Science and Faith

The final scene of Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, takes place inside the tomb, where Jesus’ body lies completely wrapped in a white linen shroud. (Jewish burial custom prescribed that the body should lie lengthwise along one half of the napkin with the other half covering the front of the body from head to the foot). Suddenly, the shroud sinks to the ground, thereby indicating the mysterious disappearance of the body.

Many people are simply unaware that the central fact of the Christian faith is the Person of the Crucified and Resurrected Christ. Christianity is not, essentially, a set of ideas, a culture, a series of customs or ethical attitudes, but a personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. As an aid toward making direct and personal contact with the Savior, Divine Providence has preserved for us an appalling image of His suffering and death. It is imprinted on a grave-cloth, which might be viewed as an additional Gospel, written not in ink, but in blood, shed for our salvation.