Tuesday, April 07, 2026

Why What Trump Wants Is A Crime

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Um….😶

The IRGC is now openly recruiting 12-year-olds in plain violation of its international legal obligations.

Sending children to perform military duties with AK-47s isn’t "defending the homeland"—it’s horrific, plain and simple.

The Iranian regime has reached a new level of desperation and depravity.

The world must stop treating these terrorists like a legitimate government.
This announcement 👇 doesn’t mention any discrimination between children and soldiers; So that’s why Iran now controls the Strait of Hormuz? And why the President wants to destroy Iranian civilization? And as one of only 535 people on the planet who can do something about it, you’re cool with that? Resign, peckerwood. Still not enough for you, huh? We are the terrorist state our government warned us about.
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Pilate Washes His Hands Of Responsibility

... for what he’s about to do.
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Monday, April 06, 2026

Nobody Could Have Foreseen

Officials tells Axios that President Trump may hold off on tomorrow’s strikes against civilian infrastructure in Iran and extend the deadline for negotiations, but only if he “sees a deal is coming together,” while a defense official said they were “skeptical” there would be any extension this time for Iran.
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Next We Can Talk About Trump…

... being struck by a well-timed meteor.☄️ 

And then a sinkhole opening up beneath him in a golf course …

And then the sun going supernova.

Because they’re all more likely….
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One Of The Major Theological Questions Of The 21st Century

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Fuck You, Fat Boy

A Boomer.

(It’s not the same evil statement as a racist statement would be, but it’s just as stupid and ignorant. I should apologize for the body shaming. By I won’t.)
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Because Their Destruction Could Be A War Crime

U.S. President Donald J. Trump told reporters moments ago during a press conference, that if Iran does not make a deal by Tuesday at 8:00PM Eastern Time, then every bridge in Iran “will be decimated” and every power plant in Iran “will be out of business, burning, exploding, never to be used again,” within four hours of the deadline,
If each such attack is not carefully reviewed by legal and military experts, the attacks could be war crimes. Will the officers consider their oaths to the constitution and responsibility to uphold the law? Or will they feel caught between that and the chain of command?

Or will Kegsbreth be forced to cut deeply into that chain?⛓️‍💥 
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Pretty Sure We Covered This Earlier

Yup. We did.
First mistake: thinking Jesus would always do what you would do.
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Perspective 🐣

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“Do Eggs”?

I want it to be clearly understood, I did NOT know he was going to say this. So we’re going to kill everybody and destroy everything, and take the oil? In one night?

What fantasyland is the POTUS living in?
But how do the people who “do eggs” measure it?  What about the all important people in the egg industry?
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U.S.Intelligence Stops At The Resolute Desk

And it’s a bit more than one airplane:
Based on currently available information, since the start of Operation EPIC FURY in February 2026, the US military has lost or suffered damage to the following manned aircraft:

- 4x F-15E "Strike Eagle" (3 to friendly-fire over Kuwait, 1 to Iranian fire)
- 1x E-3G "Sentry" (on the ground at Prince Sultan Airbase in Saudi Arabia)
- 1x A-10C "Thunderbolt II" (crashed, circs TBC)
- 2x CH-47F "Chinook" (heavily damaged on ground at Camp Buehring in Kuwait - TBC if write-offs)
- 2x HH-60W "Jolly Green II" (reported to have taken fire during CSAR over Iran, cited making it into Iraq with significant smoke trail - no casualties reported, extent of damage/repair options TBC)
- 1x F-35A "Lightning II" (emergency landing after taking fire, pilot received medical care, extent of damage/repair options TBC)
- ?x KC-135R/T "Stratotanker" (1 lost with 6 crew KIA over Iraq, 1 damaged in same incident and hasn't flown since, 1+ destroyed on ground at Prince Sultan Airbase in same incident as E-3G, as yet unconfirmed reports of up to 5 additional damaged or destroyed at same or another base prior)

I have no doubt there are probably other incidents that are not publicly known yet, and obviously I've only included manned platforms here - I'm aware the MQ-9A "Reaper" UAV fleet has suffered several losses too.
Also, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Besides:
Iranian operatives have been digging out underground missile bunkers and silos struck by American and Israeli bombs, returning them to operation hours after an attack, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) still retaining a significant amount of its cruise and ballistic missiles as well as mobile launchers, according to recent U.S. intelligence reports shared with The New York Times.
Often, the proclamation of truth is obscured by what we today call “fake news” — lies, insinuations, and unfounded accusations. Yet, in the face of such obstacles, the truth does not remain hidden; rather, it comes forth to meet us, living and radiant, illuminating even the deepest darkness.
Not exactly what the Pope was getting at, but close enough for government work.
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🫪

U.S. President Donald J. Trump speaking about Tuesday’s ultimatum with Iran during this morning’s event celebrating Easter at the White House:

“We are obliterating their country. And I hate to do it, but we're obliterating it. They just don't want to say ‘uncle.’ They don't want to cry as the expression goes ‘uncle,’ but they will. And if they don't, They'll have no bridges. They'll have no power plants. They'll have no anything. I won't go further because there are other things that are worse than those two. And we might have, well, the thing, if I had my choice, what would I like to do? Take the oil because it's there for the taking. There's not a thing they can do about it. Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me, I'd take the oil. I'd keep the oil. I would make plenty of money.“
Saying the quiet part very loudly.
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FOUR MORE WARS! FOUR MORE WARS!

Trump’s “victory timeline” claims.

Mar 3: "We won the war."
Mar 7: "We defeated Iran."
Mar 9: "We must attack Iran."
Mar 9: "The war is ending almost completely, and very beautifully."
Mar 11: “You never like to say too ⁠early you won. We won. In ​the first hour it was over.”
Mar 12: "We did win, but we haven't won completely yet."
Mar 13: "We won the war."
Mar 14: "Please help us."
Mar 15: "If you don't help us, I will certainly remember it."
Mar 16: "Actually, we don't need any help at all."
Mar 16: "I was just testing to see who's listening to me."
Mar 16: "If NATO doesn't help, they will suffer something very bad."
Mar 17: "We neither need nor want NATO's help."
Mar 17: "I don't need Congressional approval to withdraw from NATO."
Mar 18: "Our allies must cooperate in reopening the Strait of Hormuz."
Mar 19: "US allies need to get a grip - step up and help open the Strait of Hormuz."
Mar 20: "NATO are cowards."
Mar 21: "The Strait of Hormuz must be protected by the countries that use it. We don't use it, we don't need to open it."
Mar 22: "This is the last time. I will give Iran 48 hours. Open the strait"
Mar 22: "Iran is Dead"

Mar 23: "We had very good and productive talks with Iran."
Mar 24: "We’re making progress."
Mar 25: “They gave us a present and the present arrived today. And it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. I’m not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize.”
Mar 26: "Make a deal, or we’ll just keep blowing them away."
Mar 27: "We don’t have to be there for NATO."
Mar 28: No major quote
Mar 29: Claimed talks were progressing
Mar 30: "Open the Strait of Hormuz immediately, or face devastating consequences."
Mar 31: Claimed a deal was "very close" and that Iran would "do the right thing"

Apr 1: "We’ll see what happens very soon."
Apr 2: Repeated that a deal was likely, while warning of continued strikes if not
Apr 3: "Something big is going to happen."
Apr 4: Said Iran must comply "immediately" or face further consequences.
Apr 5: "Open the fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah." 😂
(And yet the price of oil is $110 bbl.) (Democracy sux.) (He still thinks it's Venezuela redux.) "Shut up, children. War is good for you! We’re going to bomb you back to the Stone Age so you’ll be safe in years to come.” And why did you then decide they had until Wednesday? Coming soon to a campaign ad near you. 😵‍💫
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The Stable Genius Of Donald Trump

If you want to understand Trump’s on-again, off-again tweets about what he’s going to do to Iran, remember what he said in 2015. I get it’s easy to criticize Trump. But it’s more important to understand him:

In a 2015 radio interview with @hughhewitt , Trump repeatedly emphasized that U.S. leaders (and he himself as a potential leader) should avoid being too predictable in foreign policy and military matters, as this telegraphs intentions to adversaries and weakens negotiating or strategic positions.

When pressed on specific foreign policy scenarios (e.g., responses involving China or Middle East groups), Trump declined to detail plans, arguing that unpredictability was a strength:

“I wouldn’t want to tell you, because frankly, they have to, you know, somebody wrote a very good story about me recently, and they said there’s a certain unpredictability about Trump that’s great, and it’s what made him a lot of money and a lot of success. You don’t want to put, and you don’t want to let people know what you’re going to do with respect to certain things that happen. You don’t want the other side to know.”

He also told the WP:

“I don’t want them to know what I’m thinking, does that make sense? I want people to be guessing ... I don’t want people to figure it out. I don’t want people to know what my plan is. I have plans. I have plans! But I don’t want to do it.”
Sure, that’s it.
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Show Me The 💸 🤑

According to the U.S. Census Bureau:
The ACS shows that in 2022 the child (people under age 18) poverty rate was 16.3%, 3.7 percentage points higher than the overall rate. But the poverty rate among those age 65 and over was 10.9%, 1.6 percentage points lower than the overall rate. The poverty rate for those ages 18 to 64 was 11.7%.
So how does citizenship make money? For anyone? You can certainly earn money, over a lifetime. But making money just by the nature of your birth?

How does that work?
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Sunday, April 05, 2026

For The Umpteenth Time

There is only one provision for removing a President from office:
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Art. II, Sec. 4. That has to be done by impeachment in the House, and trial and conviction in the Senate. WHICH HAS NEVER HAPPENED IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY. And with the likes of Fetterman in the Senate, it would take a sweep of every open GOP seat to get a Senate that MIGHT change that history.

The Congress that passed the Civil War Amendments failed to remove Andrew Johnson by one vote.

The 25th allows the President to voluntarily, and temporarily, suspend himself from the duties of the office. It gives the same power to the VP AND the majority of the Cabinet. The Trump Cabinet of Sycophants. The President can reclaim his office, even if the VP and Cabinet majority stand firm. If that happens (i.e., there is a conflict), the matter goes to Congress. If each house doesn’t back the VP’s play by at least 2/3rds, the President retakes the reins.

The 25th will serve the nation’s interests as well as Art. II, Sec. 4, ever has.

Stop looking for fairies at the bottom of the garden.

Constitutional lawyer here. I don't think it would violate the Constitution for the VP/Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, but the intended constitutional remedy for this behavior is impeachment & removal. The fact that that remedy is politically impossible is a scandal and a crisis.
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Later That Same Easter Sunday

This is one of those “later” posts I was talking about.

Who is the third who walks always beside you?

When I count, there are only you and I together

But when I look ahead up the white road

There is always another one walking beside you

Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded

I do not know whether a man or a woman

—But who is that on the other side of you?

T.S Eliot, "The Waste Land"

So....Emmaus.

Stop me if you heard this one:  two guys are walking down the street, talking about a third guy who's not there because he's dead.  And that's what they're talking about; that he’s dead. And a stranger asks them what they're talking about, and they fill him in while thinking "Is this guy from out of town or something?"  And they get to a diner, and they invite him in to have dinner with 'em (seemed like the thing to do, ya know?) and in the middle of the meal suddenly they realize this guy is the guy they were talking about!  Who's supposed to be dead, but maybe not!  And then, as sure as he was there, this guy they were talking about, he's gone!

Waddya make o' that?

Now that same day two of them were traveling to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.  They were engaged in conversation about all that had taken place.  And it so happened during the course of their discussion, that Jesus himself approached and began to walk along with them. But they wouldn't recognize him.

He said to them, "What were you discussing as you walked along?"

Then they paused, looking depressed.  One of them, names Cleopas, said to him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know what happened there these last few days?"

And he said to them, "What are you talking about?"

And they said to him, "About Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet powerful in word and deed in the eyes of God and all the people, and about how our ranking priests and rulers turned him in to be sentenced to death, and crucified him. We were hoping that he would be the one who was going to ransom Israel. And as if this weren't enough, it's been three days now since all this happened. Meanwhile, some women from our group gave us quite a shock. They were at the tomb early this morning and didn't find his body. They came back claiming even to have seen a vision of heavenly messengers, who said that he was alive. Some of those with us went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had described; but nobody saw him."

And he said to them, "You people are so slow-witted, so reluctant to trust everything the prophets have said! Wasn't the Anointed One destined to undergo these things and enter into his glory?" Then, starting with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them every passage of scripture that referred to himself.

They had gotten close to the village to which they were going, and he acted as if he were going on. But they entreated him, saying, "Stay with us; it's almost evening, the day is practically over." So he went in to stay with them.

And so, as soon as he took his place at table with them, he took a loaf, and gave a blessing, broke it, and started passing it out to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

--Luke 24:13-31, SV 

"That same day" is the day we now call Easter Sunday.  It's the day of the resurrection.  "Two figures in dazzling clothing" (Luke 24:4b, SV) appeared at the tomb and announced the resurrection, but in Luke's version nobody has seen anything of Jesus yet.  And when they do, they don't know who he is.  Not until he eats with them at table.

It still surprises me this story isn't read at every eucharist.  Among the gospels, it is the only story where Jesus is revealed in taking a meal.  Yes, John has Jesus cooking fish on the beach, and eating it, but the disciples know it's Jesus when they walk up to him.  They're surprised to see him, but they know it's him.  Here two strangers to the audience of Luke's gospel share a meal with the man they've been mourning for three days; and they don't realize it until the bread is broken. If that's not a reference to the eucharist, I don't know what is.

But is the bread now his body?  Is that what Luke is saying? Does Jesus still have a body?  He seems to, but they don't recognize it; and as soon as they do, he leaves.  He vanishes; he disappears. Need I say, bodies don’t do that?

Don't overlook the gesture of hospitality, either.  I think that's more important here than ever we credit.  Abraham was visited by God in the three strangers who came to his tents at Mamre.  They stopped because Abraham invited them to.  They ate because he offered the meal.  Jesus stops at Emmaus because Cleopas and his unnamed friend invite him to, little knowing who he was.  But Abraham didn't know who was at his tent, either.  They were strangers, and he offered them the comforts of his home.  Cleopas and his companion offered a meal, probably at the home of one of them (there really weren't any restaurants as we imagine them, certainly not in a village like Emmaus.  I've lived in villages that small.  The one restaurant that was there while I was, was run out of an old home; and it didn't last long.  To offer someone a meal was to invite them into your home.  How many of us do that for strangers?).  Hospitality is a key aspect of Christ's teachings, but we overlook it.  We don't spend much time thinking about even his teachings on humility:  "The first of all will be last and servant of all."  We elevate "servant" to a position of public authority and honor, and while we more highly esteem the office holders who say they are the "servant of the people," that's not the meaning Jesus had in mind.  Servants served in households.  They served who ever came into that house, sat at that table.  Maybe today we should say "waitress of all."  And without even tips.

The Emmaus story is unique in the gospels.  There's no echo of it in John's post-resurrection stories, or in Matthew's.  Mark has one in the longer ending; it echoes Luke, almost:

A little later he appeared to two of them in a different guise as they were walking along on their way to the country.  And these two returned and told the others.  They did not believe them either.

But that longer ending could come from the same source as Luke’s. It certainly post-dates the original Mark, which ends with people running frightened from the empty tomb. Jesus' post-resurrection appearance in Mark is to Mary of Magdala, "from whom he had driven out seven demons."  But no one believes her; and they don't believe the unnamed two, either.

In Matthew, he appears to Mary of Magdala and "the other Mary," and the 11 go to the place in Galilee where the two women have told them to, and there they see Jesus, "though some were dubious."

In Luke, the Emmaus story leads directly into an appearance by Jesus among the 11, where he eats some fish (did he even taste the bread the first time?) to prove he's not a ghost.  Matthew has mentioned that the priests and elders bribed the guards to say the disciples stole the body, so stories were already about, challenging the gospel narratives.  John tells several stories to prove Jesus is no ghost; but no one says quite what he is now.  In Luke he teaches the disciples a bit more, and then leads them out to Bethany (!), where he ascends into heaven, proving he is no longer of this earth, even if he isn't a ghost.  (Bethany finally earns a mention in Luke here; it is the site of the anointings in the other three gospels).  It's the most interesting of the resurrection stories because it involves hiddenness (or disguise), revelation, appearance/disappearance, confusion, and strangers.  The two men in the story are strangers to us, the audience, which makes Jesus as a stranger even easier to grasp.  They should know him, but we don't know that clearly, because we don't know them.  We know Jesus, and think we'd have recognized him when these two (strangers to us, and therefore dismissible), don't.  But then, we are not among the 11; why would we do better? And why does Jesus appear to them, and not the 11; or Mary Magdalene, or "the other Mary"?  Where does Luke get this story, and, like his version of the anointing, what is he trying to tell us with this version of events?  A version unlike any other in the gospels, and yet as similar to them as his anointing is to the other three.

The story of Emmaus is no small thing.



(The painting, by the way: Caravaggio, capturing the gesture that reveals Jesus. Is it a familiar gesture? Or do they suddenly recognize Jesus? Either way, put it in motion and just after this frozen moment, Jesus vanishes. There in the picture…and then gone. No small thing, indeed.)

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Goalposts Anchored In Jello

Except he’s never mentioned troops on the ground. And even he knows better than to make us the only nation to use nukes: twice.
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I Was Through With Easter….


But then I thought; “What the hell?” Just decided I’d recover this and repost it. Granted it’s a bit dated, but…. Well, no; not really:
The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown, even in the Edda (Simrock, Mythol., 362); Anglo-Saxon, eâster, eâstron; Old High German, ôstra, ôstrara, ôstrarûn; German, Ostern.
Yes, it’s an English word.  No, there was no Teutonic god/goddess by that name. So there were no “pagan rituals” connected to them. Most such information is based on what Biblical scholars call “bullgeschicte.”
New Testament scholars have noted that since The DaVinci Code became a cultural phenomenon, there’s been a surge of conspiratorial claims about Jesus, the early church, and the influence of Pagan mystery religions. Authors such as Craig Evans and Bart Ehrman have written with bewilderment at the revival of “mythicist” theories of Jesus and “nineteenth-century philosophical hokum” that was long ago dismissed by serious scholars who read Greek and Hebrew.

All religious traditions change over time. However, to tell people of a different religion that they don’t know what their religious rituals actually mean is ipso facto not a historical argument but a sectarian one. The claim that Christians unknowingly practice a Pagan mystery religion has a long history combining sectarian claims with goofy pseudo-scholarship. It was Protestant Reformers, in fact, who first accused their Catholic rivals of adulterating Christianity with Paganism.

However, it was during the French Revolution that the “mythicist” claims first surfaced. Constantin Francois Volney, in his 1791 essay “Ruins of Empire,” claimed that all religions are derived from sun worship and that “Christ” is cognate with the Hindu “Krishna.” Charles Francois-Dupuis built on this idea in The Origins of All Religions (1795) and introduced discussion of Babylonian religion, including the resurrected god Tammuz. 
Nobody really knows where the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs came from. Probably just the celebration of spring or, especially in Europe and Russia, the end of Lent and return of eggs to the menu ( remember Shrove Tuesday and the end of eggs from the larder until Easter?). The Bunny? Well, bunnies and springtime are logical fits. 

I’m at least pretty damned sure it doesn’t predate Christianity.

And Easter Sunday just happens to be on March 31 this year. March 31 has been “Transgender Visibility Day” for a decade now.
Yeah, about that: welcome to the computus paschalis.
The connection between the Jewish Passover and the Christian feast of Easter is real and ideal. Real, since Christ died on the first Jewish Easter Day; ideal, like the relation between type and reality, because Christ's death and Resurrection had its figures and types in the Old Law, particularly in the paschal lamb, which was eaten towards evening of the 14th of Nisan. In fact, the Jewish feast was taken over into the Christian Easter celebration; the liturgy (Exsultet) sings of the passing of Israel through the Red Sea, the paschal lamb, the column of fire, etc. Apart, however, from the Jewish feast, the Christians would have celebrated the anniversary of the death and the Resurrection of Christ. But for such a feast it was necessary to know the exact calendar date of Christ's death. To know this day was very simple for the Jews; it was the day after the 14th of the first month, the 15th of Nisan of their calendar. But in other countries of the vast Roman Empire there were other systems of chronology. The Romans from 45 B.C. had used the reformed Julian calendar; there were also the Egyptian and the Syro-Macedonian calendar. The foundation of the Jewish calendar was the lunar year of 354 days, whilst the other systems depended on the solar year. In consequence the first days of the Jewish months and years did not coincide with any fixed days of the Roman solar year. Every fourth year of the Jewish system had an intercalary month. Since this month was inserted, not according to some scientific method or some definite rule, but arbitrarily, by command of the Sanhedrin, a distant Jewish date can never with certainty be transposed into the corresponding Julian or Gregorian date (Ideler, Chronologie, I, 570 sq.). The connection between the Jewish and the Christian Pasch explains the movable character of this feast. Easter has no fixed date, like Christmas, because the 15th of Nisan of the Semitic calendar was shifting from date to date on the Julian calendar. Since Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, had been slain on the very day when the Jews, in celebration of their Passover, immolated the figurative lamb, the Jewish Christians in the Orient followed the Jewish method, and commemorated the death of Christ on the 15th of Nisan and His Resurrection on the 17th of Nisan, no matter on what day of the week they fell. For this observance they claimed the authority of St. John and St. Philip. 
In the rest of the empire another consideration predominated. Every Sunday of the year was a commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ, which had occurred on a Sunday. Because the Sunday after 14 Nisan was the historical day of the Resurrection, at Rome this Sunday became the Christian feast of Easter. Easter was celebrated in Rome and Alexandria on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, and the Roman Church claimed for this observance the authority of Sts. Peter and Paul. The spring equinox in Rome fell on 25 March; in Alexandria on 21 March. At Antioch Easter was kept on the Sunday after the Jewish Passover. (See EASTER CONTROVERSY.) In Gaul a number of bishops, wishing to escape the difficulties of the paschal computation, seem to have assigned Easter to a fixed date of the Roman calendar, celebrating the death of Christ on 25 March, His Resurrection on 27 March (Marinus Dumiensis in P.L., LXXII, 47-51), since already in the third century 25 March was considered the day of the Crucifixion (Computus Pseudocyprianus, ed. Lersch, Chronologie, II, 61). This practice was of short duration. Many calendars in the Middle Ages contain these same dates (25 March, 27 March) for purely historical, not liturgical, reasons (Grotenfend, Zeitrechnung, II, 46, 60, 72, 106, 110, etc.). The Montanists in Asia Minor kept Easter on the Sunday after 6 April (Schmid, Osterfestberechnung in der abendlandischen Kirche). The First Council of Nicaea (325) decreed that the Roman practice should be observed throughout the Church. But even at Rome the Easter term was changed repeatedly. Those who continued to keep Easter with the Jews were called Quartodecimans (14 Nisan) and were excluded from the Church. The computus paschalis, the method of determining the date of Easter and the dependent feasts, was of old considered so important that Durandus (Rit. div. off., 8, c.i.) declares a priest unworthy of the name who does not know the computus paschalis. The movable character of Easter (22 March to 25 April) gives rise to inconveniences, especially in modern times. For decades scientists and other people have worked in vain for a simplification of the computus, assigning Easter to the first Sunday in April or to the Sunday nearest the 7th of April. Some even wish to put every Sunday to a certain date of the month, e.g. beginning with New Year's always on a Sunday, etc. [See L. Günther, "Zeitschrift Weltall" (1903); Sandhage and P. Dueren in "Pastor bonus" (Trier, 1906); C. Tondini, "L'Italia e la questione del Calendario" (Florence, 1905).]
Aren’t you sorry you asked? You didn’t? Well, you shouldn’t have.

(And I’m still uncertain about the advent of the Seder. Hebrew worship was temple based until 70 C.E., when the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. It may well be the Passover ritual was observed in homes, but dince
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FUBAR 🐣

When I read tweets and articles about possible war crimes in Iran:
Having an administration that’s very overtly in favor of performative war crimes is bad. But let’s not pretend this isn’t simply a reflection of American culture. Plenty of Americans reject the concept of war crimes and are enthusiastic about doing ANYTHING to enemies.

/2 Elements of civilization and modernity like ”there should be rules of war” or “there should be legal and moral limits on what you do to perceived enemies” have always been a tough sell with limited buy-in.
And then I remember what Israel did to Gaza/is doing to Lebanon and Iran, and I remember that Israel can never be a pariah state because “antisemitism.”

And I just laugh and laugh about “elements of civilization and modernity,” because I’m too old and cynical to weep over the state of the world anymore.
Besides, this: Somebody gave him one of those children’s picture book bibles I remember from my childhood.

Or just explained to him what Carlton Heston was doing in that movie.

It’s not the “absurd” the French existentialists meant. Because it’s so much worse than that.
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This Is Fine

Applebaum's piece is worth reading slowly because the specific details are doing work that the summary can't.

Danish military commanders - inside a NATO alliance the United States founded - had to sit in a room and war-game whether their forces would shoot down American planes and kill American soldiers. Some of them still haven't fully recovered from running that exercise. The most popular app in Denmark during Applebaum's visit was one that identifies American products so users know not to buy them.

NATO has invoked Article 5 exactly once in its history. On behalf of the United States. After September 11th. Allied troops went to Afghanistan and some of them died there. Trump told reporters those allies "stayed a little back, a little off the front lines." The families of soldiers who didn't come back heard that.

Now Trump is in the middle of a war in the Persian Gulf with the Strait of Hormuz locked, oil prices spiking, and he's telling NATO allies - the same ones he insulted and tariffed and threatened - that he's "demanding" they come help solve a problem his own decisions helped create.

Applebaum's conclusion is precise: he doesn't connect what he does on one day to what happens weeks later. Allied leaders have drawn their conclusions. The rupture, as Mark Carney called it, isn't coming. It already happened.
From the article:
Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places.

He does not consider the wider implications of his decisions. He does not take responsibility when these decisions go wrong. Instead, he acts on whim and impulse, and when he changes his mind—when he feels new whims and new impulses—he simply lies about whatever he said or did before.

For the past 14 months, few foreign leaders have been able to acknowledge that someone without any strategy can actually be president of the United States. Surely, the foreign-policy analysts murmured, Trump thinks beyond the current moment. Surely, foreign statesmen whispered, he adheres to some ideology, some pattern, some plan. Words were thrown around—isolationism, imperialism—in an attempt to place Trump’s actions into a historical context. Solemn articles were written about the supposed significance of Greenland, for example, as if Trump’s interest in the Arctic island were not entirely derived from the fact that it looks very large on a Mercator projection.

...

At times, the ugly talk changed into something worse. Before his second inauguration, Trump began hinting that he wouldn’t rule out using force to annex Greenland, a territory of Denmark, a close NATO ally. At first this seemed like a troll or a joke; by January 2026, his public and private comments persuaded the Danes to prepare for an American invasion. Danish leaders had to think about whether their military would shoot down American planes, kill American soldiers, and be killed by them, an exercise so wrenching that some still haven’t recovered. In Copenhagen a few weeks ago, I was shown a Danish app that tells users which products are American, so that they know not to buy them. At the time it was the most popular app in the country.
Isn’t this all perfectly obvious by now? Oh, by the way: And you know Trump didn’t come up with it. He just signed off on it. I really don’t know what Europe is worried about….
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Jesus Christ Superstar

Or if he’d just gone to Sunday school on Saturday and Sunday three times a week when he was young.
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Easter 🐣 Diplomacy

Same energy, via Popehat:
Trump’s motion for emergency review of the decision halting the East Wing project is astoundingly, historically bad and embarrassing and refers to the ballroom as “desperately needed” not once, not twice, but three times, which is plausible in a Bridgerton B-plot but not in an appellate brief.

/2 The motion reads as if it were drafted by a generative AI fed on Trump Truth Social posts and the NY Post. I genuinely lack the power of expression to say how bad it is.
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Readings For The Easter Vigil





The “Great Vigil” is properly a Holy Saturday service, held at night like the more well-known Christmas Eve midnight service. Or perhaps planned to coincide with Easter sunrise. 🌅 

I’ve never attended a proper Great Vigil. My knowledge if it comes from the UCC Book of Worship, which itself is mostly a nod to the Lutheran side of the denomination, and something of a scandal to the Congregationalist side (think of Roman Catholics bound to Baptists, to understand the liturgical culture clash). I used the vigil service in the Book of Worship to craft my own Easter liturgy, trying to add some drama and distinction to this highest of Christian holy days. It is very egotistical of me to admit I still miss it: presiding as well as experiencing. 

The service was “divided “ (the way a Shakespearean play is divided) into four services (or, really, themes): light; water; word; and Eucharist. I would open the service with lights off and altar bare: no candles, no flowers, no music. And process down the aisle with a tall paschal candle, place it in an equally tall holder beside the bare altar, and open with a prayer of invocation. Only then would the organ sound, the congregation sing, and as the lights came on, the white paraments came out, the Easter lilies were placed, and the altar candles lit from the paschal candle. The service of light continued, beginning with the reading from Genesis.

The readings are arranged around the salvific action of God in history, starting with Creation (which anchors the Creator to the creation, a not unimportant point). It also presents the “Fiat Lux,” a proper opening to the Service of Light. Which also happens to be where Creation starts.

I have long ago chosen the KJV because of its poetry and ease of access on the internet.  My preferred translations aren't readily available, and it’s too much to type out.  Apologies.
Service of Light 

 First Lesson:  The Creation 
Genesis 1:1-2:3

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Psalm 33:1-11

33 Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

2 Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

4 For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.

5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.

8 Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

10 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Second Lesson
Abraham's and Sarah's Faithfulness
Genesis 22:1-18

22 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

15 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Psalm 33:12-22

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the Lord helped me.

14 The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.

15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

18 The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord:

20 This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.

21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

23 This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.

26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

27 God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.

29 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.

31 And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.

Service Of Water
Water is representative of salvation in the story of the Red Sea, and the baptism which starts in the Christian scriptures with John the Baptizer. So is is also part of the salvation history.

The liturgy for this service also includes a renewal of baptismal vows.

Third Lesson
Israel's Deliverance at the Red Sea
Exodus 14:15-31 

15 And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:

20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,

25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

26 And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.

27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.

31 And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.

Exodus 15:1-10

15 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

2 The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

3 The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.

5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.

6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

Service of the Word and of Bread And Wine

I’ve combined the last two services because they connect to each other. These are the readings; in the liturgy the services would be distinguished by the sermon and then the Eucharist liturgy.

Fourth Lesson
Salvation Offered Freely To All
Isaiah 55:1-11

55 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.

5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 12:2-6

2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

New Testament Readings

Our Death and Resurrection in Jesus Christ
Romans 6:3-11

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 118

118 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

4 Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

5 I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.

6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.

8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them.

11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

12 They compassed me about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the Lord helped me.

14 The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.

15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

18 The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord:

20 This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.

21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

23 This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.

26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

27 God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.

29 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Gospel Lesson
Luke 24:1-12

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

In none of the gospels does the Easter story unfold all at once. The resurrection occurs between Saturday night (on our calendar) and Sunday morning; offstage, as it were. Everything after the empty tomb, is reports from later.
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Happy Easter, Y’all

 

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Saturday, April 04, 2026

Evening of Holy Saturday 2026



Now some women were observing this from a distance, among whom were Mary of Magdala, and Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses, and Salome. (These women) had regularly followed and assisted him when he was in Galilee, along with many other women who had come up to Jerusalem in his company.
In the canonical gospels it is consistently the women who pay attention to the body of Jesus. They appear in the Gospel of Mark for the first time at the tomb; but they are two of many, we are told. The irony is not lost on Matthew, who records the days before Jesus' death this way:

Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
And yet to this day, we don't know who she was. Most memorials are like that, though. We see the statue but have no idea who the person was, or what they did. Or we hear the stories, yet misunderstand them or lose their meaning over time. The crucifixion stories are especially subjects of this problem.

And when it had already grown dark, since it was preparation day (the day of the Sabbath), Joseph of Arimethea, a respected council member, who was himself anticipating God's imperial rule, appeared on the scene, and dared to go to Pilate to request the body of Jesus. And Pilate was surprised that he had died so soon. He summoned the Roman officer and asked him whether he had been dead for long. And when he had been briefed by the Roman officer, he granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a shroud and took him down and wrapped him in the shroud, and placed him in a tomb that had been cut out of rock, and rolled a stone up against the opening of the tomb.
The writer of Mark's gospel is concerned to allay stories that Jesus of Nazareth was not dead, and so never rose from the dead. Skepticism abounded, then as now, to such a claim. Joseph of Arimethea is a wealthy follower of Jesus, another unknown person in Mark's gospel until this point. He appears in order to make the burial in a tomb of a Nazarene peasant executed for sedition, for threatening the Pax Romana, credible. Dom Crossan argues it is more likely such a criminal was removed from the crucifix when dead, and tossed in a shallow pit, to be devoured by dogs and carrion eaters. It is not, on the other hand, impossible that a person notable enough to leave such a following behind, would be notable enough in his lifetime to have rich followers who would wish to honor their teacher in death. Paul, after all, had Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth (by law available only to royalty. Did he, though? Did Jesus have Joseph of Arimathea? Who can say for sure? May it be unto you according to your faith.)

Crossan's version helps us strip away the patina of the story after 2000 years, to see it as less an inevitabilty leading to Easter morning, and more as a finality ended before Holy Saturday. That takes us back to the original day, something Christians try to do, ritually, every year. Well, some Christians.

Versions are important here. One version of the Easter story relates it to Ishtar and Sumeria, "[i]n the Sumerian tradition, in which much of the Bible is rooted."  The Gospels, however, are also rooted in Greek traditions, no surprise as they are written in Greek, not in a Semitic tongue like Aramaic or Hebrew. Stories of the resurrection of heroes are not unknown in Greek literature; they reflect the special favor of the hero by the gods. Paul's account of the resurrection (which, aside from the eucharist, is all Paul ever tells us about the life of Jesus of Nazareth) reflect this understanding of the resurrection. Is the story related to that of Dumuzi and Ishtar? Frankly, that one sounds more like Persephone than Jesus of Nazareth, especially as the "descent into hell" and the "harrowing of hell" are not mentioned in the gospels at all, and come much later in Christian doctrine. But again, versions and interpretations highlight the humanity of the stories. These are myths, perhaps, but "a myth traditionally is not just a false tale. Rather, it is a story that, at least at one point in time, had a very powerful spiritual resonance. The story of death and resurrection is one such story." Restoring the power to that story is ever the task of the body of believers. Annually, is good.
And Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joses noted where he had been laid to rest.
It is a woman who anoints Jesus in all four gospels. And in all four stories, it is women who come to the tomb first. Women care for the dead as if they were living; or, more importantly, as if death really meant something.

2000 years later, it still does, and still should. We gather to worship and pray at the tomb of a crucified god. We gather as human beings, acutely aware of our own mortality beside the tomb.

Job 14:1-14

14:1 "A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,

14:2 comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last.

14:3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one? Do you bring me into judgment with you?

14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one can.

14:5 Since their days are determined, and the number of their months is known to you, and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,

14:6 look away from them, and desist, that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.

14:7 "For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.

14:8 Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground,

14:9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.

14:10 But mortals die, and are laid low; humans expire, and where are they?

14:11 As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up,

14:12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep.

14:13 Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

14:14 If mortals die, will they live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my release should come.

And aware of our own pain and grief:

Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24

 3:1 I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God's wrath;

3:2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;

3:3 against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.

3:4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;

3:5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;

3:6 he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.

3:7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;

3:8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;

3:9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.

3:19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!

3:20 My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.

3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

3:22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;

3:23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

3:24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

And if we are so inclined, we pray:

Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16

31:1 In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.

31:2 Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.

31:3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name's sake lead me and guide me,

31:4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.

31:15 My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.

31:16 Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.

And remember the story that stops at the tomb:

Matthew 27:57-66

27:57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus.

27:58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

27:59 So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth

27:60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.

27:61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

27:62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate

27:63 and said, "Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise again.'

27:64 Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, 'He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception would be worse than the first."

27:65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can."

27:66 So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
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