St. Thomas said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” If the Apostle Thomas required such proof, Christians need not criticize others for demanding similar proof.
At long last, we have the proof denied by the doubting Thomases. This proof is the Shroud in which the body of Jesus was wrapped, and is now preserved at Turin, Italy, in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
A recent movie called “In Search of Historic Jesus” shows the Shroud and details its proof. The Shroud bears many scourge marks from the back of the body it wrapped. It shows marks of thick, tightly compressed long hair, gathered at the back of the neck, in the unique fashion of young Jewish men of the first century.
The front of the Shroud shows the wound in the side and the prints of the nails On both wrists — not through the hands, as portrayed on most crucifixes. Nails through the palms could not have held the body on the cross, and the Roman soldiers who crucified Christ knew their business.
The thumbs are pulled tightly into the palms of the hands, in accordance with the reflex which medical science tells us would result from the nail wounds in the wrists. The knees appear severely damaged as if from repeated falls.
Close examination reveals abrasions on the shoulder which could come from carrying the cross. The nose is broken and the beautiful face is disfigured by violence.
The body shown by the Shroud is muscular and devoid of any excess weight. The body is estimated to have weighed 170 pounds and to have a height of five feet, eleven inches. The man’s age appears to be between 30 and 36 years, and the appearance is majestic.
There are eight independent puncture wounds of the scalp which could have been caused by the crowning of thorns. There is no record of any other crucifixion victim being scourged or crowned with thorns. Pilate mistakenly thought that the scourging would satisfy the blood lusts of the mob and enable him to avoid allowing a crucifixion.
Recently the murder of Julius Caesar was dramatized on television by an excellent British cast. Everyone accepts that murder as an historical fact.
The evidence of the murder of Jesus Christ is far greater than of Julius Caesar’s murder by Brutus and others. We have no modern proof of the wounds which killed Caesar. We don’t have the shroud in which Caesar was buried.
We cannot match the accounts of Caesar’s murder with his shroud, as the accounts in the four Gospels perfectly match the body marks on the Holy Shroud.
Anyone who reads any of the several books on the Shroud, or who sees the movie “In Search of Historic Jesus,” is confronted with the tangible evidence which St. Thomas sought. The Shroud provides overwhelming proof of the accuracy of the Gospels’ history of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Likewise, the Shroud gives proof of the Resurrection. The numerous experts who examined the Shroud within the last year, including all varieties of Christians,
Jews, agnostics and atheists, have concluded that the body suddenly left it with a great burst of radiation-like energy.
The Gospel of St. Matthew describes how Christ’s sepulchre was sealed with a large stone, and a watch was placed in front of it. Other Gospels describe how the heavy stone had been rolled away on Easter morning.
Mary, Mary Magdalen, Peter and John could not have overpowered the Roman guard and rolled away this heavy stone on Easter morning. The many recorded appearances of Jesus after Easter are proof that he arose and met with his apostles after his crucifixion.
There was absolutely no trace of decomposition of the body in the Shroud. If the Shroud had been unwrapped from the body, there would be tiny holes and torn threads where the blood had soaked into the cloth and then acted as a glue. But the cloth is whole, although scorched by a burst of heat. The Shroud proves the most remarkable miracle in history.
