By: Jess Holmes (@realtruthcactus)
“And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” – Luke 22:41 – 43
On this most somber of days in the Christian calendar, followers of the risen Messiah remember and reflect on the three most agonizing days of human history – the trial, execution, and expectant waiting for Christ’s return. The Scriptures reveal that Christ himself, in the garden of Gethsemane, was wrapped so anxious with the knowledge of the work He was called to do that he cried out to the Father and asked that the cup be passed from Him. So great was his agony that Jesus experienced hematohidrosis, the sweating of great droplets of blood from his skin (Jaju et al., 2009). Despite this great agony, Christ committed Himself to His mission to redeem all of mankind from their sin, pay the debt they could never hope to pay, and suffered the most gruesome death imaginable to accomplish His work. Where the world called Him a blasphemer, a liar, and a psychotic, He conquered death, stole the keys to Hades, and rose from the grave on the third day, as He long promised to do (Mark 9:30–32; Matthew 17:22–23).
Yet, in the wake of the remembrance of our Lord’s suffering and victory, the world is in utter turmoil. Rather than speaking in praise of Our Lord’s victory, keyboard warrior ‘Christians’ weaponize the phrase “Christ is King” against their Jewish brothers and sisters as a means of antisemitism. It seems like hardly a day can pass where one does not hear a story of the removal of a priest or pastor from their position for grievous sins, be they sexual, monetary, or otherwise (Dempsey et al.; Shellnutt, 2019). Many are slaughtered in the Holy Land, and our world is rife with the same sin and bitter strife that has been present for all of man’s history. Who could blame an atheist, or non-Christian, for observing this mess and finding the presence of a living Messiah wanting. While mankind is to be blamed for all its failures to live up to the legacy left behind by Our Lord, mankind’s fallibility does not negate the very real and powerful truth: all of history, archeology, and science points itself clearly to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of the most important, if controversial, pieces of evidence is the Shroud of Turin.
Cloaked in Mystery
The Shroud of Turin is perhaps one of the most unexplainable and mysterious archeological finds in religious history. This rectangular piece of linen cloth is approximately 4.4 by 1.1 meters (14.5 by 3.7 feet) and bears a faint, full-length image of a bearded man on the front and back. The image is brownish in color and appears more detailed in photographs, especially negatives, which reverse the light and shadow. It is currently being stored at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy.
Depending on which archeologist you approach, different answers will arise as to the cloth’s origin. The most commonly accepted lead finds the cloth first appearing in 1350’s Lirey, France, where French knight Geoffroi de Charny allegedly presented the artifact to the church in Lirey as the authentic burial shroud of Christ. Since that moment, the Shroud has had a very tumultuous history, from getting Geoffroi’s granddaughter, Margaret de Charny, excommunicated from the church during the Hundred Years War for trying to pass off the garment as the actual burial shroud of Christ to almost being destroyed in a fire (Casabianca, 2017). But the question remains – is this cloth the true burial shroud of Christ?
Powerful Light
In 1978, the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) sought to find a scientific explanation for the Shroud of Turin. The tests were highly regulated and secretive and it took a long time for any data to be released. The project involved over 120 hours of consecutive research on the cloth itself.
The primary means of experimentation conducted by STURP involved exposing the cloth to different wavelengths of light in order to determine its composite makeup (Jaworski, 2022). No pigments, paints, dyes or organic stains have been found on the fibrils (aside from the few blood stains). UV (ultraviolet) spectroscopy and IR (infrared) spectroscopy studies conducted on the shroud reveal unique X-ray, fluorescence and microchemistry data about the fibrils and eliminate the possibility of paint being used as a method for creating the image. Essentially, there was and is no possible trace of paint on the fabric. The elimination of this claim was huge in the 1970’s as one of the running suggestions for the origin of the Shroud is that it was an artistic representation of what Christ might have looked like wrapped in a burial shroud. And yet, no traces of paint or ink appear.
The claim that the shroud was not produced through artistry was further confirmed by analysis of the blood stains on the Shroud. If an artist were to create such a fabrication, they would first construct the image of the man and then fill in the blood stains to ensure they were covering the appropriate locations. And yet, through FTIR imaging, it was revealed that the blood stain was beneath the fibers first and deep within the fibers of the garment. Only the top few micrometers of the cloth contain the man-shaped image, covering the blood (van der Hoeven, 2015). This incredible discovery shows that the blood covered the garment before the image was produced. The question remains – how, then, is the image imprinted upon the cloth?
The answer, incredibly, is light.
Microscopic examination reveals the man’s image is the result of yellow color found on the top two or three superficial fibers, each fiber ranging 10–15 micrometers in diameter, within the yarns of the surface threads. Only light could possibly create such an image in such a small layer. And we do notice, that when a photograph is taken of the shroud, that it appears to be a photonegative. Experimental testing showed that, when illuminated with a UV lamp, irradiated linen fabrics show a partial inhibition of fluorescence, exactly like the Shroud image (Nichelatti et al., 2012; Di Lazzaro et al., 2012).
For the first time, someone was able to recreate the coloring found on the shroud and it was done using high energy UV radiation. Armed with this newfound realization, scientists attempted in 2019 to truly recreate the image of the Shroud with a femtosecond pulse laser by concentrating enormous quantities of light energy in extremely short pulses of a few tens to hundreds of femtoseconds (Donnet et al., 2019).
This is the closest scientists have ever gotten to recreating the Shroud and it is still not a perfect recreation. Even with the most sophisticated technology mankind possesses, we cannot perfectly replicate the shroud of Turin. Researchers hypothesize it would require 34 thousand billion watts of energy per femtosecond to create the image. For context, the brilliant flashing lights seen in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium puts out 750 million watts per second.
For hundreds of years, the Shroud of Turin was believed to be a fake, a fraud, a creation by some (admittedly talented) artist interested in making a quick buck off the faith of such ‘dupes as to whom may be convinced of the resurrection’. And yet, it is only within the modern era, within the last five years, that mankind with all of their prowess over science, still is unable to perfectly recreate an image that was supposedly produced in the 14th century?
Only the miraculous might of God, the glorious power of the resurrection as Christ comes into His full power, could release such a perfect amount of light as to deposit His image upon the cloth. And what amazing evidence this must be then, that Jesus rose from the grave.
He Is Risen
And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” – Matthew 28:2-7
In a world cluttered with so much strife, where it is easy to fall into doubt, it is a comforting reminder than God, that Our Lord, is so much greater and more powerful than we could ever hope to be. While the discovery of an artifact that science can only explain through miraculously powerful light does not prove the faith of Christians, it certainly helps those who are certain in their faith. And many hope that such discoveries can help encourage those who doubt. Light evidence is not the only piece leading into mankind’s understanding of the Shroud – carbon dating, pollen grain data, limestone data, and the connection to the Sudarium of Oviedo all lend themselves to the fuller picture of our understanding of the Shroud. Nor is the Shroud the only piece of evidence in regards to the resurrection. In his powerful book, the Case for Christ, Lee Strobel walks through compelling evidence for scientific, archeological, eye-witness, psychological, and sociological evidence for the existence of Christ, His death, and resurrection.
Yet, all the powers and apologetics in the world cannot soften a heart or a world that has hardened its disposition toward Our Lord. Nor does it erase the fallible and sinful brokenness of mankind, especially those who are our leaders – both in the church and online. This Holy Week, this Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, I would encourage our readers to reflect upon the amazing work of Christ and what He did for us. The fact that He left such marvelous artifacts behind because He knew that the scientific age would be upon us in short order and man would try to utilize his own power to discredit the King.
For at least a day, let’s put down the keyboards, the in-fighting, the anger, and thank God for the marvelous light with which He has saved us all.
References
Casabianca, T. (2017). Turin Shroud, resurrection and science: One view of the cathedral. New Blackfriars, 98(1078), 709–721. https://doi.org/10.1111/nbfr.12183
Dempsey, C. J., Ministry, A. N. L., & Staff, N. (n.d.). Tennessee priest removed from public ministry as sexual misconduct claim investigated. National Catholic Reporter. https://www.ncronline.org/news/tennessee-priest-removed-public-ministry-sexual-misconduct-claim-investigated
Di Lazzaro, P., Murra, D., Nichelatti, E., Santoni, A., & Baldacchini, G. (2012). Superficial and shroud-like coloration of linen by short laser pulses in the vacuum ultraviolet. Applied Optics, 51(36), 8567. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.51.008567
Donnet, C., Granier, J., Vergé, G., Bleu, Y., Reynaud, S., & Vocanson, F. (2019). 2D reproduction of the face on the Turin shroud by infrared femtosecond pulse laser processing. Applied Optics, 58(9), 2158. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.58.002158
Jaju, B., Phiske, M., Lade, N., & Jerajani, H. (2009). Hematohidrosis – a rare clinical phenomenon. Indian Journal of Dermatology, 54(3), 290. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.55645
Jaworski, J. S. (2022). The shroud of turin research project (STURP). Digital Syndonological Lexicon. https://doi.org/10.12797/9788381388368.ii.2.2
Nichelatti, E., Di Lazzaro, P., Murra, D., & Santoni, A. (2012). (PDF) the conservation of the shroud of turin: Optical studies. CONSERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE . https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236840747_The_Conservation_of_the_Shroud_of_Turin_Optical_Studies
Shellnutt, K. (2019, February 11). Southern Baptists confront the abuse crisis they knew was coming. News & Reporting. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/february/southern-baptist-abuse-investigation-houston-chronicle-sbc.html
van der Hoeven, A. A. (2015). Cold acid postmortem blood most probably formed pinkish-red heme-madder lake on madder-dyed shroud of Turin. Open Journal of Applied Sciences, 05(11), 705–746. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojapps.2015.511070