The Empty Tomb
The morning was quiet, the sun beginning to rise and touch the hills surrounding Jerusalem and the buildings within its walls with soft golden light. Ananias left the inner courts of the Temple, the words of the Shema fading away behind him as he stepped into the Court of the Gentiles. “Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ehad.” Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. The smell of animals still filled the courtyard from all the beasts that had inhabited it in the days preceding the Passover, and the Pharisee could still hear the tumultuous noise in his memory. But right now the Temple grounds were quiet
