The Empty Tomb
(Matthew 28.1-8; Mark 16.1-8; Luke 24.1-12)

John 20 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the entrance. ²She went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
³Then Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb. ⁴The two of them were running, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and saw the linen cloths, but he did not go in. ⁶Behind him came Simon Peter, and he went straight into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there ⁷and the cloth which had been around Jesus' head. It was not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in; he saw and believed. ( ⁹They still did not understand the scripture which said that he must rise from death.) ¹⁰Then the disciples went back home.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
(Matthew 28.9, 10; Mark 16.9-11)

¹¹Mary stood crying outside the tomb. While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb ¹²and saw two angels there dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³"Woman, why are you crying?" they asked her.
She answered, "They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!"
¹⁴Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵"Woman, why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. "Who is it that you are looking for?"
She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, "If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him."
¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Mary!"
She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (This means "Teacher.")
¹⁷"Do not hold on to me," Jesus told her, "because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God."
¹⁸So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and related to them what he had told her.

Hezekiah Reforms Religious Life

2 Chronicles 31 After the festival ended, all the people of Israel went to every city in Judah and broke the stone pillars, cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah, and destroyed the altars and the pagan places of worship. They did the same thing throughout the rest of Judah, and the territories of Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh; then they all returned home.
²King Hezekiah reestablished the organization of the priests and Levites, under which they each had specific duties. These included offering the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, taking part in the Temple worship, and giving praise and thanks in the various parts of the Temple. ³From his own flocks and herds he provided animals for the burnt offerings each morning and evening, and for those offered on the Sabbath, at the New Moon Festival, and at the other festivals which are required by the Law of the LORD.
⁴In addition, the king told the people of Jerusalem to bring the offerings to which the priests and the Levites were entitled, so that they could give all their time to the requirements of the Law of the LORD. ⁵As soon as the order was given, the people of Israel brought gifts of their finest grain, wine, olive oil, honey, and other farm produce, and they also brought the tithes of everything they had. ⁶All the people who lived in the cities of Judah brought tithes of their cattle and sheep, and they also brought large quantities of gifts which they dedicated to the LORD their God. ⁷The gifts started arriving in the third month and continued to pile up for the next four months. ⁸When King Hezekiah and his officials saw how much had been given, they praised the LORD and praised his people Israel. ⁹The king spoke to the priests and the Levites about these gifts, ¹⁰and Azariah the High Priest, a descendant of Zadok, said to him, "Since the people started bringing their gifts to the Temple, there has been enough to eat and a large surplus besides. We have all this because the LORD has blessed his people."
¹¹On the king's orders they prepared storerooms in the Temple area ¹²and put all the gifts and tithes in them for safekeeping. They placed a Levite named Conaniah in charge and made his brother Shimei his assistant. ¹³Ten Levites were assigned to work under them: Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah. All this was done under the authority of King Hezekiah and Azariah the High Priest. ¹⁴Kore son of Imnah, a Levite who was chief guard at the East Gate of the Temple, was in charge of receiving the gifts offered to the LORD and of distributing them. ¹⁵In the other cities where priests lived, he was faithfully assisted in this by other Levites: Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah. They distributed the food equally to their fellow Levites according to what their duties were, ¹⁶and not by clans. They gave a share to all males thirty years of age or older who had daily responsibilities in the Temple in accordance with their positions. ¹⁷The priests were assigned their duties by clans, and the Levites twenty years of age or older were assigned theirs by work groups. ¹⁸They were all registered together with their wives, children, and other dependents, because they were required to be ready to perform their sacred duties at any time. ¹⁹Among the priests who lived in the cities assigned to Aaron's descendants or in the pasture lands belonging to these cities, there were responsible men who distributed the food to all the males in the priestly families and to everyone who was on the rolls of the Levite clans.
²⁰Throughout all Judah, King Hezekiah did what was right and what was pleasing to the LORD his God. ²¹He was successful, because everything he did for the Temple or in observance of the Law, he did in a spirit of complete loyalty and devotion to his God.

In Praise of Jerusalem

Psalm 87 The LORD built his city on the sacred hill;
²more than any other place in Israel
he loves the city of Jerusalem.
³Listen, city of God,
to the wonderful things he says about you:

⁴"I will include Egypt and Babylonia
when I list the nations that obey me;
the people of Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia
I will number among the inhabitants of Jerusalem."

⁵Of Zion it will be said
that all nations belong there
and that the Almighty will make her strong.
⁶The LORD will write a list of the peoples
and include them all as citizens of Jerusalem.
⁷They dance and sing,
"In Zion is the source of all our blessings."