One of the stops on our trip to Italy was to the Turin Cathedral (Piazza San Giovanni), known as the "Chapel of the Holy Shroud." There is also a museum entirely focused on the facts and history of the aledged burial linens of Jesus.
A Mystery within a Miracle
The Shroud is a nested miracle; it is a miracle within a miracle. It is practically a miracle that a ~2000 year old cloth relic with actual blood stains even exists to be seen to today. The shroud is actual, irrefutable evidence of the crucifixion, death, burial and ressurection of Jesus (Yeshua). It is a truly a miracle how it was created. Even the atheist scientists who analyzed the shroud describe it as such! It is also a mystery since the only explanation that a team of the best scientists from around the world have developed for how the image on the shroud was created is not reproducible to this day.
The STURP (Shroud of Turin Research Project) was a significant 1978 scientific investigation of the Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth believed by many to bear the image of Jesus Christ. Considerable analysis since then has only further added to the credibility of the Shroud.
For Our Time
The shroud is literally the most studied relic in the world. Yet, until literally the times we live in, the information, technology and scientific knowledge has not existed to fully understand how miraculous the shroud truly is.
What has taken ~2000 years to figure out, two Jewish men understood the moment they saw it. As it says in the book of John in the Gospels: with one look, the Apostles John and Peter, understood immediately the implications.
John 20:4-9 -- Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
One Jewish Apostle needed more convincing. He is referred to as "Doubting Thomas."
John 20:26-29 -- A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
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| Our private tour guide for the cathedral and the museum |
Our personal tour guide at the museum, Marinella, was very knowledgeable and intelligent. She also seemed very pragmatic and level headed. I figured that she would have formed an opinion about the shroud, and I was curious what she thought, so I asked her for it. Marinella looked at me with an expression that suggested to me that what she was about to say was off-script and after consiserable thought. She started by saying, "Do you really want to know what I think?" I replied, "YES, I do." Then she looked at me and said with conviction the answer I wanted to hear: "I don't think the shroud was for then, and the people at the time of his crucifixion. I think the shroud is for now. I believe it has been miraculously preserved for these times, when the knowledge and technology would exist so that people would be able to know the ressurection really happened."
Having done enough of my own studying and thinking, I couldn't agree more.
In other words, Marinella was echoing Jesus as quoted by the Jewish Apostle Mark:
Mark 8:12 -- And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Their are many people who go to synagogues and churchs with doubts or who don't know what to believe. Their are also total unbelievers, atheists. Those people that are sure that Jesus never rose from the dead, let alone the whole purpose for shedding his blood. For them, I think the Shroud is the Sign of Jonah. It is as Jesus said in the books of Matthew and Luke:
Matthew 12:38-42 -- Then some of the scribes and Pharisees told Jesus, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
But he replied to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign. Yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah, because just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea creature for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But look—something greater than Jonah is here! The queen of the south will stand up and condemn the people living today, because she came from so far away to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But look! Something greater than Solomon is here!”
I traveled to Turin to hear what my guide told me. I hoped to hear first hand from a certified guide and expert whether they concluded what I already have.
It is said that the definition of, "Faith is the belief in the Unseen," specifically in Hebrews 11:1. The generation in Jesus’s time never got to see the shroud. I believe that was deliberate. The burial linen was taken away and hidden for ~1300 years after his crucifixion. By who is speculation. I and others think by Nicodemus, or perhaps Joseph of Arimathea. Where it was hidden is speculation. How exactly it came to Turin is assumed to be by the Crusaders, and there is evidence to think that. How it survived three fires with no damage to the actual image is amazing.
What if Jesus meant the shroud for these times? What if it was waiting for the generation after the rebirth of Israel and technical experts who could study and analyze the shroud to determine it's authenticity? What are the implications if we are the "evil and adulterous generation" that Jesus prophecied of.
I did get to be in the room with the burial linens of Jesus. The same clothes that John and Peter saw which contained the AB blood of Jesus. That is the moment they believed and "understood that he must rise from the dead."
All of that was a tremendous experience, however I didn't need to see the shroud to know the important facts and implications. I went for my wife Mary. She was like Thomas. I haven't asked Mary what she thinks now. Perhaps I will at lunch today, after she gets back from church.
Mary thought she was making the arrangements to specifically visit Turin for me. But she was right, I couldn't come all the way to Italy, the country we last visited on our honeymoon 40 years ago, and not visit the Shroud.
Epilogue:
I have written several blog posts concerning the Shroud. If you'd like to learn about it you could start by clicking on this link.
Speaking of the times, and the coming of the Messiah, Pastor Nathan, who was raised an Orthodox Jew and graduated Yeshiva, has done many sermons addressing this. Click here to listen to what the prophets warned and how they relate to today.