For those who are not familiar with the Hanky Code, one of the first codes was first published in 1969. Gay males invented a color-coded system to communicate with other gay men. A handkerchief of a given color, placed in either the right or left back pocket of his pants, was all that a gay man needed to tell other gay men what he was looking for that night. This code, expanded in subsequent years, into a complex ritual code that few gay men now fully comprehend. There are now “bear codes” with little bears and “twink codes,” as I discovered in the online Gay Encyclopedia while researching this article.
Clothes codes have existed across time and cultures for people attracted to the same gender and wanting to communicate to like-minded peoples. The late Yale historian John Boswell, in his book, Christianity, Homosexuality, and Social Tolerance, noted that there was a color and clothing code two thousand years ago in the Roman bathhouse for men attracted to the same-gender. He writes, “Colors and styles of clothing appear to have been used as symbols for availability as prostitutes and the role preferred.” [Boswell, 1980, 78]
I want to speak about Jesus’ handkerchief code. It is a bit different from the above codes but functions as a cultural ritual to communicate an encoded message to the Beloved Disciple. It plays a central role in the resurrection account in John’s Gospel.
On Good Friday, we remember that Jesus hung from his cross for at least six hours, hanging between two thieves. Darkness fell on the land at noon, which lasted until Jesus’ death. Jesus’ disciples abandoned him. The only ones that stood at the cross were his women disciples—Mary his mother, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene—as well as the Beloved Disciple. They stayed at his side, trying to offer what little comfort they could as he suffocated in excruciating pain. Jesus looks to the beloved disciple to take his place with his mother. He entrusts her care to him and her care of him.
Years ago, I wrote:
I have often witnessed the repetition of this adoption event (between the Beloved Disciple and Mary the Mother of Jesus) at the death beds of gay men dying of AIDS with their lovers and their families. It is the powerful entrusting of unfinished business in the face of death and personal tragedy. Gay lovers and mothers of deceased gay men have reenacted the narrative too many times, forming a human quilt to share their grief and a community seeking solace in the midst of tragedy. [Goss, Take Back the Word, 213]
The Beloved Disciple and the mother of Jesus created a new family of choice. LQBTQ folks have had to learn to create a culture of love and compassion in the face of tragedy. I have witnessed this at each diagnosis of cancer at the Valley Church—how people rally around in support and love to health challenges that individuals face. We intuit very naturally that God is not absent in the midst of health challenges and even death itself. We realize that God does not abandon us, as God did not abandon Jesus on the cross. We create a family much like the Beloved Disciple and Mary the Mother of Jesus.
Upon Jesus’ death Joseph of Arimathea,, one of his closeted followers, requested Jesus’ body. He and Nicodemus, another closeted disciple, prepared Jesus’ body for burial. They had been afraid to declare themselves openly for Jesus because of the social consequences. They laid Jesus out and wrapped his body with seventy-five pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes. And they placed the handkerchief around Jesus’ head. They wrapped him with a handkerchief, under his chin and over his head. This was to prevent the dead man’s mouth from falling open. Soudarion (Latin: sundarion, a loan word used in Greek) is a cloth to wipe off perspiration—an artisan’s handkerchief. It is the same word used in John’s Gospel for the burial wrapping around Jesus’ chin and head. Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus’ body in his own private burial plot in a garden. Jesus was laid to rest – no longer the charismatic prophet and wonder worker, now just a corpse.
Let’s go back years into Jesus’ past. During Jesus’ time, there was one way a carpenter let an employer know that the job was finished. It was a sort of artisan’s signature. I heard this once in a sermon from an older Jesuit priest while in college. I have never been able to confirm this fact through research, but I choose to believe it.
Jesus was a carpenter, belonging to the artisan class in Galilee. He worked with his hands to fashion wood — perhaps, farming instruments, tables, and chairs. In The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis imagines that Jesus built crosses for the Romans. There was always a ready need for crosses for the Romans to keep a lethal peace in what they considered as one of their troublesome provinces. About the time of the birth of Jesus and four miles from Nazareth, the Romans laid siege to the rebellious Jewish city of Sepphoris. The leaders of the revolt were crucified, and the 25,000 inhabitants were sold into slavery.
Let’s imagine that in his earlier years as a carpenter, Jesus was commissioned to work on a piece of furniture for a client. He works on the furniture for a couple of days in the hot Galilean summer. Upon finishing the piece of furniture, he folds a piece of cloth the size of a handkerchief (soudarian) in half and then folds it in half again. It is a signal code that he has finished the work, and the client could walk into his courtyard shop to examine the artisan’s work and recognize by the cultural handkerchief code that the work is complete.
On early Easter morning, Peter and the Beloved Disciple ran to the tomb after the report of Mary Magdalene that the stone was removed. The Beloved Disciple arrives at the tomb but waits for Peter. When Peter arrived at the tomb that Easter morning, full of sorrow and depression at his denial of Jesus, he entered the tomb and saw the burial linens. The burial clothes were flattened while the handkerchief was folded up in a place by itself. I am sure that Peter may have understood that the corpse was taken. Perhaps like Magdalene, he wondered if grave robbers stole the dead body. Or did the Romans choose to desecrate Jesus’ corpse?
But when the Beloved Disciple enters in the tomb, he sees and believes. What caused his faith and his believing? He would have dismissed the idea that grave robbers would have left the burial clothes on the floor and carried off a stiff, naked body. That would not make sense. Maybe momentarily, he gave consideration to the idea that Jesus’ spiritual body passed through the burial wrappings. That would be plausible, except the handkerchief was folded up in another place in the artisan code.
The Beloved Disciple knew Jesus well. He had heard stories of his earlier carpenter years. He read the handkerchief code left behind. The handkerchief was folded in half and folded in half once more. The Beloved Disciple realized that Jesus had left a coded message. His work was finished. Did he have a flashback to Jesus’ last words on the cross? “It is finished.” Those words did not register with him while he watched Jesus perish. He now realized that those words were a victory cry, for Jesus had finished his revelatory work. He was lifted up from the earth on the cross – drawing all people to himself.
The Beloved Disciple left the tomb encouraged with faith. He understood Jesus’ hanky code message. Neither Magdalene nor the disciples understood until Jesus appeared to them.
For centuries, Christians identified with the Beloved Disciple. They recognized that he symbolized the Christian community. This Easter can we step into the sandals of the Beloved Disciple, be with Jesus on the cross, let Jesus entrust you to care for his family and community? Can we run to the tomb and gaze on Jesus’ hanky message and proclaim that Jesus is alive and a living presence in your life and in our community?
For many, I practiced that after stripping down the altar on Holy Thursday, he altar laid bare until Easter morning. On that morning, there will be on our altar will be a hanky folded in half and then folded again. Remember that you are the Beloved Disciple entering the tomb; see the handkerchief and have faith in the risen Christ.
Happy Easter and the Blessings of the risen Christ.
