By George “Chip” Hammond

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 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.
(John 20:1-7 ESV)

It's Easter, the day and season that Christians mark the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That story is filled with meaning. The resurrection of Jesus is presented as the basis for being able to live a new life (Romans 6:4). But the resurrection of Jesus is not presented in the Bible as a parable or a story to inspire, but as an actual historical fact. As the Bible presents it, the resurrection of Jesus can change us, not by inspiring us to do better and aspire to new heights, but by fundamentally altering us at our very core and giving us new life. Paul is clear: if Jesus did not actually rise from the dead – if he rose only “in our hearts,” or as an apparition or spirit (Luke 24:38-39) – then our faith is useless and we’re still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:16-17).

You’ve no doubt seen the story circulating on the internet in the last few weeks about the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus from John 20:1-7:

The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished. Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm finished." But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because . . . The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

 It's a moving explanation. The problem is, it’s fake good news. It’s a complete fabrication. I do not know where or when this story originated, but I’ve seen it for several years now. If we spend some time thinking about it, we can easily see that this is a fabrication.

In the first place, I can find no evidence that this is a “tradition that every Jewish boy knew.” But evidence aside, assuming that the custom is true, the setting is not a dinner table, but a limestone tomb. Even if a folded napkin in a culinary setting meant such a thing, why would anyone apply that meaning to a funerary face cloth inside a mausoleum? The custom of leaving coins at a gravesite, practiced by some people to this day, originated with the ancient Greeks. Whatever the significance of that act, no one seeing coins at a gravesite would think, “That must be a tip for good service, since that’s what it means at a restaurant.”

Secondly, while John’s account has nothing in it about dinner tables or plates, there is a reason in the historical setting and touched on in the Gospel of Matthew (of which John was aware) to see another significance in the description of the grave clothes. The most obvious “logical” explanation for an empty tomb is a grave robbery – the body was stolen. By noting this insignificant detail about the grave clothes, John at the very least casts serious doubt on grave robbery as an explanation. If the body were stolen the grave robbers would have moved fast. They would have stolen the body with the clothes. If for some inexplicable reason they had stripped the body of the grave clothes in the tomb it stretches the bounds of credulity that they would fold them neatly. Think about when you do your laundry. If you are pressed for time, do your clothes get folded neatly? They get folded neatly only when time is not a pressing factor. For thieves, time is always a pressing factor.

What’s the harm in fake news if it’s not malicious?

You might ask, “What’s the harm in this story? It doesn’t hurt anyone, doesn’t deny the resurrection, and makes it seem meaningful and powerful. What’s wrong with that?”

 The problem is, if we present moving untrue stories as true, particularly about the resurrection of Jesus because they inspire, we run the risk of encouraging people to think that the story of the resurrection itself, while presented as true, is just a story to inspire us.

The napkin story originated with someone who knew that he or she was making it up. I’ve discovered that it is not too terribly uncommon for Christian people to fabricate, promote, or propagate untruths because they think the untruth will inspire people toward the good. This is a mistake. Truth always matters, and though we can’t see the harm this “harmless story” could do, it underscores the idea that the resurrection is just a story to inspire us and encourage us to the good.

What to do with fake good news?

Particularly on social media, we can become “internet mules” to spread fake good news. This account sounds plausible (at first) and “meaningful,” and most Christian people who read it want it to be true. That’s our first test for truth. Just because you want something to be true doesn’t mean it is. Does it just appear as a story with no sources cited? Do you know where it came from, and is that source generally reliable? If the answers to these questions are no, it is best not to pass it on.

What should you do if you encounter a Christian friend posting something inspiring which you know is fake good news? Here’s where wisdom is required. Don’t engage them in the comments on their social media post. There are two reasons for this. The first is that once you publicly contradict or correct someone, pride kicks in and most people will feel the need to defend their post so as not to appear foolish. The second reason, though, is that by engaging with it in the comments you will drive its visibility in the feed up, and more people will see the fake good news without necessarily reading the comment or evaluating the validity of it.

It may be best not to engage at all if you don’t know the person well. If you do know the person, rather than engaging him or her on the social media platform, it would be better for you to contact the person in some other way, and best if you do it off the platform altogether – including its private message feature; useemail or text, or – can you imagine it? – an actual phone call or coffee date.

We don’t need fake

The resurrection of Jesus is presented to us as a real time-and-space historical event. It’s good news – in fact, it’s the best news. The death and resurrection of Jesus has the power to make us dead to sin and alive to God. That truth doesn’t need to be bolstered by fake good news.