Many of the scenes from this play have been broken up and are sold separately as skits: On The Way To The Tomb, On The Road To Emmaus, Sorrow Turned To Joy, Burning Hearts, Believing Thomas, and the entire play can be found in Scenes From The Life Of Christ. Also, some of the scenes are included in the smaller cast version of the story: Witnesses.
LARGE: CLEOPAS
SUPPORTING: MARY, JAMES’ MOTHER; CLEOPAS’ FRIEND; MOTHER MARY; SALOME; ANDREW; GUARD ONE; GUARD TWO; SIMON THE ZEALOT; JOANNA; THOMAS AND NATHANAEL (also known as Bartholomew).
SMALL: MATTHEW, PHILIP, ANGEL, JAMES, THADDEUS, JAMES THE LESS AND 2ND ANGEL.
Excerpt:(As the play begins…4 women are approaching the tomb: Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, Joanna and Salome.)
MARY, JAMES’ MOTHER: Salome, did you bring spices?
SALOME: Yes, I purchased them as soon as Sabbath was over. I hope I have enough.
JOANNA: I also bought some, so we should have plenty. But then, we cannot have too much for our Lord.
SALOME: I agree. (Pause) Oh how I wish I were doing something else this morning. This is going to be an awful reminder of the events of the past few days.
MARY, JAMES’ MOTHER: I have thought of nothing else. My Alphaeus just holds me at night as we both weep over what has happened to our Lord. He was more than willing to allow me to come and anoint His body this morning. I do believe this will be good to help us with our grief.
SALOME: I suppose you are right. Your husband is a good man…and so are your sons.
MARY, JAMES’ MOTHER: Yes, I am proud of my James. When he first told us that he was going to follow Jesus, Alphaeus and I were not sure about him doing that. He was grown, and we could not stop him, but we came and listened to Jesus teach, so we could see for ourselves, just what James was talking about. After hearing Jesus only once, I knew that there was something very special about Him. We became followers as well, and his brother, Joses. Then, when James was chosen by the Lord to be one of the twelve, we were so thrilled and honored.
SALOME: Why is your son called James the Less?
MARY, JAMES’ MOTHER: He did not want to be confused with the other disciple called James, you know, the son of Zebedee and brother of John; so he called himself James the Less, as he felt the other James was closer to The Master.
SALOME: Humbling himself.
MARY, JAMES’ MOTHER: Yes, well the other James was in the inner circle, you know, Peter, James and John.
MARY MAGDALENE: I am sure that our Lord was blessed by you as well, Mary. I have seen you bring contributions on many occasions, and that really helps when there are so many traveling together with nothing.
MARY, JAMES’ MOTHER: Well, we all help when we can. Joanna, you certainly are a blessing with all your gifts.
JOANNA: I am blessed to have the means to do it. My husband, Chuza is paid well as Herod’s steward. He is good to allow me to help. I have been thinking that I should bring some food today for the men as they are remaining together. Are they still in the upper room?
MARY MAGDALENE: Yes, I believe they are staying there for awhile.
Later…
JOHN: Peter! Did you feel that earthquake this morning?
PETER: How could I not? I thought the world was coming to an end.
JOHN: Of course you did. Don’t you think it was the Lord?
PETER: John… It was an earthquake.
JOHN: Peter! After all the miracles we have seen, you say that? If it were not the Lord, at least the Father sent that quake this morning!
PETER: Yes, perhaps. But why an earthquake…what purpose would there be in that?
JOHN: I don’t know. It seems that it might have something to do with the Lord’s death. There was an earthquake when He died, and we know that was from God. I’m sure all earthquakes are from God. He is saying something.
PETER: What is He saying? Why did He let His Son die? You heard our Lord on the cross, He cried out to His Father, “Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The sky had turned dark… it was as if the Father had left Him all alone there! I don’t understand why all of this has happened! I’ve been trying to make sense of everything. My mind runs back over all the events that took place. But there are things I just can’t remember. I’ve been trying to recall everything that Jesus said to us before. He was telling us so many things… I could not take it all in. I thought there would be time to understand it. All that stuff He was saying the other night… about how He is the vine and we are the branches… and how we need to abide in Him… and how we are to love one another…
JOHN: (suddenly remembering) He said, “There is no greater love than that One lay down His life for His friends.”
PETER: For what purpose? Why should He die for us?
JOHN: Because we deserve to die. He certainly didn’t deserve it. He never did anything wrong.
PETER: Yes, you are right! It should have been me! That very night He told me that I would deny Him three times! I argued with Him…I said “No! Not me! I will never deny you… I will die with you!
JOHN: (consoling) We all said we would die with Him.
PETER: But I was so vocal about it! He said we would all fall away, and I said that even if all of you fall away, I would never fall away, and then He said I would deny Him!
JOHN: Peter…
PETER: I did it John! I denied Him! Three times I did it! You were there, you heard me! He heard me! He looked right at me!
JOHN: And you wept bitterly and repented of it. Peter, the Lord knows…
PETER: I did not speak to Him again. They had their trial… they condemned Him… they beat Him…they scourged Him…they mocked Him and forced Him to carry His own cross…they crucified Him. I should have died, not Him!
JOHN: I know how you feel Peter. We all ran…everyone of us. When Judas arrived with his army to take Him away, we all scattered, just as He said we would. It wasn’t just you.
Later…
(Lights come up as Guard 2 is pacing back and forth in another area of the stage. Guard 1 enters)
GUARD ONE: It’s alright, I told them everything.
GUARD TWO: You did? What did they say? Did they believe you?
GUARD ONE: Let me put it this way… (He pulls out a bag of coin and hands it to him) This one is yours.
GUARD TWO: What’s this?
GUARD ONE: Your pay.
GUARD TWO: My pay? …For what?
GUARD ONE: For telling the story correctly. We are to say “His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.”
GUARD TWO: Asleep?! We fainted! Did you tell them that we fainted? Did you tell them what we saw?
GUARD ONE: Of course I told them. They never want to hear that version again. They like their version better. (He opens the bag to show him the money)
GUARD TWO: There is a great deal of money in there. The Jewish elders are paying us off? Why would they do that?
GUARD ONE: Because they believe that stories will circulate that this Jesus came back from the dead. If we tell what we saw this morning, then that would only help make that story seem true.
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