The Easter gospel lesson's structure

"They have taken my Lord away," says a tearful Mary Magdalene, "and I do not know where they have laid him." Mary utters some version of this lament three times in the Easter Sunday reading from John. D. Moody Smith calls it "an answer of unparalleled poignancy."

I've long been interested in the ancient art of chiastic writing. A chiasm (KY-asm) arranges a text in a concentric structure. Actions, motifs and keywords proceed to the center of the sentence, episode or section and then reappear in reverse order. Chiasms are the ABCBAs of biblical-era storytelling, perhaps used as mnemonic aids for those who would recite to the unlettered majority. (For more on chiasms, read my Century article on the subject [subscribers only].)

Charles H. Talbert offers a four-step chiasm for Sunday's 18-verse episode: