Easter (Part #3)

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Easter (Part #1)
Easter (Part #2) 
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Easter (Part #4)


The Death of Jesus. Here's how the story is told by the preacher in the pulpit:

• Darkness covered the land from noon until three-o-clock in the afternoon.
• Then Jesus cried out "My god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?"
• Some people thought was calling out to Elijah (but they were mistaken).
• Somebody tried to give Jesus some vinegar to drink
• Then Jesus died (He gave up the spirit)
• And next came a huge earthquake.
• The rocks split and the curtain in the Temple was torn apart.
• It was like a sign from God
• And suddenly everybody understood that Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah.
• Even the Roman soldier was moved to say, "Truly, he was the Son of God."
• And all of these events were witnessed by the women who were watching from afar.

Here's how the story is told in Matthew 27:45-56 (New International Version):

45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.
46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.
49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split
52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs.
56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Did you see the bits the preacher missed out? Yep, verses 52 and 53 are nearly always skipped over because these days nobody believes in zombies. Two thousand years ago the mugs in the pews were dumb enough to fall for the idea that dead people climbed out of their graves and walked around Jerusalem but not anymore. Today's slightly more enlightened Christians will quite happily go for one resurrection at a time, 

•  Daughter of Jairus.[Mark 5:21-43]
• The Young Man from Nain.[Luke 7:11-17]
• The Raising of Lazarus.[John 11:1-44]
• And Jesus of course

But the idea of mass resurrections, with zombies roaming free on the city streets, well that is too much for most 21st century Christians - so the preachers go out of their way to keep that nonsensical story well hidden.