Written by Warren Sager
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
CLEOPAS: (Speaks 1298 words) A follower of Christ
MARY: (Speaks 1395 words) Wife of Cleopas. Mother of James, the less.
INNKEEPER: (Speaks 1109 words) Jewish man (Aaron) Questions what is happening
SALOME: (Speaks 927 words) Mother of James and John and wife of Zebedee
THADDEUS: (Speaks 887 words) One of the 12 disciples
DANIEL: (Speaks 750 words) Another guest at the Inn. (Fictional)
JAMES: (Speaks 535 words) Cleopas and Mary’s son, a disciple, (James, the less)
THOMAS: (Speaks 286 words) The doubting disciple
JESUS: (Speaks 284 words) in Emmaus road scene only.
EXCERPT:
Cleopas, Mary, James and Thaddeus enter.
CLEOPAS Aaron!
INNKEEPER What are you doing back here? I thought you went home!
CLEOPAS We did! Then we walked all the way back!
MARY Aaron, we only stopped here because we wanted to share with you what has happened.
INNKEEPER But you brought your son with you? You are putting us in danger!
JAMES We were very careful. No one knows we are here.
DANIEL Are you sure?
INNKEEPER Who is this?
JAMES This is my friend, Thaddeus.
DANIEL Are you one of the twelve, too?
THADDEUS Yes. But we came tonight to share something very exciting with you!
INNKEEPER Not that crazy story that someone saw Jesus of Nazareth alive after he was clearly dead!
MARY Aaron… we saw Him!
INNKEEPER What?
CLEOPAS It’s true. We were on the road to Emmaus and a man joined us and began to talk and walk along with us.
DANIEL A stranger?
CLEOPAS Yes.. As far as we knew.
DANIEL What do you mean?
MARY It was Jesus… but for some reason.. He hid his true identity from us.
DANIEL He hid it? He was wearing a veil… what? How could he…?
CLEOPAS We can’t explain it. We just simply did not recognize Him. But he knew the scriptures so well and we felt our hearts burning within us as He spoke to us. He explained how the scriptures tell of the Messiah and how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies.
MARY I asked Cleopas if we could invite Him to our home. And He came and broke bread with us.
CLEOPAS It was at the moment that He blessed the bread… that suddenly our eyes were opened and we recognized who He was.
DANIEL And then what happened?
CLEOPAS This is the part that you just won’t believe.
INNKEEPER I don’t know if I believe any of it!
CLEOPAS He disappeared.
DANIEL He what?
MARY He vanished. Right before our eyes! One minute He was standing there… and the next He was not.
INNKEEPER Alright now… I have heard enough… this is getting to be so far…
CLEOPAS Aaron.. I know that you have a hard time accepting and believing this… but we walked all the way back to Jerusalem… the same day! Why would we do that to tell you a false story?
DANIEL And you came straight here?
JAMES Well, no. They came to see me first. Me and the others.
THADDEUS They wanted us all to hear their exciting news. And it was just what we needed.
DANIEL What do you mean?
THADDEUS Our friend, Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb early this morning.
MARY I had gone with her.
THADDEUS But when she told Peter and John about the body being gone and the angels… well they ran there, too. After that, Jesus appeared to her.
INNKEEPER Or so she says.
DANIEL You have to admit, it is quite amazing. Quite the story! You can’t blame us for questioning.
THADDEUS Of course.. And we were wanting to believe her, but at the same time… we were wondering, skeptical, and afraid.
DANIEL What were you afraid of?
JAMES The guards mostly. We figured they would tell that we came and stole the body.
INNKEEPER I’m sure that is exactly what has happened.
THADDEUS But Mary and John reminded us that Jesus told us He would rise again. For some reason, we never understood what He meant. Or we just didn’t believe that part.
DANIEL So, I take it that John believes Mary saw Him.
THADDEUS John believed right away. The rest of us wanted to… but I think we needed to see Him ourselves.
DANIEL (Gestures to Cleopas and Mary) So, now that these two have seen Him…
INNKEEPER Claim to have!
DANIEL Alright, Aaron. Now, does that help you to also believe?
THADDEUS It was fantastic, of course! When they arrived back today and began to share.. We were all very excited to hear the news.
JAMES I think some of us were wondering why Jesus would appear to these two, and to Mary, rather than to us twelve.
DANIEL I was wondering the same thing. You would think if He really came back, that He would come back to His main followers.
THADDEUS Not that we deserved it. We all failed Him when He needed us the most. All but John.
DANIEL What do you mean?
THADDEUS When He was arrested in the garden… we all ran! We went into hiding. We were scared.
DANIEL Seems natural.
THADDEUS I think we were all very much ashamed. John was the only one who went to the crucifixion. A few of us watched from a great distance. So, you see… we needed something. Some good news. Mary’s news was exciting, but it wasn’t enough.
DANIEL I think you needed to see that with your own eyes. I understand that.
THADDEUS Well, a second appearing didn’t hurt. When these two arrived with their news… we were all very excited.
INNKEEPER (Skeptical, questioning) So, you can just believe it! You can accept this to be true without seeing with your own eyes!
THADDEUS Yes. Most of us do believe it now. One does not. Thomas is just not accepting it yet. He needs to see Him… and not only that… He needs to touch His wounds. That is what He said.
DANIEL Why does Thomas doubt when the rest of you don’t?
THADDEUS He did not see Him. That is my part of the story… our exciting part!
DANIEL What? What happened?
THADDEUS We were all in the upper room hearing Cleopas and Mary tell their story… when suddenly.. He was standing there in the middle of us! Jesus Christ was there in the room with us! It was so totally amazing!
DANIEL So, you’ve all seen Him now? Aaron, with all these witnesses… maybe there is something to it. They have all seen Him!
THADDEUS All but Thomas. He was not there. Arrived back just minutes after Jesus vanished from us, too.
INNKEEPER Perhaps you are all seeing ghosts.
MARY Do ghosts eat food?
THADDEUS He wanted something to eat. We gave Him some fish and He ate it.
DANIEL You saw Him eat! Amazing! Aaron!
INNKEEPER Daniel, you are far too quick to believe them!
DANIEL Why should I not believe them? They have all seen Him alive! A man that was crucified just a few days ago!
JAMES There was no question. It was Him.
THADDEUS Cleopas and Mary told us of your conversations and your questions. We just wanted you to know.
INNKEEPER But it is dangerous for you to be here! Dangerous for us!
THADDEUS I know, and I’m sorry about that. These are dangerous times. We won’t stay long. We actually don’t want to be away from the rest for long… in case He comes back again.
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