Is That HIS Image on the Shroud?

Joseph of Arimathea is believed in history and in the various Christian faiths to play a major part in the life, and death, of Jesus Christ. Some have said he was related to Jesus, perhaps an uncle through his Mother, Mary, or Miriam. As well, he was known to be a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish judicial and legislative bodies of ancient Israel, but answered to the ruling Romans.

 

He was also believed to be a disciple of Jesus, but not one of his Twelve Apostles.

At the time of the Crucifixion, it was Joseph who offered his tomb to the remaining followers of Christ, his mother Mary, Mary Magdelene (who some believe was Jesus’ spouse under Jewish law), John the evangelist and several others, to place His body before sundown and the Feast of Passover.

He then helped to wrap Jesus in a burial cloth. On Sunday, when Mary, Mary Magdeline and several others arrived to anoint Him in Myrrh, a scented, sacred oil, His body was gone. Only the cloth remained.

That cloth is believed to be the Shroud of Turin, which was tested in the 1980s and again recently. According to reports in the New York Post and elsewhere, is said to be the cloth with Jesus’ image impressed in it.

It certainly has the earmarks of a man who died a violent death, with bloodstains and “scourge marks” found on the shroud that allude to Christ’s death by being nailed to a cross, a common method of execution by the Romans at His time in 33 AD.

I, for one who has studied the Roman Empire and have faith in the Christian teachings, believe it could very well be the burial cloth that Joseph gave to the women on that late Friday afternoon and was found abandoned on Sunday morning. It certainly is possible. And I am sure there are many others who believe as I do.

If not for Joseph of Arimathea, we never would have had this conversation which has lasted for two millennia. And certainly, it gives us pause to think what else we may someday find from Christ’s time as archeologists continue to unearth hidden treasures.

We can only wonder.