fell on the land at noon, which lasted until Jesus’ death at 3PM. Most of His followers had left Him. His female followers stayed near, as did John. Perhaps the others were avoiding being seen. Upon His death Joseph of Arimathea, one of those closeted followers, requested Jesus’ body. He and Nicodemas, another hidden disciple, prepared Jesus’ body for burial.
They laid Him out and wrapped His body with 70 pounds of graveclothes, spices and fragrant gum. And they placed the handkerchief around His head. Perhaps it was wrapped around the jaw, to prevent the mouth from opening. At any rate, it was separate from the rest of the wrappings. They placed His body in Joseph’s own grave, a private burial plot in a private garden. They laid their master to rest. No more a carpenter, no more a preacher, now just a corpse.
Let’s go back 3 years again. During Jesus’ time, there was one way a carpenter let the contractor know that the job was finished. It was a sort of signature.
Imagine a hot day in Galilee. Jesus has completed the final pieces of a job He has worked on for several days. The hair of His strong forearms is matted with sawdust and sweat. His face is shiny with heat. He takes a final drink of cool water from a leather bag.
Then, standing to the side of His work, He pours water over His face and chest, splashing it over His arms to clean Himself before His journey home. With a nearby towel, He pats His face and arms dry.
Finally, Jesus folds the towel neatly in half, and then folds it in half again. He sets it on the finished work and walks away. Later, whoever arrives to inspect the work will see the towel and understand its simple message. The work is finished.
Skip ahead 3 years or so. Jesus had set aside the carpenter’s tools, but He never forgot where He had come from. Neither had His disciples. When Peter arrived at the tomb that Easter morning, full of sorrow and discouragement, he crouched in to the tomb and saw the linens, the only things Jesus left behind.
A smile, I’m sure, came over his face. His sorrow was replaced with joy, because he saw the wrap, the napkin, the handkerchief, that had covered Jesus’ face. It was folded in half neatly, and folded in half again. Peter understood. The carpenter had left behind a simple message. The work was finished.
John 19:30 records these words of Jesus: It is finished. It is one Greek word which means that there is fulfillment and completion. I don’t know exactly what was finished when Jesus cried those words. It could mean that His suffering was over and done. It could mean that His entire life was finished. I no longer believe that it means that the work of salvation was finished because it wasn’t. The sacrifice to forgive us of our sins was completed, but our salvation means far more than forgiveness.
You see, the cross was only part of Jesus’ work. I don’t know if it was the greater or the lesser, but it’s the more emphasized. The cross is where we find forgiveness, but not where we find strength for a new life. That’s the open tomb. The empty grave is just as much a part of our hope as the cross. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” Did you get it? If it hadn’t been for the resurrection, we would still not have salvation.
Because salvation goes so much further than forgiveness. Calling us forgiven but not giving us the power actually to improve is hardly salvation. Barely struggling along, barely getting by, never actually getting a cleaner thought life, never actually rising over our sinful thoughts and habits and actions… is this salvation? Is this the abundant life that Jesus promised?
You can blame it on all kinds of things. People blame their lives on their parents – “If they had done a better job, if they hadn’t been so strict with me, I wouldn’t be doing this now.” People blame their lives on their families – “If I had a nicer spouse and nicer kids, it wouldn’t be nearly as hard to be a good Christian.” People blame their jobs, their homes, their town and their financial conditions on why they just can’t seem to be the people they want to be. Well-meaning people who gave their hearts to the Lord once but who now can’t seem to stop doing the things they know are wrong.
That’s where the resurrection comes in. That’s why it matters. Just like Jesus left His grave clothes behind, the remnants of death, with the smell of death on them, we too are meant to leave behind our old ways. Any kind of salvation that allows a person to stay inside their sins is a salvation sadly lacking what God wants for that person.
You see, we go back to Jesus being the carpenter. Even though His work was finished, His work in you is still meant to go on. He wants to do so much more than forgive you. He wants to relieve you of your bitterness. He knows how that person has hurt you over the years, but obviously he or she is still hurting you. Salvation as God intended it to be for me would free you from the pain and callouses of unforgiveness.
Jesus the carpenter wants to work on your anger. He wants to help you see that you not only can’t control it all but also that you don’t have to. Anger is basically trying to control things but not being able to do it. And the more you surrender control of your life and the lives of those around you into God’s hands, you’ll be a lot less angry. And that’s part of what the Carpenter wants to do.
Jesus the carpenter wants to work on your self-importance. Most people tend to think too much of themselves, and the rest of us tend to think of ourselves too much. Whether it’s pride – figuring you are more important than you really are – or low self-image – figuring you are not as important as you really are – either way it’s pride. It’s still about you and your gifts and abilities or money or talents or looks or contribution to society, or the lack of all that. It’s still thinking too much of yourselves and not enough about God. Jesus wants to help you know who you are in Christ, and in that you can rest, even when everything else falls down.
All this is possible, but many of us give up some time after salvation. Oh sure we still have our faith and we still do our things but something in us seems to die after awhile. We really we aren’t changing as much as we would like, or we still struggle with the same things year after year, or the passion seems to fizzle out. As I say, something seems to die within us.
Well, the good news is that God specializes in resurrections. He is able to bring back from the dead His Son, and He’s able to bring back from the dead your wounded heart. Jesus the carpenter is able to work on you and your situation, but only if you let Him. That’s resurrection power. That’s more than forgiveness. That’s salvation. And that’s what He wants to do inside each of you tonight. I encourage you, let the Carpenter finish His work.
