Under the Lectionary

A Special Pascha Essay—Part Four of Five The city is quiet. Shabbat is ending. The first pale suggestion of light has not yet reached the horizon over Jerusalem, and the streets are empty in the way that streets are only empty when something has just finished and something else has not yet begun. In a […]

A Special Pascha Essay—Part Three of Five The Greek word is stauros—a term that can denote an upright stake or a cross structure more broadly; the exact shape is not specified by the text. The T-shaped cross of Christian iconography, the crux immissa of later tradition, is not specified by the text and was not established by early

A Special Pascha Essay—Part Two of Five Thirty pieces of silver. Counted into a hand in the dark, somewhere in Jerusalem, while the city was still full of Passover pilgrims and the smell of sacrifice still hung in the air from the Temple courts. The amount was not arbitrary. Zechariah 11:12 names it as the price a

A Special Pascha Essay—Part One of Five The room is close and warm. Twelve men have gathered in Jerusalem—a city swollen beyond its seams with pilgrims, the air thick with smoke from the Temple courts, the sounds of an ancient festival pressing through every wall. Their teacher rises from the table. He removes his outer

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is G-d’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it