It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

• Luke 23:44-56

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. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 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? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 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.

• Luke 24:1-12

Lately, I have been thinking about how I have been writing quizzes for this blogpost for about five years, but I have never made an Easter quiz.  I have an idea for a complicated one.  Well, it would take time to research, but taking it would be like taking some of my tougher questions.

But then, I thought about why I have never had an Easter quiz.  The answer is simple.  I write quizzes to appear on Saturday.  But then Holy Saturday, or simply the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is where I should put this quiz and for my first Easter Quiz, I have five consecutive verses from Mark 15 about when Jesus died.  Then I have five consecutive verses from Mark 16 about when some people found the empty tomb.

So, what kind of a quiz is that?

I forgot to mention that I left one word out of each verse.  Your job is to supply the missing word.  All the verses are quoted from the NIV.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	With a loud ____, Jesus breathed his last.
2	The ____ of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
3	And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of ____!”
4	Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary ____, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome.
5	In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come ____ with him to Jerusalem were also there.
6	But when they looked up, they saw that the ____, which was very large, had been rolled away.
7	As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a ____ robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
8	“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has ____! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
9	But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he ____ you.’”
10	Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were ____.

With some fill-in-the-blank quizzes, I give a word list.  But I feel a fictional story might be in order.  Let me tell you this story:

A man walked up to Sol, “Sir, why are you so sad?  I see you cry.”

Sol held up a stained curtain.  He said, “This curtain was my wife’s favorite.  She was pulling it closed as a gang member came by and sprayed bullets into the houses.  My wife was killed.  These curtains are stained with her blood.  I prayed to God, but the laundry service could not clean the curtain.  I am sorry.  You must think me being Magdalene.”

The man smiled, “I think you meant maudlin.  But I don’t mind.”

Sol sighed, “Maudlin, Magdalene, what’s the difference when you are totally bereft.”

The man said, “You have to go through the grief process on your own, but counseling is available.  As for the curtain, my wife is an old home body.  If anyone can perform a miracle with blood stains, she can.  We live in the apartment building here.  Do you mind walking up a flight of stairs?  We are on the second floor.”

When we arrived at the apartment, the woman greeted us holding a large stone.

Sol looked inquisitively.  She smiled, “I was grinding grain with this stone.  I see your white curtain with the blood stain.  I can fix that, but I must get the dough in the oven that has been proofing for some time.”

Her husband said softly, “The dough has risen.”

Sol sat at the kitchen table.  He was totally lost in his amazement as the woman worked the dough and placed it in the oven.  He thought about how much work that had already been done in grinding the grain.  She had told him to wait.  Sol hated waiting, but this was entertaining and educational.  For the first time in a long time, he was not afraid.

With the bread in the oven and some fresh fruit to munch on, Sol leaned back as she took hydrogen peroxide and his curtain to the sink.  She hand scrubbed one spot after another until the curtain was cleansed of all the stains.  She showed him that the stains were gone, but she had to run the curtain through a wash cycle to thoroughly clean it.  Sol began to cry again, this time out of happiness.  He would have this curtain to remember his wife.  They talked a little longer with the smell of freshly baked bread filling the apartment.  The couple cut to loaf into two pieces and gave him half, along with his freshly washed curtain that had just come out of the dryer.

A week later, Sol returned to the apartment with a large pan of hand-made lasagna, his late wife’s secret recipe.  He wanted to show the couple his gratitude.  No one answered the door.  The neighbor across the hall walked up.  “Sir, no one has lived there for over a month.  When the last tenants left, they found that the oven did not work, so they may not rent there until the oven gets fixed.”

Sol thought, ‘There is no way I can eat all this lasagna.  I am just one person.’  Sol turned to the neighbor, “Do you like lasagna?  I have a huge tray of it, and a story you might never believe.”

And so, Sol met even more new friends, which might have been the goal of his mysterious friends across the hall.

Oh, the answers to the ten questions can be found in the story, in the order of the questions.  Multiple uses of one of the answers or another might have been necessary for the flow of the story.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	With a loud ____, Jesus breathed his last.	Mark 15:37
2	The ____ of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.	Mark 15:38
3	And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of ____!”	Mark 15:39
4	Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary ____, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome.	Mark 15:40
5	In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come ____ with him to Jerusalem were also there.	Mark 15:41
6	But when they looked up, they saw that the ____, which was very large, had been rolled away.	Mark 16:4
7	As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a ____ robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.	Mark 16:5
8	“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has ____! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.	Mark 16:6
9	But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he ____ you.’”	Mark 16:7
10	Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were ____.	Mark 16:8

I would like to work on prophecies that tie into the triumphal entry, crucifixion, and resurrection.  The entirety of Holy Week, but I may have to set my calendar and do that next year.

This post was basically inspired by my son asking, “Dad, how can you write a quiz about Easter?”

There are a lot of ways, and some ways might seem trivial.  But I thought a fill in the blank quiz with hints imbedded in a fictional story about mysterious people paying things forward…

Happy Holy Week and remember that from the blood of Jesus on Good Friday to the Empty Tomb on Sunday, we get victory over sin and death.

If Sol lived in the big city of Tracy, he’d get a call from Lt. Deviled Yeggs.  I enjoy my fictional writing.  This idea of hinting at ten answer, in question order is an interesting challenge.  It reminds me of when Kathy Boecher, of atimetoshare.me, challenged me to write something using idioms.  Since I like mystery stories, Deviled Yeggs was born, in the time of about two hours and my mind was on overload with mystery idioms.  The mysteries continue.  I do not have an accurate account, but it is probably near 200 stories, not counting the Babs and Harold Conversations and Stinker’s Sunday School Class.  That would make it well over 200.  And I thought that particular muse had left me…  Thank you, Kathy.  God did the healing, but you gave me the shove.

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	With a loud ____, Jesus breathed his last.	Mark 15:37	cry
2	The ____ of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.	Mark 15:38	curtain
3	And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of ____!”	Mark 15:39	God
4	Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary ____, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome.	Mark 15:40	Magdalene
5	In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come ____ with him to Jerusalem were also there.	Mark 15:41	up
6	But when they looked up, they saw that the ____, which was very large, had been rolled away.	Mark 16:4	stone
7	As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a ____ robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.	Mark 16:5	white
8	“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has ____! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.	Mark 16:6	risen
9	But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he ____ you.’”	Mark 16:7	told
10	Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were ____.	Mark 16:8	afraid

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here are First-Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (DIADEM).  This hymn, with this melody, started the sunrise services where I learned how to sing tenor.  The tenor for this hymn is so far “out there” that I can easily see if the tenors are even trying.  It’s more of a descant in every verse – brutal, but beautiful if you really get it right.  In the next to last verse, just before the brass joins back in, I heard one tenor trying, just a bit of it, but they may have had a less ambitious arrangement.  We had xerox copies in some cases, of pages from a hymnal that had been out of print since the 1800s and a tyrannical choir director that would drill us until we all got our parts down – my mother.  And to add to the complexity of full octave jumps and such, we sang it nearly twice as fast.  “The song can drag if you sing it any slower.”  But somehow, Easter morning is not the same without it.  And when I hear this video, my brain is saying “Faster!  Faster!”

Here is hymncharts singing Christ Arose (Low in the Grave He Lay).  This one makes the list due to a different “difficult” choir director.  She had found a beautiful modern arrangement for this hymn, but it had a catchy calypso beat.  The choir director, an LTC wife, her husband being my boss’ boss…  She finally let us sway our hips.  The beat was so catchy that you could not avoid it.  Then, having the emphasis on off beats, the phrases in the sentences of the song were in odd places.  So, the tenors, me and a signal corps Spec4, would ask her to go over certain parts of “Low, in the Gravy.”  We nearly had her in tears trying to explain that regardless of syncopation, we had even more reason to enunciate properly.  It was “Low, in the Grave He.”  Each time she had her tantrum, the rest of the choir, including her husband on the saxophone, were doubling over laughing.  Maybe, someday in Heaven, Jesus will walk over and say, “That was in poor taste.  It was not funny.”  But I think he’ll come over to tell me He was laughing too.

Here is First Methodist Church Downtown, Houston, Texas singing He Lives.  It is simply a favorite.  Why are there so many great Resurrection Hymns with echo refrains?  Great!  Great!  Great!

Here is the King’s College Choir singing Jesus Christ is Risen Today.

I think the reason I have not had an Easter Quiz before is that I haven’t even scratched the surface on great hymns.

But when you leave the church on Easter, rejoice.

HE IS RISEN!

HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.