Question:
I read your answer from the questioner about the myrrh and aloes in Our Lord’s burial. You mentioned washing the body. An exception is when the deceased has died a violent death. Then all body parts, including any blood that can be mopped up are gathered and buried with him. This would probably be the basis for the legend that Joseph of Arimethea tried to catch drops of blood as Our Lord hung dying on the cross. It is probably just part of the Jewish belief that when a person dies a violent death as much of their blood as can be recovered should be buried with them. A Rabbi on the video Jesus and the Shroud of Turin-available on You Tube says that even today if their is a bombing in the Holy Land rabbis and righteous people will sop up as much blood as possible to be buried with the person. Of course Our Lord rose from the dead so perhaps in all the rush of good Friday Joseph never got the container to the tomb. The rest of the legend is that he brought the container or glass or whatever to Britain with him (Glastonbury?) and somehow it was lost in his time or after and that was the Holy Grail that those Arthurian legends were about. I’m getting a little talk ready on the shroud of Turin and have just discovered about "the napkin rolled up by itself"-the sweat cloth or sudarium which was put over Our Lord’s head when He died. it’s all very humbling.
Answer:
It is hard for me to comment on legends which are almost certainly not true. It is hard to make a useful biblical comment about these things. The fact that Jews today go out of their way to collect blood which is drained from Jews who die a violent death tells us absolutely nothing about what happened when Jesus was crucified. I believe there is absolutely zero evidence than anyone tried to collect the blood which came from Jesus at his execution. Siurely the disciples would not have done this. Who would? I believe it is extremely unlikely that anyone did this, but the fact that nothing of the sort is mentioned does not absolutely prove that it did not happen. This "container" you mention is almost certainly a complete fiction, so I cannot really say anything about it. The claim that the container was brought to Britain is absolutely certainly a myth. There were probably no Christians in Britain until the second century. This is absolute myth, without the slightest evidence to support it, so, again, I cannot comment on the question. My suggestion is to not give these bogus claims any support and to ignore them.
About the shroud, this item is almost certainly NOT the burial shroud of Jesus. It is an interesting artifact, to be sure, but it certainly is not the burial shroud of Jesus. There are so many reasons to reach this conclusion, I could go on for several paragraphs. The cloth in the cathedral in Turin has been studied by C-14 analysis, which showed it to be from the twenth or thirteenth century. There is both historical and biblical evidence that a Jesus was not wrapped in a full-length "shroud" We can assume that this artifact was produced by pious believers well over a thousand years after Jesus died. Your information about the "napkin rolled up by itself" is further reason to reject any kind of claim that the Shroud of Turin is the burial shroud of Jesus.
All this focus on supposed pieces of the "true cross," or holy grails, burial shrouds and the like is counterproductive to Christianity. Even if we had a piece of the true cross or one of the cups used at the Last Supper, this would have no significance to Christianity. What is significant is the life of Jesus, his death and resurrection and our own personal faith in Jesus–not physical objects. Attention to artifacts distracts from true Christianity. My advice is to not spend much attention to these claims. Probably all of them are bogus, but even if they were, this would have no importance to living the Christian life.
John Oakes
A new question has been submitted by S. (swharam@hotmail.com) on [02/01/11]: Read your answer from the questioner about the myrrh and aloes in Our Lord’s burial. You mentioned washing the body. An exception is when the deceased has died a violent death. Then all body parts, including any blood that can be mopped up are gathered and buried with him. This would probably be the basis for the legend that Joseph of Arimethea tried to catch drops of blood as Our Lord hung dying on the cross.
I had not heard of this legend. What do you feel the significance is?
