Author: admin4ws

Vision is not a unique interest of books such as the book of Revelation, but also features in Acts 16:9-15 as Paul’s motivation to bring his ministry to Greece. In Psalm 67, Israel celebrates the praise of God by those outside its community. John 14:23-29, for its part, reinforces Jesus’ love commandment from last Sunday. It also links the commandment to the gift of Spirit and the capacity of Spirit to teach in a way that includes Jesus’ words. Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5 continues from last week John of Patmos’ vision of the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem also provides a setting for this week’s alternative Gospel (John 5:1-9).

The First Reading
Acts 16:9–15
Paul’s Call to Macedonia

Following his sharp disagreement and subsequent break with Barnabas, Paul is set back on course by a vision of a man calling him to Macedonia. Paul concludes that God has called him to preach the gospel in Macedonia, and his witness to the gentiles accordingly spreads into Greece.
—

A vision came to Paul in the night: a man from Macedonia was standing and calling to him, “Come to Macedonia and help us.” So when he saw the vision, we all immediately sought to go to Macedonia, agreeing together that God had called us to proclaim the message to them. After setting sail from Troas, we went straight to Samothrace and came upon the city of Neapolis and from there we went to Philippi, a colony which was the most prominent city of Macedonia. We remained in that city some days. Now on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate beside the river where we understood there to be place of prayer, and we sat down and were speaking to the women who gathered. A woman named Lydia of the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple cloth and a worshiper of God, was listening, and the Lord opened her heart so that she was responsive to what Paul was saying. So she and her household were immersed for cleansing. Then she pressed us, “If you have considered me to be faithful to the Lord, then come into my house and stay.” And so she persuaded us.

The Psalm
Psalm 67
The Bounty of the Earth is Evidence of God’s Blessing

The Lectionary’s choice to read this psalm together with the First Reading in Acts 16 casts it as a foundation for Paul’s call to bring his ministry to Greece. It serves this purpose insofar as it calls upon all people, including those who are not of Israel, to praise God.
—

1. God be gracious to us and bless us;
        God’s face shine upon us.
        Selah
2. So shall your way be known upon the earth,
        your saving power among all the nations.
3. The peoples shall praise you, God;
        all the peoples shall praise you.
4. The nations shall rejoice and give a joyful cry,
        for you judge the peoples equitably,
        and guide the nations upon the land.
        Selah
5. The peoples shall praise you, God;
        all the peoples shall praise you.
6. The land has yielded its produce;
        May God, our God, continue to bless us.
7. May God bless us;
        all the ends of the earth shall revere God.

The Second Reading
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Worship and the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem

The heavenly city that John of Patmos sees needs no physical temple, because the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple (Revelation 21:22). The dimensions of the new Jerusalem accommodate all the righteous, founded on stones that stand for the twelve Apostles (Revelation 21:14) and opening with gates that stand for the twelve tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:12). Here the tree of life is available and sheds its blessing (Revelation 22:2), so that what was once prohibited to humanity (Genesis 3:22-24) becomes freely accessible.
—

He bore me up in Spirit on a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven, from God…. And I saw no temple in her, because the Lord God, the All-Ruling, is her temple, and the Lamb. The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on her, since the glory of God provides her light, and her lamp is the Lamb. All the nations shall walk by her light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory to her. Her gates are not closed by day, and there will be no night there, so they will bear the glory and the honor of the nations to her. Anything unclean and anyone performing pollution and deceit shall not enter into her—only those written in the scroll of life of the Lamb.

And he showed me the river of living water, gleaming as crystal, which flows out from the Throne of God and the Lamb. In the midst of the city’s center, extending across the river, the tree of life makes twelve harvests, each yielding its own harvest, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. There shall no longer be a curse: God’s Throne and the Lamb will be in her, and his servants will attend him, and they shall see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There shall no longer be night, and they have no need of lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will provide them light, and they will rule forever.

The Gospel
John 14:23-29
The Promise of the Holy Spirit

As the community of John’s Gospel wrestled with their experience of Jesus’ death and absence, the words of the Gospel encourage faith that living in the reality that Jesus embodied makes Jesus present among them. That reality is included in Jesus’ teaching, his words, but also goes beyond them; thus the author could use both the singular “logos” (reality) and the plural “logous” (words) to convey their relationship. The idea that God is known in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—though fully developed only after the biblical period, appears here in a narrative form, as John seeks to undergird the community’s devotion to Israel’s God, its embrace of Jesus as Master, and its continuing experience of divine revelation and insight.
—

Jesus answered his student, “Anyone who loves me will embrace the reality that I embody; my Father shall love that person and we shall come and make a home with that person. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. Yet the reality that you see me embody is not mine alone, but also my Father’s, who sent me. I have spoken these things to you while with you: the Father will send the advocate in my name—the holy Spirit—who will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I said to you. Peace I leave you, my peace I give you: not as the world gives do I give to you. Your heart shall not be troubled nor afraid. You heard that I said to you, ‘I depart, and come to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice because I make way to the Father, since the Father is greater than I. Now I have spoken to you before it happens, so that when it happens you can believe.”

or John 5:1-9
The Healing of a Person Unable to Walk

In John’s Gospel, the presence of a timeless reality embodied by Jesus renders history and sequence secondary. Throughout his ministry, Jesus moves seamlessly between an earthly present and a transcendent reality. So at this unnamed festival time in Jerusalem, the healing of the nations that is promised for the age to come becomes real in the life of one man.
—

After this there was a feast of the Judeans and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate, at a reservoir having five porticos—called in Aramaic Bethzatha—lay masses of those who were ill, blind, unable to walk, paralyzed. One man there had been ill for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him lying and knew that he had been there a very long time. He said to him, “Do you want to become healthy?” The ill man answered him, “Master, I have no one to put me in the reservoir while the water is churning; so when I finally get there, another has gotten in before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take your stuff, and walk.” And at once the man became healthy and took his stuff and walked.

John emphasizes Jesus’ eternal “glory”—his incorporation within the majesty of God. Jesus’ identification with God is so complete that even his coming death and departure is seen as glorification (John 13:31-35). The sign of that process on earth is the love he commands his followers to have for one another. The reading from Acts marks the momentous insight of Peter, guided by the Spirit, that even those outside the traditional definition of the people of God were to be included in the circle of Jesus’ followers. The cosmic range of God’s action, celebrated in Psalm 148, is to be imitated by the church, seen in a vision by John of Patmos as the “new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:1-6).

The First Reading
Acts 11:1-18
A Report by Rock—Peter—to the Believers in Jerusalem

After the immersion of Cornelius and his household, Rock—Peter—returns to Jerusalem and reports his experience to the Apostles and the rest of the believers. Rock’s experiences of his visions of God’s declaration of cleanliness and of the holy Spirit’s coming upon Cornelius and his household lead him to the astonishing conclusion that God was now including gentiles within the community of Jesus’ followers and granting them repentance.
—

The Apostles and the kindred followers who were in Judea heard that the gentiles also received the message of God. So when Rock—Peter—came up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision group criticized him, “You went among uncircumcised people and ate with them!” So Rock began to explain to them the sequence of events: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great linen cloth was coming down, being dropped down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. As I was looking at it, I saw four-footed animals, beasts, reptiles, and birds of the sky. I even heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise up, Rock; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing base or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ Then the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has declared clean, don’t you go on treating as base.’”

“This happened three times, then everything was drawn up again into heaven. Just then, three men arrived at the house where we were, having been sent to me from Caesarea. The Spirit said to me, ‘Don’t judge! Go with them!’ So, they went with me, as well as these six brothers, and we entered into the man’s house. He declared to us how he saw an angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Rock; he will proclaim a message to you by which you will be saved, you and your whole household.’ Then as I began to speak, the holy Spirit came upon them just as upon us in the beginning. I was reminded of the Master’s word, how he said, ‘John immersed in water, but you will be immersed in the holy Spirit.’ Therefore, if God gave the same gift to them as to us who believe in the Anointed Master Jesus, who am I to stand against God?” Now after hearing these things, they stopped criticizing and began to glorify God: “Then to the gentiles as well has God granted repentance resulting in eternal life!”

The Psalm
Psalm 148
All Creation Must Praise God, Lord of All Creation

The entire range of God’s cosmic creation owes God praise. This creation is what Peter saw in his vision of the great cloth that dropped down from heaven by its four corners and revealed four-footed animals, beasts, reptiles, and birds of the sky. The suggestion is that the church must imitate the praise called for in this psalm. Such praise leads God to empower his people, which the psalm expresses with the metaphor of their “horn” being exalted.
—

1. Praise Yah!
   Praise the Lord from the heavens;
   praise God in the heights.
2. Praise God, all God’s messengers;
        praise God, all divine armies.
3. Praise God, sun and moon;
        praise God, all the stars of morning light.
4. Praise God, you highest heavens,
        and you waters that are above the heavens.
5. Let them praise the Lord’s name,
        for God commanded and they were created.
6. God established them for eternity;
        God set their boundaries, which no one can violate.
7. Praise God from the earth:
        the sea monsters and all the ocean depths,
8.      fire and hail, snow and storm clouds,
        the raging wind fulfilling God’s will
9. The mountains and all the hills,
        fruit trees and all cedars.
10. Wild animals and all beasts,
         creeping things and winged birds.
11. Kings of the earth and all peoples,
         princes and all the land’s rulers.
12. Young men and also young women,
         the old along with the youth—
13. Let them praise the Lord’s name,
         for God’s name alone is exalted.
    God’s majesty is upon the earth and heaven!
14. God has raised a horn for God’s people;
         praise for all these faithful,
         for the people of Israel, the people who are close to God.
         Praise Yah!

The Second Reading
Revelation 21:1-6
Vision of a New Heaven and New Earth

John of Patmos sees a new heaven and new earth (in language inspired by Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22), which host the advent of a new Jerusalem. The city is adorned as a bride, and accommodates the people of God and offers the spring of the water of life (verse 6, also referenced in John 4:14), and even—in fulfillment of the promise in Revelation 2:6—the tree of life (22:2), because this is the place of God’s servants alone.
—

I saw new heaven and new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had departed, and the sea was no more. And the holy city, new Jerusalem, I saw descending out of heaven, from God, prepared and adorned as a bride for her husband. I heard a great voice from the Throne:

“Look, the dwelling of God is with humanity,
and he will shelter with them,
and they will be his people—
and God himself will be their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
and there shall no longer be death or mourning
or outcry or pain, because the former things have departed.”

The one who sits upon the Throne said, “Look, I will make everything new.” He said:

“Write, because these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me:

“It has happened. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To one who thirsts, I will freely grant the fountain of the water of life.”

The Gospel
John 13:31-35
Jesus Commands to Love in his Absence

The community of John’s Gospel presents Jesus’ death and departure as a glorification. To prepare for Jesus’ absence from the committed disciples and the later community of John’s Gospel, he encourages them to continue acting as witnesses by loving one another. In this way, they can continue to experience Jesus’ presence in the community.
—

When he went outside, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. God will glorify him in himself, and will at once glorify him. Children, yet a little while I am with you: you will seek me, and just as I told the Judeans—‘Where I depart you are not able to come’—I tell you also now. A new command I give you, that you love one another: just as I loved you, you love one another. By this all shall know that you are my committed students, if you have love amongst yourselves.”

John’s Gospel has been known since the second century as “the spiritual Gospel.” One of the features that earns it that reputation is that John weaves the insights that stem from Jesus’ resurrection into the narrative account of Jesus’ activity, even before the Crucifixion. In this case, John 10:22-30 addresses the issue of the “sheep” of Jesus, the same group he expressed concern for last Sunday in the context of a Resurrection appearance. Their identity as gathered around the Lamb is portrayed in visionary terms in Revelation 7:9-17. That perspective gives new meaning to Psalm 23, which the Lectionary appoints for today. Last Sunday’s readings also introduce the focus on Peter in today’s reading—Acts 9:36-43—where he takes up a ministry of healing comparable to that of Jesus.

The First Reading
Acts 9:36–43
Continued Witness by Rock—Peter—through the Ministry of Healing

As the witness to Jesus continues in the book of Acts, Rock—Peter—is called upon to help after the death of a committed student, named Tabitha. Parallel to Jesus’ healing ministry (Mark 5:35-43), Rock prays over Tabitha, and she returns to life. As the news of Tabitha’s healing spreads, many throughout the region of Joppa believe in the Lord.
—

In Joppa, there was a committed student named Tabitha, which when translated is Dorcas (“gazelle”). She was known for good works and charity to the poor. In those days she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Now since Lydda was near Joppa, when the students heard that Rock—Peter—was there, they sent two men to him, urging him, “Do not hesitate to come to us.” So Rock rose up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him into the upper room, and all the widows stood by him, crying and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas was making when she was with them. Then Rock pushed them all out. He went down on his knees and prayed while turning to the body; he said, “Tabitha, arise.” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Rock, she sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the holy community along with the widows, he presented her alive. It then became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And so, he stayed some days with a certain Simon, a tanner.

The Psalm
Psalm 23
God Protects Us as a Shepherd in Dark Times

Psalm 23 portrays God as a shepherd who protects the flock even in the darkest times. The image of God as shepherd connects this passage to the reading from John, which is today’s Gospel, in which Jesus refers to his followers as sheep to whom, because they hear his voice, he gives eternal life. This psalm’s reference to the fearlessness of the psalmist, even when traversing “a valley as dark as death,” hints at the idea of escape from death.
—

1. A song of David.
        The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2. God lies me down in grassy meadows;
        to still watering places, God guides me.
3. God refreshes my soul.
        God directs me in the ways of righteousness,
        for the sake of God’s name.
4. Even when I walk in a valley as dark as death,
        I fear no evil,
        for you are with me.
        Your rod and your staff comfort me.
5. You prepare before me a table in the presence of my enemies.
        You have anointed my head with oil.
        My cup overflows.
6. Yes! Goodness and kindness will pursue me,
        all the days of my life.
   And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
        for the length of my days.

The Second Reading
Revelation 7:9-17
Vision of Those Who Are Saved

In the sequence of the visions of John of Patmos, four angels are commanded to prevent all harm to God’s servants who are marked with a seal. The number of those sealed comes to 144,000:12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:4-8). A numberless host from the nations now supplements the 144,000, all of whom shout out with the heavenly court to praise the one seated on the Throne as well as the Lamb. Clothed in white robes, they are drawn close to the Throne and its shelter, having purified themselves in the blood of the Lamb.
—

After this I saw, and look—a massive throng that no one could number, from every nation: clans, peoples, and tongues. They stood before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands. And they cried in a great voice:

“Redemption belongs to our God,
to the one seated upon the Throne
and to the Lamb.”

All the messengers stood around the Throne, as well as the elders and the four living animals, and they prostrated before the Throne and worshipped God:

“Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power
and strength belong to our God forever. Amen.”

One of the elders asked me, “Who are those clothed in white robes, and where do they come from?” I answer him, “My Master, you know.” He said:

“They come from the great tribulation;
they washed their robes
and whitened them in the blood of the Lamb.
For this reason they are before God’s Throne
and attend him day and night in his temple.
And the one who sits upon the Throne will shelter over them;
they will neither hunger nor thirst,
neither sun nor any burning will fall on them,
because the Lamb in the midst of the Throne
will shepherd them and guide them
to fountains of living water.
God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”

The Gospel
John 10:22-30
Jesus in Jerusalem at Hanukkah

The Renewal Feast—Hanukkah—in Jerusalem celebrated the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple after its defilement by foreign forces in the period of the Maccabees (164 BCE). John’s Gospel makes this celebration the occasion for a dispute between Jesus and other Jews. In this case, local Judeans question his status as the Anointed. Jesus answers, speaking of who truly is part of the flock that God is gathering out of the world. In the mysterious claim of being one with “the Father,” Jesus proclaims himself a renewed and restored temple, the place where people encounter God. Written after the year 70 CE, at a time when the Jerusalem Temple again lay in ruins so that no one could realistically seek God there, the Gospel undergirds the faith of an early Jesus community.
—

Then came the Renewal Feast in Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the Temple in the portico of Solomon. The Judeans circled him and said to him, “How long will you distress our soul? If you are the Anointed, tell us in public.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe! The deeds that I do in the name of my Father, they bear witness concerning me, but you do not believe, because you are not from my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me; I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will take them from my hand. My Father gave them to me; he is greater than all and no one is able to take from the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Although John’s Gospel appeared to reach its climax last Sunday when, in Jerusalem, the risen Jesus praised the faith that requires no physical proof, an entire chapter follows that is dedicated to Jesus’ manifesting himself by the Sea of Galilee. Peter appears at the center of interest within the lection (John 21:1-19), so that he can be restored as a representative of Jesus after he had denied his association with Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion. As Peter’s denial occurred three times, so Jesus presses Peter three times as he gives him the care of his flock. The setting of a meal and a miraculous catch of fish alludes to the Eucharistic context in which the account finds its natural place. The reading from Acts recounts Paul’s first encounter with Jesus in a manner that presents the Resurrection along the lines of a call of a prophet, while Revelation 5:11-14 presents the living Jesus in an unmistakably visionary and prophetic way.

The First Reading
Acts 9:1–6 [7-20]
Saul’s Vision of the Risen Jesus

While traveling to Damascus to persecute those in the community known as the Way of Jesus by arresting some of the them, Saul has a vision. In a flash of light, he hears the voice of Jesus confronting him for his efforts at persecution. The appearance of Jesus leaves Saul blind and in need of assistance. Then in a vision Jesus directs Ananias, one of his committed students, to lay hands on Saul to return his sight. The regaining of his physical sight parallels Saul’s new insight and call—with his name significantly changed to Paul—as God’s instrument to proclaim the name of Jesus.
—

Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the committed students of the Lord, went to the High Priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus for the purpose that, if he found anyone belonging to the Way, men and even women, he could tie them up and lead them to Jerusalem. Now as he was going, he came near to Damascus, and suddenly a light flashed around him from heaven. As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you chasing me down?” So he asked, “Master, who are you?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are chasing. Even so, get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

[The men traveling with Saul stood speechless, because they heard something but saw no one. Saul rose up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he saw nothing. So, they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he couldn’t see, and he neither ate nor drank. Now, there was a certain committed student in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.” He said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and in the house of Judas look for a man named Saul from Tarsus. He is praying, and he envisions a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so that he will see again.” But Ananias said, “Lord, I heard from many about this man, about how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. Even here, he has authority from the high priests to arrest all of those who call upon your name.” Still, the Lord said to him, “Go. This man is a chosen instrument for my purpose to carry my name before both nations and kings and the people of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” So Ananias left and went into the house. He laid hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me so that you can see again and be filled with the holy Spirit. Then immediately something like scales fell from his eyes. He both regained his sight and arose to be immersed for cleansing; then, taking food, he was strengthened. He then stayed some days with the committed students in Damascus and immediately was proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”]

The Psalm
Psalm 30
A Psalm of Thanks for Healing

The theme of God’s healing and having metaphorically lifted the psalmist from the grave accounts for its relevance and expressive power in describing the context of divine salvation that explains Jesus’ own resurrection.
—

1. I will exalt you, Lord, for you have drawn me up
        and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
2. Lord, my God, I cried out to you and you healed me.
3. Lord, you lifted me from the grave;
        you kept me in life, away from those who go down to the Pit.
4. Praise the Lord in song, God’s faithful;
        give thanks to God’s holy name.
5. For God’s anger lasts but a moment,
        while God’s favor lasts a lifetime.
   Crying endures only a night,
        but joy appears with the morning.
6. As for me, I said with confidence, “I shall never be shaken.”
7. Lord, in accordance with your will,
        you established me as a strong mountain.
   You hid your face!
        I was disquieted!
8. To you, Lord, I called out.
        From my Lord I sought favor.
9. What profit is there in my blood,
        in my descent into the Pit?
   Will the dust thank you?
        Will it tell of your truth?
10. Hear, Lord, and be compassionate with me!
         Lord! Be my help!
11. You turned my wailing into jubilant dance;
         you removed my sackcloth and clothed me in joy.
12. So that my heart might sing your praises and not be silent,
         Lord, my God, I shall thank you forever.

The Second Reading
Revelation 5:11-14
A Vision of the Lamb and God’s Throne

The context of this passage is John’s vision of a book at the right hand of God, sealed up with seven seals (Revelation 5:1-5). An elder by the Throne assures John of Patmos that the lion of the tribe of Judah has triumphed, so that he is able to open the seals. The “lion” of whom the elder speaks, however, appears in the midst of the Throne as a Lamb, which seems to have been slain. The living creatures and elders take up a song in his praise (5:6-10). He is worthy to open the seals because he has been slain and has presented a people to God. The song dedicated to the Lamb echoes throughout heaven and earth.
—

I saw, and I heard—the sound
of many divine messengers around the Throne
and the living animals and the elders.
And their number reached myriads upon myriads, thousands upon thousands; they said in a thunderous voice:
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
to take power and wealth and wisdom
and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
Every single creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, indeed all that is in them—these I heard saying:
To the one who is seated upon the Throne and to the Lamb
belong blessing and honor and glory and power forever.
And the four living animals said, “Amen,” and the elders bowed low and worshipped.

The Gospel
John 21:1-19
Jesus Appears by the Sea of Tiberias

John’s Gospel carries the story beyond the Resurrection in a scene that alludes richly to both Christ’s presence in the Eucharist and the church’s mission to become a community of faith and mutual care. The three denials by Rock—Peter—about even knowing Jesus find their counterpart in three affirmations of love and loyalty. The risen Master elicits these affirmations through probing questions, leading to the mandate that Peter care for those gathered in Jesus’ name, as God’s flock.
—

Later Jesus revealed himself again to the committed students by the Sea of Tiberias, and he appeared in this way: Simon Rock—Peter—and Thomas called Twin and Nathaniel from Cana of Galilee and the Zebedees and two others of his students were together. Simon Rock said to them, “I am going to fish.” They said to him, “We are going along with you.” They went out and got on board the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But by this time, as it became early, Jesus stood by the shore, although the students did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, “Children, don’t you have any food?” They answered him, “No.” But he said to them, “Throw the net to the right of the boat, and you will find fish.” So they threw it, and because of the quantity of fish caught they weren’t strong enough to haul the net by hand. So, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Rock, “It is the Master.” Simon Rock, hearing that it was the Master, then tied his overgarment around himself, because he was naked, and threw himself into the sea. The other students came in the boat, because they were not far from the land—only about a hundred yards—dragging the net of fish. When they got off on the land they saw a charcoal fire set and fish arranged and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring in from the fish you now caught.” So Simon Rock went up and hauled the net onto the land full of big fish—153—and although there were so many the net did not split. Jesus said to them, “Come on, eat breakfast.” But none of the students dared to confirm with him—“Who are you?”—knowing that he was the Master. Jesus came and took the bread and gave to them, and then gave the fish in the same way. This was already the third time Jesus was revealed to the students, raised from the dead. When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Rock, “Simon of John, do you love me more than anyone?” He said to him, “Yes, Master: you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Herd my lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Master: you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Shepherd my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon of John, do you love me?” Rock was grieved that he had said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Master, you know everything: you recognize that I love you.”  He said to him, “Herd my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were a youth, you tied your own clothes and walked where you wished, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hand and another will tie you and carry you where you do not wish.” Saying this he signaled the sort of death by which he would glorify God. With that he said to him, “Follow me.”

The promise within John’s Gospel to Mary Magdalene on Easter Day was for further contact with Jesus, and the Gospel reading selected for this Sunday—John 20:19-31—fulfills that promise. Becoming present in a room with locked doors, Jesus breathes into his closest students, giving them Spirit so that they might engage in a dedicated practice of forgiving sin. The famous incident with Thomas is widely misinterpreted, probably as a result of Renaissance art that depicts Thomas touching Jesus’ wounds. In the account itself, however, Jesus’ presence is enough to make Thomas believe. Jesus then insists that the point of his being raised from the dead is to demonstrate that belief comes from insight, rather than from physical contact or even seeing. The psalms of the day—118:14-29 and 150—present faith in its strong relationship to the praise of God, while Acts 5:27–32 portrays praise as an irresistible impulse, even under duress, as a result of the Spirit’s support. During the season of Easter, readings from Acts regularly take the place usually occupied by the Scriptures of Israel. In today’s readings and on several occasions during Easter, a reading from the Apocalypse (Revelation 1:4-8) takes the place of the Epistle, in this case because it is written as a letter from Jesus, “firstborn of the dead.”

The First Reading
Acts 5:27–32
The Apostles’ Appearance Before the Supreme Council of the Judeans

In this reading from the book of Acts, the theme of witnessing to God’s raising and exaltation of Jesus continues with Rock—Peter—and the Apostles’ obedience before the Supreme Council (the Sanhedrin) of the Judeans. Empowered by the Spirit, their witness encourages obedience to the God of Israel who exalted Jesus for the people of Israel.
—

When they brought the Apostles, they stood them before the Supreme Council of the Judeans. The High Priest interrogated them: “We gave you a direct order not to teach in this name, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, intending to make us guilty for this man’s blood.” In response Rock—Peter—and the Apostles said, “It is necessary to obey God rather than people. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. This man God exalted to God’s own right hand as sovereign and savior to give to Israel repentance and release from sins. We are witnesses to these things, as also is the holy Spirit, which God gave to those who obey.”

The Psalm
Psalm 118:14-29
Thanksgiving for Victory Brought About by God

This psalm of victory perhaps originally celebrated the Israelites’ return from the Babylonian exile. It is rich in allusions that are given new meaning by the Easter season: “I did not die but live” (verse 17); “The rock the builders rejected” (verse 22); and, overall, that of the Lord’s gate through which the righteous will enter (verse 20). The “horns of the altar” (verse 27) refers to horn-like projections at each corner of the Jerusalem Temple’s sacrificial altar. This feature of the altar is as required in the altar’s construction in Exodus 27:2.
—

14. Yah is my strength and my rescue;
         God has become my victory.
15. A sound of joy and victory is in the tents of the righteous!
         The right arm of the Lord performed mighty acts;
16. The right arm of God is exalted;
         The right arm of the Lord performed mighty acts.
17. I did not die but live,
         and I will recount the acts of Yah!
18. Yah has certainly chastened me,
         but God did not hand me over to death.
19. Open for me the gates of the righteous;
         I shall enter them giving thanks to Yah.
20. This is the Lord’s gate;
         only the righteous shall enter it.
21. I thank you, for you have answered me;
         you have become my victory
22. The rock the builders rejected has become the cornerstone!
23. This is from the Lord;
         it is extraordinary in our eyes.
24. This is the day the Lord brought about;
         let us rejoice and celebrate on it.
25. Please, Lord, rescue us!
         Please, Lord, cause us to prosper!
26. May all who enter be blessed in the name of the Lord!
         We bless you all from the house of the Lord.
27. The Lord is God and gives us light;
         tie up the festival offering with cords;
         bring it to the horns of the altar!
28. You are my God, and I shall thank you;
         my God, and I shall exalt you.
29. Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good:
         God’s steadfast love is eternal!

or Psalm 150
The Lord Deserves Our Praise

The book of Psalms ends with this declaration of God’s mighty deeds for which we owe praise and thanksgiving.
—

1. Praise Yah!
        Praise God in God’s sanctuary;
        praise God in the firmament of God’s strength.
2. Praise God for God’s mighty deeds;
        praise God in harmony with God’s abundant greatness.
3. Praise God with a blast of the trumpet;
        praise God with lute and lyre.
4. Praise God with timbrel and joyous dance;
        praise God with strings and flute.
5. Praise God with loud cymbals;
        praise God with a crash of cymbals.
6. Let all that breathe praise Yah!
        Praise Yah!

The Second Reading
Revelation 1:4-8
Jesus the “Firstborn of the Dead and Ruler of the Kings of the Earth”

In this reading, John of Patmos, speaking as a prophet, formally addresses seven assemblies (or churches), explaining that he speaks on behalf of God enthroned in heaven, before whom seven spirits dwell (Zechariah 3:1-9). Paired with God, Jesus appears as firstborn of the dead, as well as the faithful witness who releases people from their sins and makes them a kingdom and priests to God. His coming in judgement is fearful (compare Daniel 7:13 and Zechariah 12:10-11), accounting for the urgency of the message. God himself speaks at the close; he is is the Alpha and Omega, who was, is, and is to come (Isaiah 41:4; 44:6).

The Gospel
John 20:19-31
The Committed Students See Their Risen Master

The Gospel of John underscores the power of its own witness to bring people to belief in Jesus and to the life that he offers. Those who first see their risen Master on Easter evening recognize him by his wounds. Thomas seeks the same evidence, but—like Mary Magdalene—recognizes Jesus in the personal encounter of being known by him. Then the Gospel draws its hearers into the story by having Jesus call them “favored,” favored with belief even when we have not seen him.
—

When it was evening on that first day after Sabbath and the doors were shut where the committed students were on account of their fear of the “Judeans,” Jesus came. He stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace to you.” Having said this, he showed them his hands and side. Then the students rejoiced, having seen the Master. Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you: just as the Father delegated me, I also send you.” Having said this he breathed into them and said, “Take holy Spirit: whose sins you release are released for them; whose sins you hold are held against them.” 

Yet Thomas, one from the Twelve called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. Then the other students were saying to him, “We have seen the Master.” But he said, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and thrust my finger in the mark of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I shall not believe.” After eight days Jesus’ students were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came while the doors were shut and stood in their midst and said, “Peace to you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take your hand and thrust it into my side. Do not be faithless, but faithful.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Master and my God.” Jesus said, “Because you saw me, you have believed? Those are favored who have not seen, and believe.” Then Jesus did many other signs before the students that are not written in this scroll, but these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Anointed, the Son of God, and so that, believing, you might have life in his name.

For Easter evening, the Lectionary appoints the unique account in Luke’s Gospel of how Jesus joined in an evening meal with Cleopas and an unnamed companion. Jesus’ opening of the meal in the inn is strongly reminiscent of what he did in his Last Supper, so that the celebration of the Eucharist emerges as an occasion for recognizing his risen presence. Yet the emphasis of the account falls even more strongly on the interpretation of Scripture: how Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms map Jesus’ trajectory as the Anointed of God. It is fitting, then, that the evening’s reading from the book of Isaiah voices an early prophetic hope of resurrection. The Resurrection is seen reflected even in the Passover through the reading of Psalm 114 in the light of Jesus’ presence (1 Corinthians 5:6b-8).

The First Reading
Isaiah 25:6-9
God’s Promises Are Universal

The earliest prophecies in the book of Isaiah were composed during the eighth century BCE and underwent several expansions, owing to its wide usage. The last part of the book of Isaiah as it stands (chapters 56-66) reflects a period of keen anticipation of God’s inclusion of all peoples within a newly restored Temple: a restoration that occurred towards the end of the sixth century BCE. This passage from chapter 25 reflects the same period, the same prophetic assurance, and an emerging interpretation that the promises of God are universal.
—

6. The Lord of angelic armies will make for all peoples on this mountain
        a feast of fat animals, a feast of good wine—
        fat animals full of marrow and refined good wine.
7. He will swallow up on this mountain
        the cover that covers all peoples
        and the veil that veils all nations.
8. He shall swallow up death forever
        and the masterful Lord will wipe away tears from the all faces,
        and the reproach of his people he will remove from the earth,
   because the Lord has spoken.

The Psalm
Psalm 114
In the Exodus and Conquest of the Land, Nature Recognized God’s Power

Psalm 114 reflects on God’s divine power and the victories it facilitates in times of the greatest need, such as during the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. In this reading, this past victory connects to the one celebrated today, when God, in the body of Jesus, conquers even death.
a people of foreign tongue,

1. When the people of Israel left Egypt,
        the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2. the territory of Judah became God’s sanctuary;
        the territory of Israel, God’s realm.
3. The sea saw and fled;
        the Jordan River reversed course.
4. The mountains skipped like rams;
        the hills, like sheep.
5. Why is it, sea, that you fled?
        Jordan, that you reversed course?
6. Mountains, that you skipped like rams?
        Hills, like sheep?
7. Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
        at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8. who turned the rock into a pool of water,
        flint into a fountain of water.

The Second Reading
1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
Jesus as Paschal Lamb

Jesus died near the time of Passover, so that early believers came to call the celebration of his being raised from the dead their Pascha (the Aramaic term for “Passover”). Because Paul was dedicated to the view that believers should look to the Anointed as the example of their own resurrection (as in this morning’s reading from 1 Corinthians), he here lingers on the comparison of Jesus’ offering to the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb, and relates the removal of yeast from Israelite households at Passover to the purging of immorality from the communities in Corinth.
—

Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Cleanse out the old yeast, in order that you can be new dough, just as you are unleavened: because the Anointed, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us.

The Gospel
Luke 24:13-49
The Risen Jesus Appears Near Emmaus

On Easter afternoon and evening, as the Gospel according to Luke tells it, those who mourned Jesus as dead experienced his living presence in various ways. In an inspiring encounter, two of them found meaning in their tragic experience through a reading of biblical Israel’s Prophets interpreted by Jesus himself. They went on to recognize Jesus in the new meal shared by a community of his followers. Others believed a report from Simon, and all became witnesses of his resurrected body in their gathering. Their testimony carried forward insights into Israel’s Scriptures that sprang from the story of Jesus’ life and death, becoming a divine commission to preach repentance for the release of sins.
—

And look: two of them on the same day [the day the tomb had been found empty] went to a village lying seven and a half miles from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. They were conversing with one another concerning all the things that had transpired. It happened while they conversed and argued that Jesus himself approached to go with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. He said to them, “What are these things that you are tossing around at one another as you walk?” And they stood, heartsick. One—Cleopas by name—answered him, “Are you the only person in all Jerusalem who doesn’t know what happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What sort of things?” But they said to him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazirite, who was a man of prophecy, powerful in deed and in word before God and all the people: how our high priests and leaders handed him to a sentence of death—and crucified him. We had hoped that he was about to redeem Israel, but at all events, this is the third day since these things happened. Some women from our group also stunned us: having been at the tomb in the morning, and not finding his body, they came to tell us they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he lives. And some of those with us went away to the tomb, and found it so, just as the women had said, and they did not see him either.” He said to them, “How dense! So slow to believe in all that the prophets spoke. Wasn’t it necessary for the Anointed to suffer, and enter into his glory?” And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them by all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.And they neared the village where they were going, and he made as if to travel on. But they prevailed on him, saying, “Stay with us, because it is toward evening and the day has already declined.” And he went in to stay with them. And it happened, when he reclined with them, that he took the bread, blessed, broke, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened up, and they recognized him—and he vanished from them. They said to one another, “Wasn’t something kindled in us when he was speaking to us on the way, as he opened up the Scriptures to us?” They arose in the same hour and returned to Jerusalem. They found assembled the Eleven and those with them, who said, “The Master has in fact been raised, and was seen by Simon.” So they explained the things that happened on the way and how he had become known to them in the breaking of the bread.

While they were speaking of these things, he himself stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace to you.” Shocked and frightened, they thought they perceived a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you shaken, and for what reason are you confused? See my hands and my feet, that I am myself. Take hold of me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bone, which you see I have.” In their joy and amazement they could not believe it, so he said to them, “Do you have anything to eat here?” They gave him a portion of cooked fish. He took and ate in front of them.

Then he said to them, “These were my words that I spoke to you when I was still with you: that it was necessary for everything written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me to be fulfilled.” Then he opened up their mind to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “So it was written, for the Anointed to suffer and to arise from the dead on the third day, and for repentance for release of sins in his name to be proclaimed to all the nations—beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look: I confer the promise of my Father upon you, yet remain in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus’ victory over the grave is remembered every Sunday during the year; that is why worship occurs on that day. The weeks between Easter and Pentecost mark an entire season to recollect and reflect upon resurrection within the calendar of Christianity. The readings of each week articulate specific ways of understanding how Jesus was raised from the dead, and to varying degrees they also relate his resurrection to how each believer can anticipate eternal life with God.

Easter Day itself, then, does not stand alone as a festival. It is the primary celebration of the year, but it functions as the entry into pondering and experiencing Jesus’ resurrection. For that reason, the early-morning visit to Jesus’ tomb is the focus of the day. In all the accounts in the Gospels, despite significant differences from one to another, the purpose of the narrative is to point Jesus’ followers from the place of burial and towards where he will be experienced as alive. Encounters with Jesus are promised in John 20:1-18, and the reality of those encounters features centrally in Acts’ record of the earliest preaching in Jesus’ name. The expectation that God can and will effect unanticipated redemption forms one basis of hope in the Resurrection, which the Scriptures of Israel support in existential (Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24) as well as collective and cosmic terms (Isaiah 65:17-25).

The First Reading
Acts 10:34-43
The Power of the Gospel for All Who Believe

The book of Acts portrays how the earliest preaching bore witness to Jesus’ resurrection and proclaimed the cleansing of sins for all people who believe. In recounting the message of God’s anointing of Jesus, Rock—Peter—begins with John’s immersion of repentance for the cleansing of sins, continues through Jesus’ ministry of healing and doing good, and culminates in the appearance of Jesus to the witnesses after his death. In that testimony, Rock realizes that, in Jesus, God has sent word to the people of Israel that God accepts all people. 
—

Rock—Peter—opened his mouth and said, “In truth, I understand that God is not one who shows favoritism, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does righteousness is acceptable to him. In reference to the message that he sent to the people of Israel proclaiming peace through the Anointed Jesus—this one is Lord of all: you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the immersion of repentance for cleansing of sins  proclaimed by John. You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power—who then went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him. So we are witnesses of all that he did in the region of the Judeans and in Jerusalem. The one they killed by hanging him on a tree—this one God raised on the third day and caused to appear, not to all the people, but to witnesses who had been chosen beforehand by God, to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. He commanded us to proclaim to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness: all who believe in him receive cleansing from sins through his name.

or Isaiah 65:17-25
God’s Creation of an Ideal World

The book of Isaiah envisions a new and perfect world, in which there is no longer suffering and distress. In this world people experience long life and plenty. The book of Isaiah, however, notably envisions neither resurrection of the dead nor the eternal life of those now born.
—

17. For now I am creating a new heaven and a new earth
         —those originally created will not be remembered
         nor come to mind.
18. Even so, rejoice and be glad forever that I create,
         because now I am creating Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a delight.
19. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people.
         Neither the sound of weeping nor a cry of distress will be heard there again.
20. Never again will a suckling baby there live just a few days,
         or an old person not live out the fullness of days.
         For one who dies at a hundred will be thought of as a youth,
         and one who falls short of a hundred years will be considered cursed.
21. They will build houses and dwell in them,
         and plant vineyards and consume their fruit.
22. They will not build and another inhabit.
         They will not plant and another eat.
         For the days of my people will be like the days of a tree,
         and the work of their hands my chosen ones shall fully enjoy.
23. They will not labor in vain and not give birth to alarm.
         For they are offspring blessed by the Lord,
         their descendants along with them.
24. Even before they call out, I will answer.
         While they are yet talking, I will heed.

The Psalm
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-29
Thanksgiving for the Victory Brought About by God

This psalm of victory perhaps originally celebrated the Israelites’ return from the Babylonian Exile. Though it does not in its Israelite context reflect an ideology of resurrection or eternal life, the psalmist’s declaration that “God did not hand me over to death” connects the passage perfectly to the central theme of the Easter season. Verses 14-19 use a two-letter (in Hebrew), shortened, poetic form of the four-letter name of God usually translated “Lord.” This usage is familiar from the declaration of praise, Hallelu-Yah. The “horns of the altar” (verse 27) refers to horn-like projections at each corner of the Jerusalem Temple’s sacrificial altar. This feature of the altar is as required in the altar’s construction in Exodus 27:2.
—

1. Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good:
        God’s steadfast love is eternal!
2. Speak out, Israel!
        God’s steadfast love is eternal!

14. Yah is my strength and my rescue;
         God has become my victory.
15. A sound of joy and victory is in the tents of the righteous!
         The right arm of the Lord performed mighty acts;
16. The right arm of God is exalted;
         The right arm of the Lord performed mighty acts.
17. I did not die but live,
         and I will recount the acts of Yah!
18. Yah has certainly chastened me,
         but God did not hand me over to death.
19. Open for me the gates of the righteous;
         I shall enter them giving thanks to Yah.
20. This is the Lord’s gate;
         only the righteous shall enter it.
21. I thank you, for you have answered me;
         you have become my victory.
22. The rock the builders rejected has become the cornerstone!
23. This is from the Lord;
         it is extraordinary in our eyes.
24. This is the day the Lord brought about;
         let us rejoice and celebrate on it.
25. Please, Lord, rescue us!
         Please, Lord, cause us to prosper!
26. May all who enter be blessed in the name of the Lord!
         We bless you all from the house of the Lord.
27. The Lord is God and gives us light;
         tie up the festival offering with cords;
         bring it to the horns of the altar!
28. You are my God, and I shall thank you;
         my God, and I shall exalt you.
29. Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good:
         God’s steadfast love is eternal!

The Second Reading
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Jesus’ Resurrection as the Promise of Cosmic Victory

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is part of an extensive correspondence with communities of believers in Corinth, written between 55 and 56 CE. In it Paul responds to specific questions and challenges they had conveyed to him. Jesus’ resurrection, and its relationship to the resurrection of believers, was one of the central issues. Paul devotes an entire chapter to how Jesus was raised from the dead, both quoting the earliest sources he knows and setting out his own views. In this passage, Paul expresses his theology of how Jesus corresponds to Adam: just as people follow Adam in death, the way to resurrection is opened to them by the Anointed. He is the “primal offering,” a term familiar to Paul and his audience as designating the first, promising sacrifices of springtime (Deuteronomy 26:10).
—

If we hope in the Anointed in this life only, we are the most pitiful of people! But now the Anointed has been raised from the dead, primal offering of those who sleep. For since death is through a person, resurrection of the dead is also through a person. Because just as in Adam all die, so also in the Anointed all shall be made alive. But each in proper order: the Anointed, primal offering, thereafter those of the Anointed in his arrival. Then, the conclusion: when he delivers over the Kingdom to God, that is to the Father, when he shall abolish all rule and all authority and power. Because it is necessary for him to reign until he puts all enemies under his feet. Death is the last enemy abolished.

or Acts 10:34-43
The Power of the Gospel for All Who Believe

The book of Acts portrays how the earliest preaching bore witness to Jesus’ resurrection and proclaimed the cleansing of sins for all people who believe. In recounting the message of God’s anointing of Jesus, Rock—Peter—begins with John’s immersion of repentance for the cleansing of sins, continues through Jesus’ ministry of healing and doing good, and culminates in the appearance of Jesus to the witnesses after his death. Here, Rock’s realization of God’s acceptance of all people augments the message in Jesus’ name first delivered to the people of Israel.
—

Rock—Peter—opened his mouth and said, “In truth, I understand that God is not one who shows favoritism, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does righteousness is acceptable to him. In reference to the message that he sent to the people of Israel proclaiming peace through the Anointed Jesus—this one is Lord of all: you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the immersion of repentance for cleansing of sins  proclaimed by John. You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power—who then went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him. So we are witnesses of all that he did in the region of the Judeans and in Jerusalem. The one they killed by hanging him on a tree—this one God raised on the third day and caused to appear, not to all the people, but to witnesses who had been chosen beforehand by God, to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. He commanded us to proclaim to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness: all who believe in him receive cleansing from sins through his name.

The Gospel
John 20:1-18
“I Have Seen the Master”

The Gospel of John tells the Easter morning story with an emphasis on seeing and believing, as well as on the particular role of Mary Magdalene as a witness to the Resurrection. The account describes much activity in an almost frenetic scene of running, bending, turning, and weeping—all leading up to encounter! The experience of the empty tomb challenges familiar expectations and hierarchies, while Mary’s experience of the risen Lord becomes clear to her in the most familiar of all ways: when she hears him speak her name. With word of his impending ascension, he invites her and all his committed students to join the throng he leads to God: the Father they now fully share.
—

At the first opportunity after Sabbath, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb—when still dark—and saw the stone taken from the tomb. She ran and came to Simon Rock—Peter—and to another committed student, whom Jesus loved. She said to them, “They have taken the Master from the tomb and we do not know where they have placed him.” So Rock went out, and the other student, and they came to the tomb. The two of them had been running together but the other student ran ahead more quickly than Peter, so he came first to the tomb. Bending down he saw the dressings laid out inside, though he did not enter. Then Simon Rock also came following him, and he entered into the tomb and perceived the dressings laid out and the kerchief, which had been upon his head, not laid with the dressings but bundled in a separate place. Only then did the other student, who had come first, enter into the tomb. He saw and believed, although they did not yet know the Scripture that he had to arise from the dead. So the students returned to their group. But Mary stood outside the tomb, weeping. While she wept, she bent down into the tomb and perceived two angels in white, sitting—one at the head and one at the feet—where the body of Jesus had lain. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?” She said to them, “They have taken my Master, and I do not know where they have placed him.” Having said this, she turned back and perceived Jesus standing, and she did not know that he was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Whom do you seek?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Master, if you have removed him, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” Turning again, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabbouni” (which means, “Teacher”). Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me! I have not yet ascended to the Father. But proceed to my brothers and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene came announcing to the committed students, “I have seen the Master,” and that he had said these things to her.

or Luke 24:1-12
The Empty Tomb

Luke’s Gospel focuses so intently on what was found (and not found) at the tomb of Jesus that the list of those present comes only late in the reading. Mary Magdalene heads the list, as in all the Gospels, but Luke’s depicts many more witnesses than other sources. The narrative describes the witnesses as entering the tomb and not finding Jesus’ body. The two heavenly men who appear do not refer to Galilee as the place where Jesus is to be encountered, as in Mark and Matthew’s Gospels; instead, Galilee is the location of Jesus during his mortal life. In the Gospel according to Luke, Jerusalem is where the risen Jesus is manifested, and Peter gives a preliminary sign of how palpable that presence will be.
—

On the first of the week, at dawn’s break, the women came to the tomb carrying the spices they had prepared. But they found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. They entered, yet did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were at a loss concerning this, look: two men stood by them in gleaming apparel. As the witnesses became fearful and inclined their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has been raised. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, that it was necessary for the Son of Man to be delivered over into the hands of sinful men
and to be crucified and on the third day to arise!” Then they remembered his sayings, and returning from the tomb they reported all these things to the Eleven and all the rest. And they were the Magdalene, Mary, and Joanna and Mary of James and the rest of the women with them who said these things to the delegates. But these sayings seemed to them a fable, and they disbelieved. Yet Rock—Peter—arose, ran to the tomb, and bending down saw the dressings; he departed, marveling to himself, “What has happened?”

The darkness of Holy Saturday is the kind of creative darkness in which God made the world (Genesis 1:1-2:4a). In keeping with this theme the Vigil recollects creation alongside moments of deliverance from chaos, including the Flood (Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13), the redemption of Isaac when Abraham nearly sacrificed him (Genesis 22:1-18), and the Passover (Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21; 15:1b-13, 17-18, or Exodus 15:1-6, 11-13, 17-18). That pattern of readings to explore the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection exemplifies typology, an ancient principle of interpretation in which the church saw in the experience of Israel foreshadowings (or “types”) of the salvation from death itself that is implicit in Jesus’ victory over the grave.

Prophecy also anticipates salvation, and the words of Isaiah (55:1-11; 12:2-6) and Zephaniah (3:14-20) are presented, not only with their immediate meaning at the time they were spoken, but as anticipating what becomes possible with the Resurrection. What was once a collective and metaphorical promise articulated by Ezekiel (36:34-28; 37:1-14) is understood to be fulfilled during the night prior to Easter. Wisdom derived from God also anticipates redemption, as is exemplified in today‘s reading from the book of Proverbs (8:1-18, 19-21, 9:4b-6). Baruch, a work from the Apocrypha, skillfully combines the motifs of Prophecy and of Wisdom (Baruch 3:9-15; 3:32-4:4).

The Vigil celebrates the connections between past redeeming acts and what Jesus has given by means of his resurrection, using appropriate psalms to mark past deliverance and its connection to Christ. Today’s psalm readings convey not only ancient praise of God but also celebrations of victory in a new idiom (Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26; 46:1-11; 19:1-14; 98:1-9; 114:1-8). Yet it is notable that, just as psalms earlier in the week acknowledged God’s help in the midst of suffering, so during the Vigil the vulnerability of those who celebrate, and the setting of the Resurrection in the context of suffering, is acknowledged by means of today’s psalms (Psalm 16:1-11; 42:1-11; 43:1-5; 143:1-12). Eucharistic readings convey those connections by linking the baptism of each believer to Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-11), to the celebration of Passover (Psalm 114), and to the announcement to Mary Magdalene and her companions that Jesus had been raised from the dead (Mark 16:1-8).

Genesis 1:1-2:4a
The Seven Days of Creation

This reading from the beginning of the book of Genesis depicts God’s creation of the world out of chaos. Creation is our first indication of God’s love for and intimate connection with the world, a connection typified in God’s subsequent acts of redemption, culminating during the Easter Vigil in Jesus’ redemption from death.
—

When God began to create the sky and the earth, the earth was formless and void, with darkness on the face of the deep, and a wind from God was sweeping over the face of the water. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness God called “night.” And there was evening, then morning, a first day.

God said, “Let there be a dry expanse in the midst of the water, and it will separate the water above from the water below.” So God made the dry expanse, and it separated the water that was below the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the dry expanse “sky.” And there was evening, then morning, a second day.

God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered into a single place so that the dry land will appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathered water God called “seas.” And God saw that this was good. God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants that produce seed, trees bearing fruit that produces fruit of its same kind, the seed of which is in it, upon the earth.” And it was so. The earth sprouted vegetation: plants that produce seed of their same kind, and trees that bear fruit the seed of which is in it, of its same kind. And God saw that this was good. And there was evening, then morning, a third day.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the dry expanse of the sky, to divide the day and the night, and they shall be tokens of the progression of time, of seasons, of days, and of years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky, to illuminate the earth.” And it was so. God created the two great lights, the great light to rule over the day and the small light to rule over the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the sky, to illuminate the earth, and to rule by day and by night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that this was good. And there was evening, then morning, a fourth day.

Then God said, “Let the water teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face of the dry expanse of the sky.” So God created the great sea-monsters and every living creature that moves with which the water teems, according to its kind, and every winged bird, according to its kind. And God saw that this was good. Then God pronounced a blessing over them: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water of the seas, and may the birds multiply upon the earth.” And there was evening, then morning, a fifth day.

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind, cattle and creeping things, and the animals of the earth according to their kind.” And it was so. God made the animals of the earth according to their kind, the cattle according to their kind, and all that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that this was good.

Now God said, “Let us make humankind, in our image and after our likeness. And humankind shall have dominion over the fish in the sea, and the birds of the sky, and the cattle, and all the living creatures of the earth, and all the creeping things that move on the earth.” So God created the human being in God’s image and after God’s likeness; in the image of God, God created the human being. Male and female God created them. Then God pronounced a blessing over them. God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and over every living creature that creeps on the earth.”

And God said, “I am giving you all of the vegetation that produces seed that is on the face of the entire earth as well as every tree that has fruit that produces seed. This shall be yours as food. And to all living creatures of the earth, and all the birds of the sky, and everything that creeps upon the earth in which there is the breath of life, all the green vegetation is food.” And it was so. Then God saw all that God had done, that it was exceedingly good. And there was evening, then morning, a sixth day.

Thus were completed the sky and the earth and all of their component parts. For on the seventh day, God brought to closure the work God had done. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it God rested from all of the work of creation that God did. This is the history of the sky and earth when they were created.

Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26
The Great Hallel: God’s Acts of Love Never End

Psalm 136 calls on us to thank God for the steadfast love reflected in God’s creation of the world and his constant presence as a redeeming force in our lives. The Lectionary omits the psalm’s middle verses. These lines reflect on God’s concern for the people of Israel in particular, who experienced God’s presence in the events surrounding the Exodus from Egypt and in their receiving the land of Israel as an everlasting heritage.
—

1. Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
2. Give thanks to the God of gods;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
3. Give thanks to the Lord of lords;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
4. To the one who alone does great wonders;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
5. Who in understanding created the heavens;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
6. Who spread out the earth upon the water;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
7. Who made the great heavenly lights;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
8. The sun for dominion over the day;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
9. And the moon and the stars for dominion over the night;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.

23. For in our low state God remembered us;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
24. And God rescued us from our enemies;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
25. God gives bread to all flesh;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.
26. Give thanks to God of the heavens;      God’s steadfast love is eternal.

Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13
Noah and the Ark

The story of the Flood presents an example—similar to that of creation—of God’s delivering the world from a watery chaos. The certainty of God’s saving even a world defined by sin emerges as a pattern that, in the Christian tradition, reaches its apex in Jesus’ salvation from death.
—

And the Lord said to Noah, “Come, you and your entire household, into the ark, for you I have recognized as righteous before me in this generation. From each kind of clean animal, take seven pairs—the male and his mate; and from the animals that are not clean, take two—the male and his mate. Also from the birds of the sky, seven pairs—male and female—to keep their seed alive on the face of the earth. For in seven days, I shall bring rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I shall wipe out all that exists that I created on the face of the earth.” So Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that exact day the fountains of the great deep burst open and the sluices of the heaven opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and Shem, Ham, and Japheth—Noah’s sons—and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, came into the ark. They and every wild animal according to its kind and every domestic animal according to its kind and all the creeping creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kind and all the flying creatures according to their kind, every bird, every winged thing. They came to Noah, to the ark, two by two, of all flesh in which there is the breath of life. And those that came, male and female of all flesh they came, as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in. The flood continued forty days upon the earth, so that the water increased and lifted the ark, and it was high above the earth. The water abounded and greatly increased upon the earth so that the ark drifted upon the face of the water.

After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark he had built. He sent out a raven, which went out and back until the water had dried from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for its foot, and it returned to him, to the ark, since there was still water on the face of all the earth. So Noah extended his hand and took it and brought it back to himself, into the ark.

When another seven days had passed, he again sent the dove out from the ark. The dove returned to him in the evening with a plucked off olive branch in its mouth. So Noah knew that the waters had abated from the earth. He waited an additional seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not again return to him. Then, in Noah’s six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters dried up from the face of the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and saw that the face of the earth had dried out. And in the second month, on the twenty seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

And God said to Noah: “Leave the ark, you and your wife and your sons, and your sons’ wives together with you. And all the living things that are with you of all flesh, the birds and animals and all the creeping things that crawl on the earth—bring them out with you so that they might teem upon the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.” So Noah went out, with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.

God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your progeny after you, and with every living creature with you—birds, domesticated animals, all the wild animals of the earth that are with you—all of those that came out of the ark, all of the creatures of the earth. Thus I shall establish my covenant with you, so that all flesh will never again be cut off by the waters of a flood, and there will never again be a flood that will destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you and all the living things that are with you for all future generations: My bow I have placed in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

Psalm 46
God, Our Refuge and Strength

Psalm 46 reflects on God’s saving power, here evidenced in God’s supremacy over nature as much as over nations. In the context of the Easter Vigil, the psalm’s conclusion, which depicts God as humbling armies and bringing an end to war, celebrates the new age that is inaugurated by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
—

To the director, a psalm of the Korahites, for the voice of young women, a song.

1. God is our refuge and strength,
   a help in distress, well proved.
2. Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth changes,
   though the mountains topple into the heart of the sea.
3. Let its waters roar and foam;
   let mountains quake at the sea’s swelling!
   Selah
4. There is a river whose streams bring gladness to the city of God,
   the holiest of the habitations of the Most High.
5. God is in its midst; it will not be toppled.
   God will help it as morning dawns.
6. Nations are in a commotion; kingdoms shake;
   God puts forth his voice; the earth dissolves.
7. The Lord of armies is with us.
   The God of Jacob is our fortress.
   Selah
8. Come see the works of the Lord,
   who produces desolation upon the earth.
9. God stops wars to the ends of the earth.
   God breaks the bow and cuts in two the spear;
   chariots God burns with fire.
10. Be still and know that I am God;
    I am exalted among the nations,
    exalted on the earth.
11. The Lord of armies is with us.
    The God of Jacob is our fortress.
    Selah

Genesis 22:1-18
The Binding of Isaac

Willing even to offer his beloved son as a sacrifice to God, Abraham models a man of unwavering devotion. Jewish tradition sees here as well the perfect faith of Isaac, who accepted God’s demand that he give up his life. In the Easter Vigil, these actions prefigure Jesus’ self-sacrifice. Through the mediation of the ram that was sacrificed instead, God delivered Isaac from death, and in the same way the world is redeemed through the death of Jesus, an offering of God’s own son for the purpose of the salvation of humankind.
—

Following those events, God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” and he answered, “Here I am!” God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall instruct you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his lads with him along with Isaac, his son. He split wood for the burnt offering and departed for the place that God told him.

On the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place a distance away. Abraham said to his lads, “Wait here with the ass while I and the lad continue over there. We will worship and then return to you.” So Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the flame and the knife, and they went, the two of them together. But Isaac said to Abraham his father, “Father!” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Here are the flame and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “God will see to the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked along together.

Now, they came to the place that God had instructed him, and Abraham built there the altar, and he set out the wood and bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham put forth his hand and took the knife in order to slaughter his son. But a messenger of the Lord called out to him from the sky, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am!” And the messenger said, “Do not put forth your hand against the lad; do nothing to him! For now I know that you revere God, even to the point of not holding back your son, your only son, from me.”

Abraham lifted his eyes and saw a single ram caught by its horns in the brambles. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. So Abraham called that place, “The Lord Will See,” as it is said still today, “On the mountain, the Lord will be seen.”

Now the messenger of the Lord called a second time to Abraham from the sky and said, “On myself I have sworn—a declaration of the Lord: since you did this and did not hold back your son, your only son, therefore I shall surely bless you and greatly increase your seed like the stars of the sky and the sand that is on the shore of the sea. Your seed shall inherit the gate of their enemy. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed by virtue of your seed, since you heeded my voice.”

Psalm 16
We Are Confident of God’s Help

The reading today of Psalm 16 exposes the reality of human vulnerability even in the face of God’s protecting presence. This theme speaks powerfully of the suffering of Jesus in the context of his crucifixion but also, more generally, of the suffering we all continue to experience in the imperfectly redeemed world in which we still live.
—

A Mikhtam of David.

1. Protect me, God, for I have taken shelter in you.
2. I said, “Lord! You are my lord.
   Is my welfare not dependent on you?”
3. As for the supposedly sacred ones that are in the land
   and the powerful ones—the false gods—
   my only desire for them is that
4.      the pain of those who follow other gods will increase.
   I will not pour out their drink-offerings of blood,
   nor will I lift their names upon my lips.
5. The Lord is the portion of my lot and my cup;
   you cast my lot.
6. A good portion has been measured out to me;
   indeed, my inheritance is pleasing to me.
7. I will declare the Lord blessed, who gives me counsel;
   even at night my heart corrects me.
8. I have kept the Lord continually before me,
   for with God at my right hand, I will not swerve.
9. Therefore my heart is happy and my liver rejoices!
   Indeed my flesh abides securely.
10. For you will not abandon me to Sheol;
    You will not allow your faithful one to see the Pit.
11. You make known to me the path of life;
    a satisfying abundance is found in your presence;
    pleasures are eternally in your right hand.

Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21
Israel Is Saved at the Sea

Through Exodus 14-15, we reflect on the power of God’s deliverance in moments of the greatest darkness and need. The redemption of the people of Israel through God’s splitting of the sea following their Exodus from Egypt is paradigmatic of God’s power to save. In the perspective of the church, this deliverance foreshadows Jesus’ victory over the grave.
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Pharaoh’s army approached, and the people of Israel lifted their eyes and saw the Egyptians streaming after them. In great fear the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Is this not what we told you in Egypt: Leave us be so that we might serve the Egyptians, since it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s deliverance, which God will carry out for you today. For even though you see the Egyptians today, you shall never again see them. The Lord will wage war on your behalf. You just be silent!”

The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Speak to the people of Israel that they might move forward. But you, lift your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, splitting it, so that the people of Israel can enter into the sea on dry ground. I am going to harden the Egyptians’ heart so that they will enter the sea after them, so that I will be glorified through Pharaoh and his entire army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Thus the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am glorified through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

So the divine messenger of God who went before the camp of Israel moved behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them.

It came between the Egyptian and Israelite camps. Thus the cloud and the darkness were there, and it lit up the night. Neither camp approached the other all night. Then Moses extended his hand over the water, and the Lord moved the sea with a strong east wind all that night, which turned the sea into dry land, splitting the sea. And the people of Israel entered into the sea on the dry land, as the water formed walls on their right and left.

But the Egyptians pursued, and every one of Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen entered after them into the sea. At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian camp from the pillar of fire and smoke, and God threw the Egyptian camp into confusion. Then God removed the wheels of Pharaoh’s chariots so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “We’d better flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch your hand across the sea so that the water will return upon the Egyptians, upon Pharaoh’s chariots and his horsemen.” So Moses stretched his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its usual flow. Now as the Egyptians were fleeing before it, the Lord shook the Egyptians into the sea. And the water returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all of Pharaoh’s army that had followed them into the sea. There did not remain of them even one. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea, as the water formed walls on their right and left. Thus on that day the Lord delivered Israel from Egypt, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea. And Israel saw the great hand that the Lord lifted against Egypt, so that the people stood in awe of the Lord and had faith in the Lord and in Moses, God’s servant.

Then Miriam the prophet, the sister of Aaron, took up the timbrel in her hand, and all of the women went out following her with timbrels and dancing. And Miriam sang to them:
Sing to the Lord, for God has triumphed majestically;
horse and rider God has thrown into the sea.

Exodus 15:1b-13, 17-18
The Song at the Sea

The Song at the Sea is a victory poem, recited by the people of Israel after their release from Egyptian bondage and following God’s victory over the pursuing army of Pharaoh. It testifies to God’s power to save those in greatest need, no matter the severity of their situation or the depth of their desperation. The presentation of this passage in the Lectionary omits verses 14-16, which describe how God wiped out or silenced all other nations so that God’s chosen Israel could pass.
—

1. I shall sing to the Lord, for God has triumphed majestically;
   horse and rider God has thrown into the sea.
2. Yah is my strength and my song and has been my salvation.
   This is my God whom I shall adorn with praise,
   the God of my ancestors whom I shall exalt.
3. The Lord is a warrior;
   the Lord is God’s name.
4. Pharaoh’s chariots and army God cast into the sea;
   the best of his officers were drowned in the Sea of Reeds.
5. The depths covered them;
   they went down in the deep like a rock.
6. Your right hand, Lord, glorious in power;
   your right hand, Lord, shatters the enemy.
7. In your great majesty you destroyed those who arose against you;
   you sent forth your anger, devouring them like stubble.
8. Through the breath of your nostrils the water was heaped up;
   the flow stood upright like a heap of water,
   the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
9. The enemy said, “I’ll give chase, I’ll catch them;
   I’ll split up the spoil, my appetite will be filled with them;
   I’ll draw my sword, my hand will dispossess them.”
10. You blew with your breath, the sea covered them;
    they sank like lead in mighty water.
11. Who is comparable to you among the gods, Lord;
    who is comparable to you, mighty in holiness,
    inspiring awesome praises,
    doing wonders?
12. You stretched out your right hand,
    the earth swallowed them.
13. In your loving-kindness you led this people whom you redeemed.
    You guided them with your might to the habitation of your holiness.

17. You led them and planted them on the mountain that is your own possession,
    your fixed resting place;
    you created it, Lord—
    the sanctuary of the Lord, that your hands established.
18. The Lord will reign for ever and ever.

Isaiah 55:1-11
God’s Word Will Be Fulfilled

Isaiah’s prophecy anticipates the salvation that Israelites experienced in 539-538 BCE, when Cyrus of Persia took control of the Babylonian empire and allowed the Israelite exiles there to return to their homeland. Read today, the passage reflects not only the immediate setting of when Isaiah’s words were spoken but also anticipates the salvation of all believers that becomes possible with the Resurrection.
—

1. Ah! All who thirst, come to water!
   And those who have no money, come, purchase, and eat.
   Come and purchase without money and without price wine and milk.
2. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread,
   and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
   Sincerely heed me and eat what is good,
   and delight yourselves in rich food!
3. Extend your ear and come to me;
   heed me and you will live;
   and I shall establish for you an everlasting covenant,
   the unfailing steadfast love shown to David.
4. Look! I have made him a witness to the people,
   a leader and commander of the peoples.
5. Look! Nations you do not know, you will summon;
   and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
   on account of the Lord, your God and the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.
6. Seek the Lord when God can be found,
   call upon God when God is close.
7. Let the wicked abandon their ways,
   and transgressors their thoughts.
   Let them return to the Lord, who will show them mercy,
   to our God, who abundantly forgives.
8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts;
   and your ways are not my ways—a declaration of the Lord.
9. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways,
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10. For just as the rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return there without watering the earth,
    causing it to bring forth and sprout and provide seed for the sower and bread to one who eats,
11. so my word that goes forth from my mouth will not return to me unfulfilled.
    Rather it will accomplish what I desire and succeed at that for which I sent it.

Isaiah 12:2-6
Joyfully Make Known God’s Works

This reading reflects on salvation, not only in the immediate time in which the prophet’s words were spoken, but also anticipating what becomes possible with the Resurrection.
—

2. Behold, God is my rescue!
   I will trust and not fear.
   For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my song and has been my rescue.
3. In joy you will draw water from the wells of deliverance.
4. And you will say on that day,
   Give thanks to the Lord;
   call upon God’s name;
   announce among the peoples God’s actions;
   make known that God’s name is exalted!
5. Praise the Lord with music, for God has acted majestically;
   this is known in all the land.
6. Shout and sing out in joy, inhabitant of Zion!
   For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Baruch 3:9-15, 3:32-4:4
Wisdom is the Inheritance of God’s Commandments

This reading from the book of Baruch anticipates salvation through an invitation to the wisdom of God as observed in the distinct heritage of Israel—a heritage that for the church foreshadows salvation from death itself, and thereby functions as an affirmation of hope during the Vigil.
—

Hear, Israel, the commandments of life. Pay close attention in order to gain insight. How has this happened, Israel, that you are in enemies’ land, that you grew old in a foreign land, that you became defiled with the dead, that you were counted among those in the grave? You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. If you had gone in the way of God, then you would have dwelt in peace forever. Learn where to find wisdom, where to find strength, where to find an understanding so that you will know also where to find longevity and life, where the light of the eyes and peace is. Who found wisdom’s place? Who entered into her treasures?

But he who knows all things knows her, and he found her with his understanding. He who prepared the earth everlasting filled it with four-footed animals. The one who sends the light, and it goes, calls it, and it obeys him in trembling. The stars shined in their watches and rejoiced. He called to them, and they answered, “Here we are.” They shined with gladness upon the one who made them. This is our God, no other can be compared to him. He discovered every way of knowledge and gave it to Jacob his servant and Israel, the one whom he loves. After this, he was seen upon the earth, and he lived among people. This is the book of the commandments of God and the law of the one who lives forever. All of those who keep it will live, but those who forsake it will die. Turn back, Jacob, and take hold of it. Travel through toward the light in the presence of its light. Do not give your glory to another nor your profitable things to foreign nations. We are blessed, Israel, because the things that please God are known to us.

Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6
The Value of Wisdom

This reading from the book of Proverbs reflects on God’s salvation from a new perspective. God reveals the divine will through wisdom, which leads us down paths of righteousness and justice towards God’s blessings.
—

1. Will Wisdom not call out, nor Understanding raise her voice?
2. At the top of the heights, the side of the path, at the crossroads, she is stationed.
3. Next to gates, in front of the town, at the entranceways, she cries out:
4. To you, people, I call;
   my voice to humankind.
5. Learn, simple ones, prudence;
   dullards, learn knowledge!^[1]
6. Hear! For princely things I shall speak,
   and from my open lips, that which is right.
7. For my mouth will utter truth,
   while wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8. All the utterances of my mouth are said in righteousness;
   they contain nothing twisted nor crooked.

19. My fruit is better than gold and refined gold;
    my produce, than choice silver.
20. In the way of righteousness I walk,
    in the midst of the paths of justice,
21. to bequeath wealth to those who love me,
    and their treasuries I will fill.

4. 4b. To those who lack intelligence, Wisdom says:
5. Come, eat my bread,
   and drink the wine I have poured.
6. Abandon foolishness and live!
   Walk straight on the path of understanding.

Psalm 19
God Is Revealed in Creation and Law

This reading depicts the entire universe’s praise of God. Such praise is the only appropriate response to the perfection of all creation and the splendor of God’s revealed truths.
—

To the director, a psalm of David.

1. The sky recounts God’s glory;
   the heavens declare the work of God’s hand.
2. Day to day they pour forth speech;
   night to night they declare knowledge.
3. There is no speech, and there are no words,
   unless their voice is heard.
4. Throughout the land their call went out;
   at the edge of the world, their words.
   God made for the sun a tent in the sky,
5.      and it, like a bridegroom, emerges from its wedding canopy,
   exultant as a strong man to run his course.
6. The edge of the sky is its rising place,
   and its circuit to the sky’s end,
   so that nothing is hidden from its heat.
7. The Lord’s Torah is perfect,
   restoring one’s inner being.
   The Lord’s testimony is confirmed,
   making wise the simple.
8. The Lord’s precepts are right,
   gladdening the heart.
   The Lord’s commandment is clear,
   enlightening the eyes.
9. Awe of the Lord is pure,
   enduring eternally.
   The Lord’s ordinances are truth,
   altogether just.
10. They are more desirable than gold
    and than much refined gold.
    They are sweeter than honey,
    than what flows from the comb.
11. Indeed, your servant is instructed by them;
    in observing them is great gain.
12. Who can discern errors?
    From my hidden ones, cleanse me!
13. Also from presumptuous sins restrain your servant;
    may they not have dominion over me!
    Then I shall be blameless and cleansed of great transgression.
14. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before you, Lord, my rock and my deliverer.

Ezekiel 36:24-28
A Prophecy of Israel’s Restoration

The collective promise regarding God’s ingathering of Israelite exiles to their Promised Land that the prophet articulated is understood to be specifically fulfilled during the night prior to Easter.
—

24. I will take you from the nations,
    and gather you from all of the countries,
    and bring you to your land.
25. And I will sprinkle on you pure water
    so that you will be cleansed of all of your uncleannesses;
    from all of your idols I will cleanse you.
26. I will give you a new heart,
    and a new spirit I will place within you.
    I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh
    and will give you a heart of flesh.
27. My spirit I will place within you,
    and I will act so that you will follow my law,
    and my ordinances you will carefully observe.
28. You will dwell in the land that I gave to your ancestors,
    and you will be my people,
    and Iwill be your God.

Psalm 42 and 43
We Yearn for God’s Presence in a Time of Despair

Psalms 42 and 43, a single poetic passage numbered as two separate psalms, set the esurrection in the context of suffering. This reading leads us to acknowledge in our still imperfect world the continued vulnerability even of those who celebrate Jesus’ victory over death.
—

Psalm 42

To the director, a maskil of the Korahites.

1. As a ram longs for streams of water,
   so my innermost being longs for you, God.
2. My being thirsts for God,
   the living God;
   when will I come and appear before God?
3. My tears have been my bread day and night,
   as people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
4. These things I remember and pour out my soul,
   how I used to pass along in the throng,
   leading the procession to the house of God,
   with sounds of joyful praise and thanksgiving,
   a multitude celebrating the festival!
5. Why do you despair, my being,
   and murmur within me?
   Hope in God, for I will yet praise God,
   for God’s saving actions.
6. My God, my being despairs within me.
   For this reason I call you to mind,
   from the land of Jordan and the Hermons,
   from Mount Mizar.
7. Deep calls to deep,
   at the sound of your water-spouts;
   all of your breakers and waves crash over me.
8. By day, the Lord will assure God’s steadfast love;
   by night, God’s song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
9. I will say to God, my protecting cliff,
   “Why have you forgotten me?
   Why do I go mourning in response to the oppression of the enemy?”
10. Like a shattering of my bones, my enemies reproach me,
    as they continually say, “Where is your God?”
11. Why do you despair, my being,
    and why do you murmur within me?
    Hope in God, for I will yet praise God,
    my own help and my God.

Psalm 43

1. Vindicate me, God,
   and defend my cause
   against an impious people;
   from the deceitful and unjust, protect me!
2. For you are my God, my refuge.
   Why have you spurned me?
   Why do I go in mourning,
   oppressed by the enemy?
3. Send forth your light and your truth;
   they will guide me.
   They will bring me to your holy mountain,
   to your dwelling place.
4. Then may I come to the altar of God,
   to God, the joy of my gladness.
   I will praise you with the harp,
   God, my God.
5. Why do you despair, my being,
   and why do you murmur within me?
   Hope in God, for I will yet praise God,
   My own help and my God.

Ezekiel 37:1-14
The Metaphor of the Dry Bones: The People of Israel Renewed

In the context of this Vigil, the story of the Valley of the Dry Bones, the prophet’s metaphor for God’s rejuvenation of the people of Israel, is understood to refer to the events of Easter and Jesus’ victory over death.
—

The hand of the Lord came upon me. It took me out by the spirit of the Lord, and it placed me in the valley, which was full of bones. And God passed me over them, all around: there were very many bones lying in the valley and they were extremely dry.

God said to me, “Mortal! Can these bones be returned to life?” And I responded, “My Lord, God, only you know!”

Now God said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: Dry bones! Heed the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord, God, to these bones: I will bring upon you breath and you will live! For I shall place upon you sinews, and will cause flesh to rise upon you, and will spread over you skin, and will place in you breath, and you will come alive, and you will know that I am the Lord.” So I prophesied as I was commanded, and, as I prophesied, there was a sound, then a noise, and the bones came together, bone to bone. And I looked and, indeed, there was on them sinew, and flesh arose, and they were covered with skin, but there was no breath in them.

Then God said to me, “Prophesy to the breath! Prophesy, Mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord, God: From the four winds, come, breath! Blow into these slain ones so that they will come alive.” So I prophesied as God commanded me, and breath came into them, and they came alive and stood on their legs, an exceedingly great multitude.

Now God said to me, “Mortal! These bones represent the entire house of Israel. They say: Our bones have dried up, our hope is lost, we are entirely cut off. Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord, God: I am opening your graves, and I will raise you from your graves, my people. And I will bring you to the land of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, my people. And I will place my breath in you and you will live, and I will settle you on your land, and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and acted”—the word of the Lord.

Psalm 143
Save Me from Those Who Wish Me Harm

Psalm 143 acknowledges God’s help of those who suffer, who are pursued by enemies who seek their harm. The passage has heightened meaning during the Easter Vigil, in which it is seen as a reflection on Jesus’ suffering in the context of his crucifixion.
—

A psalm of David.

1. Lord, hear my prayer;
   in your faithfulness listen to my supplication;
   in your righteousness answer me.
2. Do not enter into judgment with your servant,
   for no mortal can be found righteous before you.
3. My enemy pursued me,
   crushing my life to the ground,
   making me dwell in dark places, like the long dead.
4. Thus my breath grows faint within me;
   within me, my heart is dismayed.
5. I remember the days of old;
   I consider all of your deeds;
   on the work of your hands I meditate.
6. I spread out my hands to you;
   my inner being, like parched land, thirsts for You.
   Selah
7. Quickly, answer me, Lord!
   My breath is at its end.
   Do not hide your face from me,
   so that I would become like those who go down to the Pit.
8. Make me hear of your steadfast love in the morning,
   for in you have I trusted.
   Instruct me in the path I should follow,
   for to you I lift my very being.
9. Rescue me from my enemies, Lord;
   in you I have sought shelter.
10. Teach me to perform your will,
    for you are my God.
    Let your good spirit lead me
    on level land.
11. For the sake of your name, Lord, preserve me in life;
    in your righteousness, remove me from trouble.
12. In your steadfast love destroy my enemies,
    and bring an end to all of my adversaries,
    for I am your servant.

Zephaniah 3:14-20
The Joy of Israel’s Restoration

This reading from the book of Zephaniah directs to the people of Israel at the beginning of the seventh century BCE an oracle of restoration and return to their homes and homeland. In the context of Advent, the excerpt underscores the continuity of God’s redemptive purpose.
—

14. Sing out, daughter of Zion;
    raise a cry, Israel!
    Rejoice and exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!
15. The Lord has overturned your judgment;
    God has turned aside your enemies.
    The King of Israel, the Lord,is in your midst;
    you need not fear evil any longer.
16. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, Zion!
    Let your hands not sink in despair!
17. The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
    a saving warrior.
    God will rejoice over you in happiness;
    God will renew you^[1] in God’s love.
    God will rejoice over you with a ringing cry.
18. Those who suffered^[2] from the appointed time—[when] I punished you—
    were an expiation tax^[3] on Jerusalem, a reproach.
19. At that time, I will act against all who humble you,
    and I will rescue any who stumbles,
    and any who was driven away I will gather up.
    And I will make them an object of praise and a name in all the land in which they were shamed.
20. At that time, I will bring you,
    and at the time I will gather you:
    then I will make you a name and an object of praise among all the peoples of the earth,
    when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.

Psalm 98
Let the Entire Earth Celebrate God’s Victory

Psalm 98 is a hymn of praise for the victory instigated by God in days of old. It corresponds to and sheds new light on the divine victory God has wrought in connection with Christ.
—

A psalm.

1. Sing to the Lord a new song,
   for God has performed extraordinary acts;
   God’s right hand brought God victory,
   along with God’s holy arm.
2. The Lord has made that victory known;
   in the sight of the nations God revealed God’s righteousness.
3. God recalled God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to the House of Israel;
   the ends of the earth saw our God’s victory.
4. Let all the earth raise a shout to the Lord;
   let them burst forth in a joyous shout, give a ringing cry, and sing in praise.
5. Let them sing praise to the Lord with the lyre,
   with the lyre and sound of melody.
6. With trumpets and the sound of the shofar,
   let them raise a shout before the Lord, the King.
7. Let the sea roar, and all that it contains,
   the earth, and those that dwell on it.
8. Let the rivers clap hands;
   together let the mountains give out a ringing cry
9.      before the Lord,
   for God is coming to judge the land.
   God will judge the earth with righteousness
   and the peoples evenhandedly.

Romans 6:3-11
Baptism Brings Entry into Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

Easter emerged as the natural occasion for converts to Christianity to begin their new life of faith by means of baptism. Since the time of Pentecost, immersion in water had been understood by Jesus’ followers to signal how God’s spirit rushed over them when they were baptized in the name of Jesus. Here Paul extends the significance of the ritual by relating the believer’s immersion in water to the experience of death, so that arising from baptism joined the believer to Jesus’ resurrection.
—

Can you not understand that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We were buried with him through that baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the Father’s glory, so we also might walk in newness of life. Having been united in likeness to his death, so shall we be in likeness to the Resurrection. We already know that our timeworn humanity has been crucified with him, so that the body of sin ceases, and we no longer serve sin; after all, one who has died is cleared of sin. If we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ—raised from the dead—no longer dies; death no longer governs him. Dead, he died to sin once and for all; alive, he lives with God. You, too: consider yourselves dead to sin and living with God in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 114
In the Exodus and Conquest of the Land, Nature Recognized God’s Power

Psalm 114 reflects on God’s divine power and the victories it facilitates in times of the greatest need. In the Easter Vigil, this past victory is connected to the one celebrated today, when God, in the body of Jesus, conquers even death.
—

1. When the people of Israel left Egypt,
   the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2.      the territory of Judah became God’s sanctuary,
   the territory of Israel, God’s realm.
3. The sea saw and fled;
   the Jordan River reversed course.
4. The mountains skipped like rams;
   the hills, like sheep.
5. Why is it, sea, that you fled?
   Jordan, that you reversed course?
6. Mountains, that you skipped like rams?
   Hills, like sheep?
7. Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
   at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8. who turned the rock into a pool of water,
   flint into a fountain of water.

Mark 16:1-8
The Female Disciples’ Visit to Jesus’ Tomb

This is the original ending of the Gospel according to Mark. Because it is abrupt, closing with the silence of Mary Magdalene and her companions rather than their announcement of the Resurrection, longer endings were added by copyists over time. But Mark’s Gospel is designed for a community of believers under persecution in Rome, and silence was for them a wise policy. The women do not see Jesus himself, but receive the command to direct the disciples and Peter to Galilee, where they are to see him. The Gospel deliberately ends with the promise of that vision.
—

And when Sabbath elapsed, Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome purchased spices so they could go anoint him. And very early on first of the week they came upon the memorial when the sun dawned. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll the stone away from the opening of the memorial for us?” They looked up and discerned that the stone had been rolled off (because it was exceedingly big). They went towards the memorial and saw a young man sitting on the right appareled in a white robe, and they were bewildered. But he said to them:

They went out and fled from the memorial, because trembling and frenzy had them. And they said nothing to any one; they were afraid, because—

Footnotes

1. So the Septuagint and others. Hebrew: “will be silent.”
2. Hebrew text is difficult and perhaps corrupt. This translation follows Marvin Sweeney (Hermeneia Bible Commentary series), based in part on the ancient translations found in the Septuagint (in Greek) and the Peshitta (in Syriac).
3. So Sweeney.

The significance of Jesus’ death is enriched by the remembrance of previous suffering for the cause of God, classically represented in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. In the book of Isaiah, the servant of God is described as ill and disfigured, representing the people of Israel during the time of their exile in Babylonia after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Recovery from that seemingly mortal wound becomes a classic symbol of how God can save when human resources are spent.

Psalm 22 also speaks of a comeback from apparently inevitable death, but its voice is of an individual rather than the collective represented in Isaiah. Jesus cites the psalm from the cross in the Gospel for Palm Sunday. In his case, actual death as well as suffering frames the situation addressed. The Epistle to the Hebrews 10:16-25 and 4:14-16; 5:7-9 make the significance of Jesus’ dying as well as his suffering explicit. Dying, in fact, is integral to Jesus’ victory in the presentation of Hebrews. His blood enables him to enter into the heavenly sanctuaries, where he alone serves as the true High Priest; in comparison with his sacrifice, the ceremonies in the Temple are only pale representations. John 18:1-19:42 simultaneously brings out both the dread and agony of the death and Jesus’ entrance into glory by means of the Crucifixion, a key theme in John’s Gospel. A stylized presentation contrasts Jesus’ confidence and certainty with the awkward hesitation of those who arrest him, the ambivalence of Simon—Peter—by both engaging in violence and retreating from the admission of being a disciple, and the indecision of Pontius Pilate. Those contrasts all serve to emphasize the necessity of the action unfolding as it does.

The First Reading
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
God’s Servant, Israel, Suffers for Others’ Sins

In this reading, Isaiah describes the servant of God as ill and disfigured, representing the people of Israel during their exile in Babylonia after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 586 BCE. The significance of the death of Jesus is enriched by remembrance of this previous suffering for the cause of God. Israel’s recovery from its seemingly mortal wound becomes a classic symbol of how God can save when human resources are spent.
—

13. Take note!
         My servant shall prosper,
         shall be lifted and raised up and exalted exceedingly!
14. Just as many were appalled by you—
         so disfigured was my servant’s appearance from that of a person,
         and his form from that of a human being—
15. so he shall startle many nations;
         before him, kings will shut their mouths.
    For what was not told to them they shall see,
         and that which they have not heard, they shall discern.

1. Who believed what we have heard?
        The arm of the Lord—to whom has it been revealed?
2. My servant grew before God like a sapling, like a root out of parched earth.
        We saw him, but his was no appearance that we would be drawn to him.
3. Despised and rejected by people, a man of pain, who knows sickness, as one from whom people hide their faces;
        despised, and we held him of no account.
4. Though it was our sicknesses my servant bore,
        our pains that he carried,
        we considered him stricken,
        struck down by God and afflicted.
5. Yet he was wounded because of our transgressions, crushed because of our sins.
        The chastisement that reconciled us was upon him,
        and, through the blows he received, we were healed.
6. We all, like sheep, have strayed.
        We have each turned our own way,
        and the Lord has struck him with the sin of all of us.
7. My servant was treated harshly and afflicted,
        yet he did not open his mouth.
   Like a lamb led to slaughter
        and like a ewe before its shearer is silent,
        so my servant did not open his mouth.
8. As a result of coercion and judgment he was taken, and who considered his fate?
        For he was cut from the land of the living;
        for the transgression of my people, he was himself stricken.
9. My servant’s grave was placed with the wicked,
        his funeral mound^[1] with evil-doers,^[2]
        although he did no violence,
        and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10. For the Lord desired to crush him, making him sick.
         If he makes his life a guilt offering,
         my servant will see progeny and will have length of days,
         and what the Lord desires will succeed at his hand.
11. Out of his suffering, my servant will see and be satisfied.
         Through his knowledge, my servant will vindicate the many,
         for he shall bear their transgressions.
12. Therefore I shall mete out a portion to my servant among the many,
         and with the mighty he will divide spoil,
         because he poured himself out to death and was counted among the sinful;
         and my servant, the sin of the many he bore;
         and he made entreaty for the sinful.

The Psalm
Psalm 22
A Plea for God’s Presence in a Time of Need

Psalm 22 presents an individual’s plea for salvation from apparently inevitable death. Jesus cites from the cross this psalm’s question: “My God, why have you abandoned me?” The use of Psalm 22 at this point in the liturgy makes Jesus’ actual death and suffering the concrete circumstance that the psalm addresses.
—

To the director, according to the Deer of the Dawn, a psalm of David.

1. My God, my God,
        why have you abandoned me so far from safety,
        disregarding the words I roared in distress?
2. My God,
        I cry out each day, but you do not answer;
        and at night, but I find no rest.
3. Yet you are holy,
        enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4. Our ancestors put their trust in you;
        they trusted, and you brought them to security.
5. They cried out to you and were rescued;
        they put their trust in you and did not suffer humiliation.
6. But I am a worm, not a human being,
        reproached by individuals,
        regarded with contempt by people.
7. All who see me deride me;
        they open wide their mouth,
        shake their head:
8. “Commit to the Lord;
        let God bring you to safety!
        God would save whomever God wanted!”
9. Yet you brought me forth from the womb,
        made me secure at my mother’s breast.
10. Upon you I was cast from the womb;
         from my mother’s belly, you have been my God.
11. Do not distance yourself from me;
         for distress is near,
         for there is no one to help.
12. Many bulls surround me;
         the mighty ones of Bashan encircle me.
13. They open their mouths at me,
         like a lion, mauling and roaring.
14. I have been poured out like water;
         my bones are all out of joint.
    My heart has become like wax,
         melting within my insides.
15. My power has dried up like a potsherd;
         my tongue sticks to my jaws;
         in the dust of death you deposit me.
16. For dogs surround me;
         a crowd of evil-doers encircles me,
         hewing my hands and feet.
17. I can count all my bones.
         They stare gloatingly at me.
18. They divide my clothing among themselves,
         and for my garments they draw lots.
19. But you, Lord, do not make yourself distant!
         Hurry, my Strength, to my aid.
20. Rescue me from the sword,
         my precious life from the dog.
21. Save me from the mouth of the lion;
         from the horns of wild asses, answer me!
22. I will declare your name to my kin;
         in the midst of the congregation I will praise you!
23. Let those who revere the Lord praise God.
         Let all the descendants of Jacob glorify God.
         Stand in awe of God, all descendants of Israel!
24. For God did not disdain and did not detest the affliction of the afflicted.
         Nor did God conceal God’s face from that one.
         Rather, when the afflicted cried out to God, God heard.
25. From you comes my praise in the great congregation.
         My vows I shall fulfill in the presence of those who revere God.
26. The afflicted shall eat and be sated.
         Let those who seek God praise the Lord.
         May your heart live forever!
27. All the ends of the earth shall remember and return to the Lord;
         all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
28. For reigning power belongs to the Lord,
         and God rules over the nations.
29. The robust of the earth all shall eat and worship God;
         before God shall bow all who go down in the dust,
         whom God did not preserve alive.
30. Progeny shall serve God;
         it shall be told regarding the Lord to the next generation.
31. They shall come and declare God’s righteousness to a people yet to be born,
         for God acted.

The Second Reading
Hebrews 10:16-25
Jesus’ Completion of the Covenant

The Epistle to the Hebrews refers to the book of Jeremiah to portray Jesus as offering the renewed covenant and forgiveness of which the prophet spoke. They are available from the moment of Jesus’ death and entry into the presence of God. His perfect sacrifice opens the true, heavenly sanctuaries to believers, so that literal sacrifice is no longer necessary. Jeremiah looks ahead to that reality, according to Hebrews, which it is the purpose of faith to grasp and hold firm.
—

Following the passage from Jeremiah, “This is the covenant that I will covenant with them after those days, says the Lord; giving my laws upon their hearts, I will also inscribe them on their minds,”^[3] Jeremiah’s conclusion is found: “and their sins and their lawlessness I shall no longer remember.”^[4] Where these have been forgiven, there need no longer be offering for sin. Brothers and sisters, we have confidence in the entrance into the sanctuaries by Jesus’ blood, which he initiated for us—a fresh and living way through the veil (that is, his flesh). We also have a Great Priest over the house of God, and so should advance with true heart and in certainty of faith. Sprinkling hearts from evil conscience and washing the body with pure water, hold to the unswerving confession of hope, because the one who promises is faithful. Strategize to provoke one another into love and good works, not forsaking our assembly (as is the tendency of some), but encouraging our own, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Jesus’ Example of the Obedience of Suffering

The Epistle to the Hebrews dedicates itself to the theological argument that, as the Son of God, Jesus is both offered in sacrifice and is the High Priest of the offering. Combining these roles is part of the perfection which shows that literal sacrifice was only a symbol, not a command to be repeated forever. In his sacrificial action, however, Jesus also suffered, and Hebrews stresses that point in one of the briefest and yet most affecting portrayals of Jesus’ emotions prior to the Crucifixion. For Hebrews, these feelings reinforce Jesus’ connection with all believers.
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So having a great High Priest who has passed through to the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we shall grasp the key principle. Because we do not have a High Priest who is unable to suffer with our weakness, but one tested in every way equally—without sin. So we shall come forward with confidence to the throne of grace, that we might receive mercy and find grace for swift help.
In the days of his flesh he offered prayers and supplications to the one able to save him from death with loud outcry and tears, and he was heard for his reverence. Although a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and, perfected, he became the basis of eternal salvation to those who obey him.

The Gospel
John 18:1-19:42
The Death of Jesus

By this stage in Holy Week, the Gospel according to John has prepared the way for the final events of Jesus’ life. Jesus is aware of the inevitability of his death, and knows that it is his glorification. Now the presentation of the arrest, trial, and execution of Jesus stresses the contrast between Jesus and those who act, yet do not understand: Judas and the arresting officers, Peter, the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas, Pilate, and the soldiers. The Roman authorities act in concert with the leaders of the “Judeans,” the inhabitants of Judea as governed by the laws of Rome. They cooperate with one another, fulfilling the Scriptures of Israel without any awareness of what they do. Only a few on the scene understand the significance of events: Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother and his mother’s sister, the beloved disciple (unnamed, but described in John as intimately familiar with Jesus), and prominent Judeans previously in contact with Jesus—Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
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Having said this, Jesus went out with his committed students across the Wadi Kidron, where there was a garden that he entered with his students. Judas, who delivered him over, also knew the place, because Jesus often gathered there with his students. So Judas—having acquired the cohort and assistants from both the high priests and the Pharisees—came with lights and torches and weapons. Jesus knew everything that was happening to him, and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.” He said, “I am he.” Judas, who delivered him over, also stood with them. When he said to them, “I am he,” they backed away and fell to the ground. Again he questioned them, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazorean.” Jesus answered, “I said to you that I am he; so if you seek me, let these depart” (so that the word he said might be fulfilled: “Of those whom you gave me I lost not one”).

Simon Rock—Peter—had a sword, so he drew it and struck the High Priest’s slave and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus then said to Rock, “Put the sword into the sheath! Should I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” The cohort and the commander and the assistants of the Judeans seized Jesus and bound him and conducted him to Annas first, because he was Caiaphas’ father-in-law, who was High Priest that year. And Caiaphas had counseled the Judeans that it was beneficial for one man to die on behalf of the people.

Yet Simon Rock followed Jesus, and another committed student, and that student was known to the High Priest and entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the High Priest, but Rock stood by the door outside. Then the other disciple who was known to the High Priest went out, spoke to the maid who kept the door and conducted Rock in. Then she said to Rock, “You are among the committed students of this man!” He said, “I am not.” The slaves and assistants stood and had made a fire, because it was cold, and warmed themselves; Rock also stood with them and warmed himself. Then the High Priest questioned Jesus about his students and about this teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken publicly to the world; I always taught in congregation and in the Sacred Place where the Jews come together, and I said nothing in secret! Why do you question me? Question those who heard what I said to them; see—they know what I said!” When he said this, one of the assistants who stood by struck Jesus on the head, saying, “You answer the High Priest this way?” Jesus answered him, “If I spoke wrongly, attest what was wrong, but if well, why do you hit me?” Then Annas dispatched him, bound to the High Priest.

Simon Rock stood and warmed himself, and they then said to him, “You also are among his students!” He denied and said, “I am not!” One of the slaves of the High Priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” Then again Rock denied, and at once the cock sounded.

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium; it was early and they did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Pascha—Passover. Pilate came out then, outside to them, and stated, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered and said to him, “Unless he had been doing wrong, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate then said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” The Judeans said to him, “It is not permitted us to put anyone to death”—so that Jesus’ word might be fulfilled, which he said signaling by what death he was about to die.^[5]

Pilate then entered the praetorium again and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Judeans?” Jesus answered and said, “Do you say this on your own, or did others speak to you about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Judean! Your nation and the high priests delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus’ answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my subordinates would fight for me, so that I might not be delivered over to the Judeans, but now my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate then said to him, “Accordingly, you are a king.” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I am begotten and for this I have come into the world, so that I might witness to the truth. Everyone who is from the truth hears my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” Having said this he went out again to the Judeans and said to them, “I find no case against him. There is a custom among you so that I release you one man on the Pascha. Do you then wish that I release you the King of the Judeans?” Again they shouted, saying then, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Yet Barabbas was a thug.

So then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him, and the soldiers, having twisted thorns into a crown, put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came to him and said, “Welcome, King of the Judeans,” and were striking him on the head. And Pilate again went outside, and said to them, “See I bring him outside, so that you might know that I find no case against him.” Jesus then went outside, wearing the thorn-crown and the purple robe; and Pilate said to them, “Look—the man.” Then when the high priests and the assistants saw him, they shouted, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “You take and crucify him! For I find no case against him.” The Judeans answered, “We have a law, and according to the law he is obliged to die, because he made himself out to be God’s Son.”

When Pilate heard this word, he became more frightened,and he entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. So Pilate said to him, “You do not speak to me? Don’t you know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would not have any authority against me unless it were given you from above. For this reason the one who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” From this point on Pilate sought to release him. But the Judeans shouted, saying, “If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar; anyone making himself king opposes Caesar.” Pilate heard these words, then brought Jesus outside and sat on a tribunal at a place called “Stone Pavement,” and in Aramaic, Gabbatha. Yet it was preparation of the Pascha, about the sixth hour, and he said to the Judeans, “See—your King!” Then they shouted, “Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The high priests answered, “We do not have a King, except Caesar!” So then he delivered him over to them so that he would be crucified.

Then they took Jesus along and, carrying the cross for himself, he went out to what is called the “Skull’s Place,” that is Golgotha in Aramaic. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, so Jesus was in the middle. But Pilate wrote and placed a notice on the cross, and it was written, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Judeans.” Many of the Judeans read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the high priests of the Judeans were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Judeans,’ but that ‘He said, I am King of the Judeans.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four portions—for each soldier a portion, and his cloak, but the cloak was seamless, woven from the top throughout. Then they said to one another, “We shall not tear it, but choose by chance whose it shall be,” so that the Scripture might be fulfilled that says: “They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast a lot.”^[6] Then the soldiers did this. Yet by the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Klopas, and Mary Magdalene. Then Jesus, seeing his mother and the committed student standing by whom he loved, said to the mother, “Woman, look—your son.” Next he said to the student, “Look—your mother.” And from that hour the student took her into his care.

After this, Jesus, knowing that already everything was accomplished, so that the Scripture might be accomplished, says, “I thirst.”^[7] A vessel full of vinegar lay there; then putting a sponge full of vinegar on hyssop they brought it to his mouth. Then when Jesus took the vinegar, he said, “It has been accomplished,” and inclining his head he delivered over his spirit. Since it was Preparation, so the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (because the day of that Sabbath was great), the Judeans requested of Pilate that they might break their legs and they might be removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, as they saw he had already died, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water. And the one who saw has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he speaks truly, so that you too might believe. Because this happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “Not one of his bones shall be broken.”^[8] And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on whom they have pierced.”^[9]

After these things, Joseph from Arimathaea—being a committed student of Jesus, but a hidden one for fear of the Judeans—asked Pilate that he might bear away the body of Jesus, and Pilate permitted. Then he came and took his body. And Nicodemus also—who had come to him at night the first time—came carrying a compound of myrrh and aloes, around a hundred pounds. Then they took Jesus’ body and bound it in wrappings with the spices, just as is custom among the Judeans to bury. Yet there was a garden in the place where he had been crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. There, then, because of the Preparation of the Judeans, because the tomb was near, they put Jesus.

Footnotes

1. Following the reading found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Masoretic text: “In his death.”
2. Reading ‘oseh ra’ instead of ‘ashir,’ “the rich.”
3. Jeremiah 31:33.
4. Jeremiah 31:34.
5. John 3:14.
6. Psalm 22:19.
7. Psalm 69:22.
8. Numbers 9:12 (regarding the Passover offering).
9. Zechariah 12:10.

Maundy Thursday commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his followers as well as the particular meaning he gave to his meals with them during the last phase of his life. He had intervened in the Temple to expel vendors and their animals. They were necessary to provide for sacrifice, but he opposed their presence in the Temple. When he used force to drive animal vendors, money changers, and livestock out of the Temple, he provoked the authorities in Jerusalem. Many from the high priestly class, backed by the Roman military government, jealously guarded good order in the Temple. For them, the smooth operation of sacrifice there assured Rome’s continued rule and the power of the high priests. Jesus entered the great court of the Temple in order to change sacrificial arrangements. His expulsion of the animal vendors and the money changers who went with them, however, was momentary. He withdrew from the Temple, and the authorities sought an occasion to seize him.

Jesus’ inability to change the sacrificial system permanently may have been the reason he said that his own meals were the blood and flesh that God accepted. In effect, common meals—long a characteristic in Jesus’ circle—became a replacement for conventional sacrifice. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (11:23-26) is the earliest known reference to communion as a signifier of the New Covenant. Jesus symbolizes the meaning of the Eucharist by washing his followers’ feet in John 13:21-32. For the Gospel according to John the triumph of Jesus giving his life for his friends in the Crucifixion (John 15:13) is conveyed in the fellowship of his meals, where Jesus’ purifying presence makes his disciples ready to hear the command to love one another. The nearness of the events to the Passover inspires the choice of the first reading. Passover is also a fitting occasion for the celebration described in Psalm 116, read in part here in association with both Jesus’ impending death and his victory over death.

The First Reading
Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14
The Preparation of the Passover Offering

This reading of Exodus 12 details the rules for the slaughter and preparation of a lamb prior to the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. Households are then to perform this same ritual annually, as a remembrance of God’s saving actions. The Paschal lamb provided the blood that marked the Israelites’ doorposts, so that Israelite households would be passed-over as God slayed the first-born of Egypt.
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The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the first of the months; it is to you the first of the months of the year. Speak to the entire community of Israel and tell them that on the tenth day of this month, they shall take for themselves a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. But if a household is too small for a lamb of its own, then they and their close neighbor shall take one, dividing it proportionally to the number of people; according to how much they eat they shall contribute for the lamb. Your lamb shall be unblemished, a male yearling; from the sheep or from the goats you may take it. And you shall keep it under watch until the fourteenth day of this month. Then the entire assembly of the community of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and place it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they will eat it. And they shall eat the meat that night, roasted with fire and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, only roasted with fire, its head with its legs and its organs. Do not let any of it remain until the morning; that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. Thus you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your walking staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover! For I shall pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I shall strike every male firstborn in the land of Egypt, both humans and animals. And on all of the gods of Egypt I shall execute justice. I am the Lord. But the blood will be a sign for you on the houses you are in. I shall see the blood and pass over you, so that among you there will not be a destructive plague when I strike in the land of Egypt. This day shall be for you a memorial, and you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout your generations; a perpetual statute, you shall celebrate it.”

The Psalm
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
Thanksgiving for the Good Done by God

The theme of these verses from Psalm 116—deliverance from distress—is appropriate in the context of remembering Passover and the events of the Exodus. The idea that God laments the death of the righteous takes on particular significance when viewed in conjunction with Jesus’ impending crucifixion and subsequent victory over death.
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1. I love God
        because the Lord hears my voice, my supplications.
2. Since he tilted his ear to me, all my days I will call on God.

12. How can I repay the Lord for all the good God has done me?
13. I raise the cup of deliverance and call upon the name of the Lord!
14. My vows to the Lord I shall fulfill, in the presence of all God’s people!
15. Grievous in the sight of the Lord is the death of God’s faithful ones.
16. Please, Lord, for I am your servant!
         I am your servant, the child of your maidservant!
         You have opened the bonds of my distress.
17. I shall sacrifice to you a thanksgiving offering,
         and on the name of the Lord I shall call!
18. My vows to the lord, I shall pay,
         in the presence of all God’s people.
19. In the courts of the house of the Lord,
         in your midst, Jerusalem.
         Hallelujah!

The Second Reading
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
The Supper of the Lord

Paul’s account of the Lord’s Supper, as he calls the Eucharist, is the earliest written reference (from 55-56 CE) to this central sacrament of Christianity. He bases what he says on an earlier, oral tradition; in the passage he insists that he accurately transmitted what he learned to the Corinthians. According to this account, the purpose of the meal is to bring Jesus to “remembrance” before God. The action amounts to a “new covenant,” borrowing the terms of Jeremiah 31:31, and anticipates Jesus’ coming in glory in order to accomplish God’s justice.
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For I obtained from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was delivered over, took bread, gave thanks and broke and said, “This is my body for you: do this for my remembrance.” Likewise he also took the cup after eating, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this as often as you drink for my remembrance.” Because as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you declare the Lord’s death—until he comes!

The Gospel
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

In John’s Gospel the Crucifixion is not Jesus’ defeat, but his glorification. When he is lifted up on the cross, he says, “I will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). The sign that one has been drawn to Jesus’ love is that one shows love: “just as I loved you, so you also love one another” (John 13:34). The close of today’s Gospel brings home this message in so many words. In addition, John’s unique scene of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet comes with the imperative that his disciples should both accept washing and offer washing; their love—more than a matter of affection—is to be active and reciprocal.
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Before the festival of Pascha—Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come so that he would depart from this world. Having loved his own in the world, he loved them to the end. And as dinner went on—the devil having already put into the heart of Judas, son of Simon, Iscariot that he should deliver him over—Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God and departed to God. He rose from the dinner and put away his clothing; he took a linen and girded himself. Then he put water into a basin and began to clean the disciples’ feet and to wipe with the linen with which he was girded. So he came to Simon Rock—Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you clean my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” Rock said to him, “You will not ever clean my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not clean you, you have no portion with me.” Simon Rock said to him, “Lord, not my feet alone, but also my hands and head.” Jesus said to him, “One who has washed does not have need to clean, except the feet, but is entirely pure; and you are pure, yet not all.” Because he knew the one who delivered him over, for this reason he said, “Not all of you are pure.” When, then, he cleaned their feet and took his clothing and leaned back, again he said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak well, because I am. So if I—the ‘Lord’ and the ‘Teacher’—clean your feet, you also are obliged to clean one another’s feet. Because I have given you a pattern, so that just as I did, you should do. Amen, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than the master, nor a delegate greater than the one who commissions him. If you know these things, you are favored if you do them.”

So when he went out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. And God will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him at once. Children, yet a little longer I am with you; you will seek me, and just as I said to the Judeans that ‘Where I depart you are not able to come,’ I also say to you now. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I loved you, so you also love one another. By this everyone shall know that you are my committed students, if you have love among yourselves.”