Previous Post Before Dawn

First, I read the story as straight fiction. I'm Jewish. It was pleasant, certainly inoffensive, and forthright as a retelling of the Passion. Indeed, what is striking is how passive and forgiving the Magdalene and the Apostles are: a single gibe about the High Priest (who even in our history is remembered as a quisling) and no resentment toward the crowds who cheered the crucifixion. At first I thought you were being deliberately inoffensive, and then I reflected that instead you might be depicting them as ideals of Christian forgiveness, focused on the teaching rather than the anger from the loss.

There are almost infinite fictions about Christmas and the Virgin Mary and the saints, so I suspect what you see as a fear of storytelling stems not from a reluctance to develop prose fictions as much as it is a fear of tainting the central mystery of the resurrection. In any case, I related to it as midrash, a homiletical story form that pervades Jewish thought, and agree with you that it allows us to contemplate the events from a different perspective.

A few nits:

Golgotha and the Garden Tomb (if you follow Gen. Gordon), I think, were both north of the biblical city and uphill. The right hand path led to woodyards for the temple sacrifices and abattoirs.

The best ribbon is a cute device and echoes many Christmas tales.

I had always thought that Jesus was addressed as "Rabbi," "my master," not "teacher." "mori." Did you intend to make a point by that?

Soon after Herod the Great's death in 4 BC, Judea was ruled by Roman procurators, including Pontius Pilate. Herod's son Antipas, who ruled the Galilee, was uninvolved in the Passion.

Passover was a seven day holiday; Easter Sunday was the third day, a working day on which almost anything could be done so long as the holiday's rules were kept. The holiday had not ended.

Wishing you and your family a Happy Easter and, more importantly, the joy and courage that faith brings us all.