“And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.”
and the napkin, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself — the napkin (soudarion) rolled up separately suggests deliberate arrangement by a conscious agent, not grave robbers. This detail points to Jesus' intentional, dignified departure from death. The spatial separation of head-cloth from body-cloths implies the resurrection body's independent reality, neither bound by burial clothes nor abandoned in disorder.
Church Fathers on John 20:7
The Sabbath being now over, during which it was unlawful to be there, Mary Magdalene could rest no longer, but came very early in the morning, to seek consolation at the grave: The first day of the week comes Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, to the sepulcher.
Mary Magdalene, undoubtedly the most fervent in love, of all the women that ministered to our Lord; so that John deservedly mentions her only, and says nothing of the others who were with her, as we know from the other Evangelists.
Una sabbati, i.e. one day after the sabbath.
Read all 21 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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