The Vanquished. Joseph of Arimathea

Gabriel Trarieux

To Monsieur Edouard Schuré

Monsieur,

I beg you to receive this drama, whose idea, on that winter evening when I had described it to you, had pleased you, I remember, for I was strengthened by it. Uncertain of what fate holds in store for it, in these days when the words “poem” and “drama” are rarely associated with one another, and those of “Art” and “Religion” more rarely still, I dedicate it to you knowing well that these reasons for disfavor will count for nothing in your eyes. Many pages of your fine books bear witness to that with sufficient force. And I shall be happy if you judge, despite the defeat of effort before the implacable Ideal, that I have well served these two great causes, where one ought to see but a single one, of Drama and of Poetry.

But above all I dedicate it to you because the thought that animates it will be recognized without surprise by the author of The Great Initiates. I hope I have put nothing in these lines that could shock or wound, even if they do not express the belief of truly religious souls. And yet I fear for them some misunderstanding. I fear that the dust heaped by the adoration of centuries upon a divine Figure may cause one to judge sacrilegious the man who, even with a sincere heart, strives to restore it to its primitive splendor. My hope lies in those who, like you, believe the truth entirely pure to be more tragic and also more sublime than the holiest fictions. We cannot let ourselves be turned away from praying in our own manner, either by those who confine Jesus in a supernatural glory, or by those who, holding him to be a mere man, think to strip him of his radiance. We are a few of this kind, and tomorrow we shall be more numerous, for whom the new prophecies and the ancient beliefs seem sacred on the same grounds, and who feel their hearts large enough to embrace in its fullness the patrimony of humanity.

Gabriel Trarieux

O truly thou art a hidden God, God of Israel who savest!

Hebrew Canticle

Joseph of Arimathea

CHARACTERS

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, a Pharisee, friend of Jesus. NICODEMUS, a Pharisee, friend of Jesus. CEPHAS, a young Pharisee. (The rich young man.) HANAN, a Sadducee, father-in-law of Caiaphas. CAIAPHAS, high priest, head of the Sanhedrin. PONTIUS PILATE, procurator of Judea. PETER, disciple of Jesus, apostle. JOHN, disciple of Jesus, apostle. JUDAS OF KERIOTH, disciple of Jesus, apostle. MARY OF MAGDALA. THE MOTHER OF THE ZEBEDEES. MARY, mother of James. JOANNA, wife of Chuza. PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES, members of the Sanhedrin. DISCIPLES OF JESUS. THE PILGRIMS OF EMMAUS. ROMAN SOLDIERS. A SERVANT OF PONTIUS PILATE. AN ESSENE. A SLAVE.

The drama takes place in Jerusalem, on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of Nisan, eighteen centuries ago.

The play was read at the Bodinière by M. Coquelin the elder on April 15 and 20, 1897, and performed at the Théâtre Antoine on April 8, 1898.

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ACT ONE

A vast hall in the palace of the Procurator, open at the back by a triple bay with columns, through which one sees Jerusalem lit by the rising sun. To the left, a door giving onto the interior of the palace. At the back, to the right of the bay, a second door preceded by a few steps, opening onto the praetorium. Pharisees and Sadducees come and go in groups, conversing with gestures. In the background, Hanan seated and Caiaphas standing are surrounded by numerous priests. In the foreground to the right, Joseph of Arimathea, alone, is lost in thought. He is a man nearing old age, slightly lame in the right leg. One hears at intervals, coming from the praetorium, the voices of a crowd.

A PHARISEE

The sun lights the city… The Procurator is slow to come!

A SADDUCEE

When it is we who are waiting, he hardly stirs.

SECOND PHARISEE

The people are murmuring. Listen to the voices!

FIRST PHARISEE

Yes, yes, the streets are still deserted, but the praetorium is already full. If they do not make haste to be done with it, let us fear disturbances.

THE SADDUCEE

Nothing to fear from that quarter. They are all from Jerusalem; they do not love the Nazarene. The pilgrims from Galilee sleep scattered in the countryside, at Bethesda or Bethphage, for want of room within the walls… By the time they come up to the temple, it will be too late!

FIRST PHARISEE

Amen! For one night’s work, the deed is well done.

THE SADDUCEE (looking toward Hanan)

That one knows how to manage affairs.

SECOND PHARISEE

Indeed! He knew how to find that faithless apostle, that malcontent with greedy hands, who found the promises too slow and took his revenge for his disappointments… How parched he was with hatred! What is his name?

THE SADDUCEE

Judas.

SECOND PHARISEE

We could not have acted so soon without him.

THE SADDUCEE

Now, victory is ours.

FIRST PHARISEE

We shall no longer see, from dawn to dusk, in the court of the Temple, the prophet with his twelve boors, trailing at his heels that assembly of beggars! We shall have free passage at last!

SECOND PHARISEE

It is time. It was high time!

THE SADDUCEE (indicating Joseph of Arimathea)

Look at that other one who stands dreaming, on one leg, I believe, like a meditative crow, and does not even seem to hear us… Is it not said that he is for Jesus? He wears your robe, though.

FIRST PHARISEE

He rarely parts his lips; no one knows what he loves or hates. I rather think he belongs to no one.

SECOND PHARISEE

He is not to be feared, whoever he may be. In all his life he has never made a single gesture! He is a sage who lives in retirement.

THE SADDUCEE

A sage who limps! A fasting face!

They pass toward the back left and join others. Nicodemus enters by the door on the right, looks for a moment at the groups, and goes rapidly, descending the steps, to Joseph of Arimathea.

NICODEMUS

Joseph of Arimathea!… I find you at last! You alone can tell me what my eyes refuse to believe… Him, there, like a brigand, clad in a derisive rag, and crowned with thorns!… It is a mad stroke of force, and all cannot be finished! I beg you, friend, speak quickly.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Where do you come from? It is late already… What do you wish to know?

NICODEMUS

I come from Bethany, where I spend the nights at my farm to watch over the coming harvests. At dawn, that apostle of the twelve, the son of Jonah, came all in tears. He told me of last night’s ambush at Gethsemane, the Iscariot leading the torches, the flight of the others. The rest I do not know.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

The Iscariot?… So it was indeed he.

NICODEMUS

Yes, he, Judas! How can one believe in men? That one was an apostle… Wretch! He seemed to love him.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Hatred is sometimes love that suffers. He was a passionate, taciturn man… and who knows the power of evil?

NICODEMUS

At Caiaphas’s, what happened?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

It was to Hanan’s they led him, on leaving the valley of Kidron. I was not there, being among the last to be notified, and not by chance, I suppose, but they were assembled twenty-three strong, and you know that suffices… They condemned him for blasphemy… This morning, in the hall of stone, at the twelfth hour, more than three-quarters of the Sanhedrin ratified the sentence.

NICODEMUS

O shame, shame upon us! But they shall not have him this time either! Was it not a week ago that he entered by the eastern gate, and the people cast garments and branches at his feet? And since then, every day in the temple, a fresh victory.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

That was where the danger lay. Too many people found him in their path. Herodians and priests, and our own people too, since these movements of the populace, have secretly united. Caiaphas and his father-in-law did the rest; Judas is their stroke of fortune. The Sanhedrin knew the sentence before this night; I know it.

NICODEMUS

In festival time, and the eve of the Sabbath, that is to dare much… too much, perhaps.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

We shall know before the fifth hour.

NICODEMUS

What did he say before the high priest?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

They spoke alone; he was silent.

NICODEMUS

But why now this pretense, this gratuitous baseness? Why the Romans between us?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

To justify themselves before the people, in case of tardy resentments. Everything is well planned.

NICODEMUS

Since these foxes have been high priests, the Sanhedrin is nothing but a lackey!

Cephas enters by the door on the right and goes toward them.

CEPHAS (to Joseph of Arimathea)

I greet you, Rabbi. What a sinister dawn for a feast day!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You here, Cephas?

CEPHAS

Yes, I have come in spite of myself… Would you believe it? As soon as I heard the news, I thought of you first of all…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

It is not of me, this morning, that one should be thinking.

CEPHAS

I understand… Believe me, I do not forget him… I saw him in passing, just now… He still has that same gaze I cannot bear. Of what crime is he accused?

NICODEMUS

Ask the accusers.

CEPHAS

Forgive me if I have offended you.

He passes to the groups at the back.

NICODEMUS

A Hellenizer, like so many others!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Not like all the others, no.

NICODEMUS

What can we expect from the Roman jackal?… All prey is welcome to him… Unless perhaps the disgust of being hounded, or his hatred of old Hanan?… What do you think?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I expect little from a coward.

NICODEMUS

Some hope still possesses me, I know not what…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Listen.

Caiaphas and several members of the Sanhedrin detach themselves from the other groups and come to the front of the stage.

CAIAPHAS

The Procurator will say yes to what the Sanhedrin has pronounced. It is not a new judgment we ask of him, but to execute a sentence. He has only to condemn, according to our law.

A PHARISEE

He has the right to review the case.

A SADDUCEE

What does it matter to him?

SECOND PHARISEE

He hates the Sanhedrin. Is not that enough for him to evade?

CAIAPHAS

We have means to make ourselves heard. He knows that Vitellius protects us against him. He does not like it either when complaints are made to Rome… He will think it over, believe me.

FIRST PHARISEE

He avoids religious affairs. What if he sent Jesus back to the Sanhedrin?

SECOND PHARISEE

We would judge without him!

A SADDUCEE

Certainly not! Have you forgotten the Baptist? The Tetrarch is dying of his death!

CAIAPHAS

It is not merely a religious affair, at least not for the Procurator. Political reasons, indeed, will touch him more… Are we lacking those? If he will not strike for blasphemy, he will strike for sedition… sedition of the people, do you understand? This carpenter’s son, self-styled prophet, did he not call himself King of the Jews?

THE SADDUCEE

Without doubt!

SEVERAL

He is right!

SECOND SADDUCEE

That is the true tactic!

NICODEMUS

Jesus never said he was King of the Jews!

CAIAPHAS

Who speaks thus?

NICODEMUS (stepping forward)

I do.

CAIAPHAS

You defend the Galilean?

FIRST SADDUCEE

Nicodemus has lost his mind!

NICODEMUS

I speak the truth, which you all know. Jesus did not say he was king; he does not wish to be!

FIRST PHARISEE

What do we know of it?

NICODEMUS

Think of the penny of Caesar… You came back with your mouths shut.

FIRST SADDUCEE

What does it matter to us whether he said it or not? He is a blasphemer; he may well be a mesith too!

SEVERAL

Yes! Yes! He is a mesith! He must die!

NICODEMUS

Jesus is neither blasphemer nor mesith!

SEVERAL VOICES

He insults us! Let him be silent!… Enough!…

CAIAPHAS (imposing silence with a gesture)

Of the blasphemy, we have witnesses.

NICODEMUS

What witnesses? I will bring others you have not heard! Was the scribe for the defense allowed to speak? Did you fast twenty-four hours before pronouncing sentence, as the law requires? A single word overheard by torchlight, between two doors, is not enough to strike with death one who has been teaching in the sunlight for three years! Our fathers put on mourning to condemn the guilty; you, if you must charge the innocent, forget even the rites, and the morning sacrifice!

CAIAPHAS

You spend a great deal of words. We heard the blasphemy; therefore we are witnesses.

SEVERAL VOICES

We are all witnesses!

NICODEMUS

I am a witness too, and ten thousand of the people! Who will decide between us?

CAIAPHAS

Stiff-necked one! Do you doubt the high priest? What have I to do with the people and with you? He blasphemed before my eyes.

NICODEMUS

Confession alone is not proof. A sincere man may fall into the trap of a crafty question…

THE TWO SADDUCEES

Take care!

CAIAPHAS

Go then and ask Judas, the apostle, what he thinks of his master and yours!

NICODEMUS

I will trust Judas less than myself!

CAIAPHAS (shrugging his shoulders)

The Sanhedrin has spoken. You should have spoken before the hour. Man of zeal, you arrive too late.

NICODEMUS

I know… Your messengers last night were swift or slow to knock at doors, depending on whom to awaken or let sleep. Do not think it will go on this way to the end! (Violent murmurs.) I will tell you everything I think!… You did not dare to judge him in broad daylight, because in broad daylight you fear his voice too much! Yet you have been circling around him for weeks enough, in rapacious circles, as vultures circle the lamb! But he was a lion at heart, and you dug a secret pit, so the lion would fall into it!… You did not even dare to act alone; you needed the night, and a traitor. Now you need the Romans, to hide yourselves better to the end!

MANY VOICES

The demons possess him! Let him have his share with his master! Seize him!

Threatening gestures toward Nicodemus.

CAIAPHAS

Let him speak, let him say everything… It is a Pharisee who speaks thus!

NICODEMUS

A Pharisee I am, indeed! And of a lineage as old, as pure, as any man’s here! My fathers returned from Babylon to the ruins of Jerusalem; they unhung the harp from the willows; they rebuilt the Ark and made the law reign! Under the Maccabees they died to keep Judea wholly virgin of Greek conquerors, and their death was not barren! I would sell my life as they sold theirs, to drive out the Barbarians as they did!… Pharisee, Caiaphas, yes! That is why I am not one of yours! I do not put on violet gloves to slaughter the holy victims, and I do not employ an interpreter to speak to the people, but I do not use foreigners to kill the prophets more surely!… I am not surprised by our quarrels; they will last after us still! You, who are satisfied with this world, wish at all costs to keep your profitable peace with it… As for me, I do not aspire to it… I am only surprised that so great a personage bestirs himself before dawn for a Galilean… But I see here other men, whom I am accustomed to call brothers… Pharisees, sons of Hillel, under whom the Sanhedrin was great, is it really you? If you count the voice of the people for nothing, if you cease to feel with them, do you expect still to save them by despising them? Were you not at heart with the Gaulonite when he tore from the temple gates with his own hands the impious golden eagle? Did you not go to meet the Baptist and receive upon your brows the water of the river?… But when this one, the other evening, drove the sellers from the steps, I heard you applaud him! Akiba, Phabi, Gamaliel, you who had him sit at your table, you will not contradict me!…

SEVERAL PHARISEES (addressing one another with animation)

He is right! — That is false! — He is no prophet! — He cursed us first! — You are not one of his in public!

NICODEMUS

In public I am one of yours, as I wish to be in fact! He who hears us here is my witness that I am sincere. Pharisees, all of us together, what do we want? We want to free Judea from the yoke; we want the promised victory and the reign of God in our cities and in our fields! What is needed? To rekindle the dead faith, to make the immense conflagration rise from scattered embers, to make Israel one body, one heart, one burning breath! Are we too many workers for the task? Will you push away the man of the people because he speaks a different language or wears a different cloak? Will you offer the Passover pilgrims, who came singing the psalms toward this temple where the Ark rests, by the four roads of the Holy City, the spectacle of a just man slaughtered by you?… With what face will you be able this evening to rejoice in your families, to eat the paschal lamb in memory of the great Exodus? Israel has not another man of heart as pure as Jesus! He is a Jew of ancient lineage; he loves, as we do, the homeland… I have seen him weep over Jerusalem!… Ah! Remember his tenderness, his quiet grandeur, his peace!… Drive from yourselves hatred and the violent spirit! What will remain to us for the struggle, in the days of combat that draw near, if we kill one another?… To die beneath our walls, yes, to die!…

CEPHAS

You speak truly, Nicodemus! I am with you!

He leaves the group of priests and comes forward toward Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who remains motionless.

A PHARISEE (to Nicodemus)

You are not the only Pharisee! We are no less worthy of being one than you! I too will speak, in few words. I advised everyone to unite with Caiaphas against this Jesus, son of Satan. I do not repent of it, nor does anyone. You cite us the vain noise of the people? The people are docile to those who command them, and rebellious to those who flatter them. They would have strayed less without indulgent men of your sort; we have been patient too long. Our work, to save Israel, is to enforce the law, the law alone and all the law, to set a hedge about it. Jesus offended the law. He was seen speaking in public to women without veils, even to Samaritans. He heals the sick by his exorcisms on the Sabbath day; his disciples go and pick ears of grain. He dines, without washing away defilements, with tax collectors, with nobodies. He pardons the Adulterous Wife — in whose name, and by what right? Who is he to speak in the squares and rise in the synagogues? A workman of Nazareth! But that is not enough yet. Emboldened by our silence, he has at last shown himself! The Galilean patriot? He foretold the ruin of the temple! Our ally for the divine cause? He called us hypocrites; he dared to cry: Woe unto you!… Truly, no other doctors should remain on earth but his young men, or rather everyone is doctor and judge! No more rules, no more authority, no more covenant! Does he not say: “It suffices to love…”? There is the crime and the scandal! I do not want to know any other evidence! He is the living Blasphemy! I say therefore: Let the impostor perish, before the foreigner! Let us cut them down to the last traitor! God will give his victory only to a people that is pure!… I voted the death of Jesus. He has deserved to die!

ALL THE PHARISEES

Death to Jesus of Nazareth!

NICODEMUS

If he has deserved to die, if it can be proved in a free debate, after the witnesses have been heard, then let him die according to the law: stoned by us, outside the walls! No Romans in a Jewish cause! Let us not surrender our vengeance and let us not abase the Sanhedrin! Let us act standing upright!

SEVERAL VOICES

He speaks truly in that! — It is possible… We should have stoned him! — Come, let us stone him!…

Various movements.

A SADDUCEE

Silence! Hanan wishes to speak!

The groups open and fall silent. Hanan, bent over, rises and comes forward with difficulty.

HANAN (very slowly and with pauses)

You will always be children, possessed by the caprice of a moment… You do not see that this man wishes to draw you into some doubtful adventure, where his friends and he may play their part?… You would be less light of brain if you had the conduct of affairs and bore their weight… There is a vote of the Sanhedrin which refers the mesith to Pilate. To stone him would require another sentence… that would be an insult to the Procurator… I swear, old as I may be, Jesus shall be judged within the hour, and by him. Now cease your disputes; let us be done with it! (Turning to Nicodemus.) As for you, who bark against us like a dog that is struck, I wish to tell you one thing only… We put Jesus of Nazareth aside because this agitator troubles us, and we use the Romans because they are for us a sure and convenient instrument… Is that so hard to understand?… If you were one of his friends, you should have urged him to remain longer far from here, in his mountain village, where, besides, from what they say, they might well have shortened his time before us… Could not even Capernaum and Tiberias content him?… He preferred to come to the temple… to be a personage, a prophet… Everything must be paid for, one day or another. And behold, his day has come… If the death of one man for the public peace distresses your soul to this degree, then go make your lamentations resound elsewhere; we have heard you enough. Meanwhile take care, in passing, that the streets and squares have no echoes. You would repent of it yourself, as well as any other… Remember that Hanan tells you so!

A silence.

NICODEMUS

Hanan, you have force on your side, and you speak loudly. Very well; our cowardice has made you master… Old as you are, as you say — very near death for a murderer! — you will live long enough, I hope, to see crumble with yourself…

VOICES OF THE PEOPLE IN THE PRAETORIUM

Death! Death!

CAIAPHAS

Hear, hear the people, who acclaim their prophet!

NICODEMUS

Those are men hired by you… Oh! Woe upon you, by Moses, by Elijah, and by John!…

CAIAPHAS

Why not by David too? Tell us then that he is the Messiah!

NICODEMUS

If Jesus is not the Messiah, then the Messiah shall never come!…

ALL (turning their heads away and extending the right hand)

Blasphemy! Blasphemy!

The left door opens. Two Roman soldiers armed with lances enter and range themselves on either side, saying aloud:

THE TWO ROMAN SOLDIERS

Make way for the Procurator of Judea!

Pontius Pilate appears on the threshold and stops.

PONTIUS PILATE

I thought the common people had broken loose even into here and were tearing some victim apart. They are only doctors, it appears.

CAIAPHAS

Justice, in the name of our law!

PONTIUS PILATE

Justice? Yes, I expected as much. I arrived yesterday from Caesarea; it is the eve of your feast, and at dawn you come to besiege me with clamors… You might have chosen your day for crying: Justice!

CAIAPHAS

The matter, Pontius Pilate, is grave. It concerns a blasphemy without precedent.

PONTIUS PILATE

Blasphemies are your concern; judge them yourselves. I have no authority to know what may offend your God.

CAIAPHAS

We have a sentence of death, but a rescript of Rome forbids us to carry it out, as you know. The Procurator must condemn.

PONTIUS PILATE

You are not, as a rule, so deferential. I tell you again, high priest, I am weary of your religious quarrels. Can you not settle them among yourselves?

CAIAPHAS

You will not dismiss us, I am sure, when you know all. Caesar is concerned in this matter; there is a crime of lèse-majesté.

PONTIUS PILATE

Since when do you take Caesar’s interests so much to heart? And what crime?

CAIAPHAS

A madman who calls himself king seeks to seduce the people. He announces unknown prodigies.

PONTIUS PILATE

Again!

CAIAPHAS

This temple, which has taken forty-eight years without being finished, he foretells its ruin and would rebuild it in three days. There is no promise too insane…

PONTIUS PILATE

Very well, we shall see presently… we shall see. (Aside.) This people has a diseased brain. Come!

He goes toward the praetorium, preceded by his two lictors, mounts the steps, and exits. Hanan, Caiaphas, and the members of the Sanhedrin follow.

CAIAPHAS (standing on the steps, to Nicodemus)

Do you wish to see the Messiah judged?

NICODEMUS

Be alone to bear your crime! Yahweh, who sees us, judges you too!

CAIAPHAS

I accept it!

He exits, followed by the others, except Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. Cephas, who was last to mount the steps, stops before entering the praetorium and comes back down abruptly.

NICODEMUS

And you, you do not follow the whole pack? Go, young man, fortune lies that way!

CEPHAS

Permit me to remain here. It is true, I am not one of yours, but I wish no harm to Jesus… be my witness, Rabbi!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I am your witness.

NICODEMUS

That is it, yes… How many there are who have never wished his death and will do nothing to prevent it! If they knew, however! Perhaps they would come out in haste from their dwellings and feel ashamed of their lives… but what of it? We are penned here like sheep in a fold; outside, in the night, the wolves prowl, and the Shepherd perhaps is far away… (He approaches the bay and looks out.) Now Jerusalem awakens… men go about their tasks, and the stones will not cry out that a prophet here is going to die!

CEPHAS

Is Jesus lost beyond all hope? Do you keep no hope at all?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

There is none left from the side of men.

NICODEMUS

Ah! If I were a son of the people and he had chosen me for an apostle, every Galilean would be on this square. We could answer the high priest; at least there would be a fight!… But under this cloak that weighs upon us, we must remain motionless, and the apostles have known only how to weep…

CEPHAS

Where are the apostles? I have not seen a single one in the praetorium.

NICODEMUS

Fled! Scattered by the storm! Already on the roads of Galilee!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You would count wrongly on the people; they do not love the hero in distress. Among those who cry “Death!” I recognized three sick men, two lepers and a demoniac, whom Jesus not long ago had healed.

NICODEMUS

They yield to the breath that passes; the voice of a child would calm them… They loved him, though! We shall see yet… I will have some hope to the end!

CEPHAS

But Jesus, what does he himself hope? Is the great power not in him? If he has succored so many others, can it be that he abandons himself?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I do not believe Jesus wishes to live.

NICODEMUS

Why do you say that, Joseph?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Last night he dined at my house with the twelve. Breaking the bread, he said: Take it, this is my body. Offering the wine, he said: Drink it, this is my blood. He looked sad, and very calm. He said again to Judas: Do your work. It was then that Judas went out.

NICODEMUS

What use, if it was to die, were those battles of the last days since his return to Jerusalem? Those bolts of fire against the hypocrites, and those cracks of the whip at the sellers? Those lightnings in his eyes, like those of Moses coming down from Sinai? He seemed to have taken the flight of an eagle, and his hands reached out to the people, and we all hoped — why?…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

The desert perhaps knows, where he stayed forty days, and the nights when he prayed. He told his heart to no one.

CEPHAS

Before his return to Jerusalem, he was in flight, they say?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

He fled as far as Caesarea.

NICODEMUS

Yes, after the death of the Baptist. That one too was a man; he died in a trap. A little girl who danced lifted the heavy head… Had he remained among us, we would have seen great things. He was of the tribe of Judah; he wanted war, he, John!… What did Jesus want? (A silence.) And yet I have never known a face at which my whole soul trembled, as at his.

CEPHAS

That is true! Nor have I, and yet…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

One must be patient to understand… Perhaps he is greater than we know.

NICODEMUS

Yes, yes… but it will be too late! What will remain to us, tomorrow?

CEPHAS

Why did he push us away, we, the rich?

NICODEMUS

It is we who would not have him!

CEPHAS

One day — I was wearier of living; he was passing along my road — I asked him for his word… He said to me for all answer: “Sell your possessions, and follow me…”

NICODEMUS

That is strange… Something in him carries you away and disconcerts you at once.

CEPHAS

If he were truly a prophet, he could not die like this!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Many other prophets have died. Look at the Mount of Olives.

CEPHAS

And if he were more than a prophet? If he were… what you have said?… God would not leave him in infamy!

NICODEMUS

What do I know?… We are not worthy of it! There is no Messiah for such people!

CEPHAS

No! No! I cannot understand…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You wish to mark out God’s ways for him.

VOICES OF THE PEOPLE IN THE PRAETORIUM

Crucify him!…

NICODEMUS

Wretched that we are, to be able to speak!… Oh! To get out of here!… (He hesitates and goes toward the door.) I shall have seen!

The door of the praetorium opens. Enter Pontius Pilate, then Hanan, Caiaphas, and several members of the Sanhedrin. Pontius Pilate paces back and forth in silence, with an absorbed air. All observe him.

CAIAPHAS

What will the Procurator decide?…

PONTIUS PILATE (raising his head)

I find in him no crime. This silence is not that of a guilty man.

CAIAPHAS

This silence is a ruse of the evil one! His tongue is elsewhere only too quick, but he knows when to hold it. He could not answer his accusers… The only word he spoke, when you questioned him face to face, is a blasphemy.

PONTIUS PILATE

Pride or cunning, do not complain. He had only to choose to defend himself, to deny your claims — by the gods, I would have held him acquitted! But he is of your race, he too. As for what you call blasphemy, I can see no serious danger in it. What is a man who dies for truth? He is only a fanatical dreamer, perhaps a madman… a wicked man, no.

CAIAPHAS

If he were not a wicked man, we would not have delivered him to you!

PONTIUS PILATE

What do I know of your caste hatreds, and why mix me in it? You should have judged him yourselves; I have told you so.

CAIAPHAS

We can no longer do so now; all are awaiting your sentence there. And consider what disturbances are possible…

PONTIUS PILATE

He, raise a revolt! You jest. Who would want a king in chains?

CAIAPHAS

The people know the imposture; they demand his death, you see.

PONTIUS PILATE

The people do not all want him to die. Some were weeping.

CAIAPHAS

He is rebellious to our law; he cannot go unpunished… or fifty others will spring up whom no one will be able to chastise… The name of Messiah is powerful.

PONTIUS PILATE

What does “Messiah” mean?

CAIAPHAS

Son of God.

PONTIUS PILATE (aside)

I have heard that in Rome, in the mysteries of Mithras… Yes, and the poets too speak of the child who is to be born… But who gives credence to dreams? Only the madness of this people. And why be more troubled by it? (To Caiaphas.) Was it not from fear of this Messiah that the old Herod once had all the male children massacred?

CAIAPHAS

Yes. This one escaped, they say, by a hasty flight. Many innocents died, and the viper was able to grow.

PONTIUS PILATE

What if I handed him over to the Tetrarch? He is none too fond of prophets either, he who serves their heads at dessert on a silver platter… You would come to terms together.

CAIAPHAS

No! The Tetrarch is not at issue. It is Caesar whom he offended by calling himself king… We have no other king but Caesar!

NICODEMUS (aside)

Oh! Cowardice!

PONTIUS PILATE

Always that word on your lips! And if I set him free, then?…

HANAN

It will be said that the Procurator of Judea takes little care of the interests of Rome… The governor of Syria, Vitellius, will perhaps be more touched by it.

PONTIUS PILATE

And Caesar too, is that it? You will make more complaints, as you did over the aqueduct, and the rest! Oh! Race of serpents, that hates and crawls! There is not in all the empire a province like this Judea! (A silence. A servant enters by the left door and approaches him.) What do you want? (They speak somewhat apart.)

THE SERVANT

Procula, your wife, sends me to tell you to do no harm to this just man whom you must judge this morning; in a dream, she suffered for him.

PONTIUS PILATE

In a dream? She does not know him… Can he have this power?… What a nuisance!… (A silence.) Go fetch a cup of lustral water; bring it to me. (Exit the servant.) I would have liked to outwit these priests and stay out of the affair. I did everything I could… Ah! Wait… I was forgetting their feast… Yes, yes, that is it!… (Aloud.) You know it is the custom to release a prisoner to you for your feasts: will you have Jesus?… (A silence. The Jews confer in low voices.) Make haste.

HANAN

No, we prefer another… Barabbas, for example.

CAIAPHAS

Yes, rather Barabbas!

A silence. The servant returns, carrying a large cup. The Sadducees still confer. One of them, during what follows, detaches himself from the group and goes out.

PONTIUS PILATE

It is not to me but to you that your God said: “Thou shalt not kill.” Here is what I decide. I am going to ask this people whom I must release presently: Barabbas or Jesus. They shall be sole judge. If they say Barabbas, then this Jesus shall go to the cross. But if they say Jesus, know it well, you will cry in vain! And now I wash both my hands in this cup of the blood you demand of me. I have no more part in this work.

He dips his hands in the cup.

ALL

Let his blood fall upon us!

PONTIUS PILATE

So be it.

He goes toward the praetorium. They exit.

CEPHAS

Here is the hand of God! Oh! Victory!… The people will choose Jesus!…

NICODEMUS

Perhaps!…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Silence.

A long silence. They listen, heads bowed.

VOICES OF THE PEOPLE OUTSIDE

Barabbas! Barabbas!

NICODEMUS (with a gesture of anger)

Damnation!

CEPHAS

Jesus!…

---

ACT TWO

A closed room in the house of Joseph of Arimathea, entirely austere and bare, at night. At the back left, a door fastened by a leather strap, which, when opened, reveals a tranquil countryside, the last houses of Jerusalem among clusters of olive trees, and, on the horizon, mountains. At the back right, under a rounded arch, a sort of dark recess cut into the wall. Near the door, in a bushel measure, a feeble light flickers. At the beginning of the act the door is open. Joseph of Arimathea stands before the arched vault, under which Nicodemus and the Essene have already entered.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

We have arrived. This is the place.

Nicodemus and the Essene, who were carrying a burden, set it gently on the ground.

NICODEMUS

The door.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I will close it. Let us make haste. (He closes the door and, remaining there, listens outside while speaking.) Press on the ring in the wall; the stone will yield of itself… Is it done?

NICODEMUS

It is done.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You should find a deep niche… large enough to hold the body… You have only to place it there; it is prepared.

Nicodemus and the Essene lift their burden from the ground and place it in the hollow of the wall.

NICODEMUS

He is well as he is.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

All is well. The thing is done.

He comes back up toward them, limping slightly.

NICODEMUS

A hazardous success, by this moonlight, even walking as we did in the narrow shadow of the hovels! Had a single door opened, we would have been convicted of sacrilege…

THE ESSENE

Everyone is on the terraces, on such a night.

NICODEMUS (after a silence, gazing before him toward the wall)

Jesus… Jesus of Bethlehem! See, it is still he. His face has regained its grace since the agony. He is beautiful with his first beauty… One would say he spreads light in the darkness…

THE ESSENE

His face is all bathed in it!

NICODEMUS

Thus he appeared to me, messenger of a new birth, on a night of my destiny!… His brow was resplendent in the same way… But where now are the gaze and the voice?

THE ESSENE

His was a short agony! He had barely touched the hyssop to his lips, and, when the lance pierced his side, at nightfall, he was dead.

NICODEMUS

Yes, dead in a deep silence, as he lived… Only, at the end of the day, that great cry of distress I could not understand… and then no more. He died as a pure flame dies on a stormy evening, at a stroke!… Other lives are smoky lamps struggling in shadow and wind.

THE ESSENE

His body and his heart were noble; he never knew vice… Pain withers less than evil does.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Look at him from the depths of your soul… We must close the sepulcher, and no man is to see him again.

NICODEMUS

That is true… (A silence.) So there he lies like all beings, the greatest conqueror of the night! Why have I lived this second?… (A silence.) Let us close…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Set the stone back in its place; let it be well sealed in the wall… That is it.

Nicodemus and the Essene return to the room.

NICODEMUS

Truly, a marvelous tomb!… Now who would suspect it?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

It is not the only one in the city; our fathers used to hollow out such places for times of siege, when one cannot pass through the walls; but they are nearly all unknown.

THE ESSENE

The hour is late. I must go.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Thank you, friend of a few hours, you who offered yourself to us for the danger…

THE ESSENE

One must render honor to prophets. This one was one of ours, once… any Essene would do the same.

NICODEMUS

Remember to keep silence; our lives depend on it.

THE ESSENE

You may ask at Machaerus whether anyone knows where the Baptist rests. Have no fear.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Where are you going, brother?

THE ESSENE

To En-Gedi. We come here for the Passover, but we do not stay more than a day. I long to shake from my feet the dust of the city. Farewell!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Farewell!

NICODEMUS (aside)

Farewell, no. Until soon… (Exit the Essene.) Now, brother, explain yourself. I obeyed you without understanding, and without bargaining either; but what is this riddle?… Yesterday you obtained from the Procurator the right to bury Jesus — you risked enough for yourself by that single step already… We laid him in the tomb at dusk, with the help of a few faithful ones, in that lost garden near Golgotha… This evening you had us steal him away in haste, this Essene and me, and carry him back here through the deserted streets, furtively, like thieves, to hide him there in that shadow, better than a miser hides a treasure. You risked ruin twice over; do you not know it?… To what purpose?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

A very humble and very simple purpose, but I thought it was worth the danger. We could do nothing for his life; he had to have a calm death. Do you forget the fate of the mesith, even after the cross?… Gehenna, the infamous valley where his body is dragged?… I knew that Hanan and Caiaphas would not have released their dead prey before that final insult, had they been able to seize it. The vultures alone were to finish their work… Thus, what we have just done, hatred, in the absence of love, would have done.

NICODEMUS

I should have thought of that… Yes, no doubt… But why the first funeral?… That visible display of weeping women and farewell?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

So that no one could accuse us. My approach to Pilate had to be known… How to answer questions, otherwise? They will not be well pleased. We had first to bury him in broad daylight, as we did… and risk the rest in secret. Now we will be the last to be suspected.

NICODEMUS

You leave no hold for chance, and your silence has done more than our tears… I admire your courage, at this hour when mourning alone seemed left to us.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I did what had to be done; one had only to think of it, nothing more.

NICODEMUS

Thank you for thinking of me!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

The work came to you of itself… I was for Jesus only a motionless friend… I expected nothing beyond.

NICODEMUS

Do you mean… that you did not believe in him? (A silence.) Then why devote yourself?…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Let us say it is inconsistency… and leave it at that.

NICODEMUS

Forgive my too-great freedom… (A silence.) Those poor people, who still believe he lies where they left him, what will they say?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

They will accuse the executioners, no doubt, being only half wrong, as you see; and little by little, it will be forgotten.

NICODEMUS

Blessed if they do forget one day and take up their road again!… As for me, I am done; I stop here. I too am going to En-Gedi tomorrow, Joseph.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

What do you mean?

NICODEMUS

I am going to ask the solitary Essenes, in my turn, for the girdle, the hatchet, and the linen robe. I have nothing left to do here.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

There is always some task remaining.

NICODEMUS

But not the desire to take it up… My kin are dead; I live alone already… the son in whom I thought to live again preceded me. What is left to me?… The homeland? Henceforth, with whom to fight? The priests, the Pharisees, the people, all betray… and I am so weary! Those who throughout all Judea veil their heads in prayer, turning toward Jerusalem, know very little what this temple hides behind its thick curtain. The light of the seven candlesticks, which burns always in the sanctuary, has died in me… I make way for others.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You had great hopes in him…

NICODEMUS

I hoped for everything, everything! What do I know? The flight of the foreign wolves, the Church of Zion like a virgin fresh on her nuptial morning… the promises!… But the age of heroes is no more!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

There is no need to leave.

NICODEMUS

I could not, as you do, withdrawn into my own thought, dominate all men from the heights of the mind. I need combat or exile. I no longer wish to see the streets of this city, the temple, the Roman lances on the Antonia tower, the walls, all that I love and all that I hate! Out there, the harsh and barren earth, the Dead Sea, the date palms of En-Gedi where the pure men live, disdainful of crowds — that is my vow! There, no more smoking sacrifices, no more foreign coins! The Essene, washed with lustral water, salutes only the light of the world, and lives for God alone… Daily labors, silence, the seasons among the crops will better prepare me for the great calm. I shall be initiated into the mysteries the Sacred Elders guard. Unless the war cry breaks forth… Then I shall come back to die. (A silence.) Joseph of Arimathea, farewell!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Nicodemus, farewell. (They embrace.) You will be less bitter some evening… Men are of small account; they pass, and the Spirit endures.

NICODEMUS

I shall have seen one man in my life… My brothers crucified him, but he rests there, in your keeping… I shall remember. But someone is coming; shadows approach… some women, I think. The stars will soon grow pale; I must hurry.

He exits. Joseph of Arimathea watches him depart in silence. The Holy Women, four in number, all veiled and carrying an urn, stop in passing near the threshold.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Women, where are you going?

ONE OF THE WOMEN

We are going to Jesus, good master. We bring the spices. He has not yet been embalmed…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

It is very late, or too early, and the road is long. Do you not see that everyone is asleep?

THE WOMAN

We would not dare, in broad daylight.

SECOND WOMAN

How can we sleep, when he is watching? No one has yet closed his eyes… He is alone; perhaps he is cold!…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

The dead need only peace, Mary. What use are these perfumes? Leave Jesus in peace!

THE WOMAN

He did not forbid that he be embalmed! When he was alive, one day I broke a vase of myrrh upon his feet; my hair wiped them; he let me do it. Why do you reprove us, Rabbi?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I do not reprove you. Go, as your heart leads. (The Holy Women move away. He takes a few steps in the room.) “They know not what they do”… No one! No one!… He does not need the perfumes; he has sleep. (A silence.) Why I did this, Nicodemus did not understand… Am I quite sure I understand myself?… I did not believe in him… as they do, certainly not! What is a man beside the Infinite?… And yet… I felt I owed him something. I secured for him in death the greatest good I know, the one I chose for myself in life: silence and oblivion, peace… Here is in my days one minute, the first perhaps, and the only one, when my head did not have the whole share… and I do not regret it. (A silence.) Poor women! But they?… Is it I who think of pitying them?… No doubt the Will guides them too… So be it. (He walks again in the room. Enter Cephas.) Who comes here?

CEPHAS

Cephas… It is the ninth hour, but I met Nicodemus, who told me he had seen you… To whom would we come but to you, wise man, to you who alone helped him?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You too, like all the others, wish to see Jesus in the tomb?

CEPHAS

No! No!… I have seen enough! Wherever I go, I still see… that dark cross, in the fading light, and the pale body on the cross… Ah! I have seen! I have seen too much! I fled!… (A silence.) And nothing has changed in the world… Last night was a fine evening. Returning, as at each spring, doves flew in the cedars… the fig trees opened their young leaves, the lilies blazed in the fields… No mourning… and that Golgotha!…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

The world has no part in the sorrows of men.

CEPHAS

And I, why am I in mourning, like a brother or a friend? I did not know Jesus! I did not make his hands bleed beneath the nails, nor his brow beneath the thorns… It was not I who killed him… Why does his gaze follow me like a reproach? Why is my heart trembling?… I was never one of his disciples… Why did I watch, one by one, his last breaths? Did I not try to tear myself away?… I think I envied that thief for hearing him, and that other one for bearing his cross…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

It is death that magnifies the prophet; it is usually so.

CEPHAS

Cursed be the day of weariness when I wished to approach him!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Which day?

CEPHAS

Oh! I may tell you… Do you remember Rebecca, Naboth’s wife?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

The adulteress? Yes, I remember her. She was very beautiful.

CEPHAS

I loved her… It was I who loved her… At dawn — she was leaving my house — Naboth caught her without my knowing. That same day, entering the temple, I heard, amid the uproar, a voice — the voice of that woman, whom the crowd was dragging toward Jesus. All were shouting in chorus: Stone her!… I pushed my way toward her, ready to save her or die… He, seated, surrounded by his twelve, and looking at us without surprise: “Let him among you who is without sin cast the first stone,” he said. And, bending toward the ground, he wrote with his finger… The crowd withdrew in silence…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I recognize his words in that.

CEPHAS

When all had drawn away, some impulse I cannot name carried me off. I went suddenly to him, as if in a dream, and said: “What must I do to find peace?” He answered: “You know the Law. Do you keep it?” I said: “No, I have sinned against it. But I would redeem myself.” Then he looked me full in the face, and his eyes, made of a different light, challenged me, burned my breast… He spoke: “If you wish to become another man, sell your possessions and follow me.” And as I stood there, sad, shaking his head he walked away…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Why did you not follow him?

CEPHAS

Because… because I am young and do not wish to renounce life, and because he frightened me in spite of myself, in his solitary purity… Why did he say to me: Sell your possessions? Sell them, at auction — what for? So that another may grow rich? So they may go to swell the treasury in the vaults of the temple? Or else to give them away, perhaps, to the beggars of Siloam?… He could have accepted me as a disciple with all my wealth, if he wanted me… I would have been worth, I suppose, a fisherman or a tax collector… And what would he have given me in exchange? What treasure, what unknown word? He has closed his lips forever and did not say… and I was left in doubt!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

That woman, Rebecca… she is dead?

CEPHAS

Yes, dead… Naboth killed her. And were she still alive, she would be dead to me… For since the prophet’s judgment, his word — “Go, and sin no more…” — I dared no longer approach her, and she no longer raised her eyes to me… His gesture stood between us like the Cherub of old between Man and the gates of Eden… Without that, I would have carried her off; I would have left with her; she was the flower of my life… It was he, he who took her from me, not Naboth… She is dead… and I have known despair… I tried to love other women, those whose love is purchased, to forget Rebecca… There again I found on my path the white cloak of this Jesus! A courtesan, Mary — you know her — the Magdalene, who had been the joy of so many men, she refused me her caresses, yes, even the gold I offered her, because he had converted her. A strange recruit, truly! And so they could not suffice me, these possessions I did not sell… From that encounter onward, nowhere, neither at Jericho under the palms nor before the sea at Caesarea, have I tasted leisure again… Then I began to follow him, lost in the crowd, from afar. I listened to his parables and I watched his miracles… I wanted to know, do you understand, whether he was or was not the Messiah. And I remained rebellious! Through my fault or through his?… He whose silent will made the sick rise up and the eyes of the blind open — could he not carry me away?… But no! He left me the task, without saying what he wanted of me… I was troubled, not won over, stripped of the old joy withered like water in the hand, without knowing the blessedness with which he enchanted his Elect. Is that not a derisory fate?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You debated too much within yourself. One had to give oneself without understanding… It is not for me to blame you.

CEPHAS

And now he is no more… Here we are alone. And we keep within us the image, grown greater in opprobrium and shame, of this strange Nazarene who seemed to announce happiness… who seemed to be happy himself, happy with an inward dream on which nothing could cast a shadow… The present has no more light, and the future has none yet… Since he was not the Messiah, will there ever be a Messiah? And which of us will see him? O Father, you who have wisdom, can you give me some hope?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Wisdom cannot be given, and its taste is sometimes bitter… It is not wisdom but joy you seek. I do not know what your road may be.

CEPHAS

So be it. I will find it alone. I will go, I will try other skies, at the mercy of the sails… I will go toward idolatrous Greece, whence comes a breath of beauty!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You will not find outside yourself the happiness that is not within you.

CEPHAS

What is within me, I do not know…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You do not speak your whole thought.

CEPHAS

Perhaps you know it better than I? It seems to me that at the bottom of my heart dwells some invisible god who will not speak… (A silence. A distant trumpet sounds over Jerusalem. He approaches the open door where a morning ray is slipping in.) Listen! Day is at Hebron. The thirty-nine labors are resuming, which the Sabbath had suspended. Yes, all of life begins again… But the day does not wake the dead… (Peter and John appear on the threshold.) Who are they?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Two of his disciples.

PETER AND JOHN (entering the room)

Greetings, Rabbi.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

What do you ask?

JOHN

You buried our Master… May it please you to tell us where, so that we may go and pray there, this man, Simon Peter, and I, John.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I buried him in the garden of Ephron, near Golgotha. Is it only now that you need to be told? The women are quicker than you… For two days, where has been your shelter?

JOHN

We were at the home of Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus, at Bethany.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You were weeping together… So you left Jesus alone.

JOHN

We tried to follow him.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

How far?

JOHN

As far as Hanan’s, the night before last… We were near the fires in the first hall… They threatened us…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I did not see you at Caiaphas’s. And the others, the nine — where are they?

JOHN

Toward Tiberias…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

They have fled?… (A silence.) Poor troop in retreat!… They, the eleven, all his chosen!

PETER (who has stood apart until now, in a fierce dejection, starting abruptly)

We had fallen into a trap… I drew the sword at Kidron; I wounded Malchus!… But the Master then rebuked me.

CEPHAS

What did he say when he saw the armed men?

PETER

He gave himself up to them.

JOHN

He said: “I was every day in the temple, and you come to seize me by night!…”

CEPHAS

But before, during that evening, what did he say to you? Not a word? What were you doing at Gethsemane?

PETER

We were overcome with sleep; we slept, huddled all together… He had moved a little apart. Twice he came to speak to us… but my head was too heavy; I did not hear him well… The second time, though, I still remember… I saw him… He was walking in great strides… sometimes he bent his face, folding his arms against himself; he spoke with force, as if to a great crowd, but to himself alone… And he fell to his knees…

CEPHAS

What did he say then?… What did he say?

PETER

He was praying without opening his lips… I think he wept. I do not know.

A silence.

CEPHAS (in an undertone)

Could he have doubted himself?… But before — remember again… what did he announce to you?

PETER

On the road to Caesarea, he said to us: “I am the Christ!”

CEPHAS

At last! Then he had been wrong…

JOHN

Jesus was never wrong. He had foretold to us himself that the Son of Man must die.

CEPHAS

Die without having done his work! And the kingdom you were expecting?

JOHN

The kingdom is not what people think… We did not yet understand.

CEPHAS

And now, what do you understand?… What are you going to wait for?…

PETER

His reign…

JOHN

The Son of Man will return! The clouds will be rent asunder! He will come like the sun!

CEPHAS

When is he to return, according to you?

JOHN

The times are near, and the grain is ripe…

CEPHAS

And what are your signs?

JOHN

There are no signs except for those who believe.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You speak truly.

CEPHAS

O stiff-necked Galileans!… (To Joseph of Arimathea.) Is that really all their dream?… What use is further arguing? What will you do in the meantime?

JOHN

We shall return to Gennesaret; our fishing boats are still there. We shall take up the old trade.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

You will do wisely to leave the city. You must let oblivion come.

JOHN

We wish only to see his tomb, and we shall depart.

A silence.

CEPHAS

These men are perhaps happy…

Three of the Holy Women enter the room, without veils and deeply moved. They still carry with them the urns filled with spices.

THE HOLY WOMEN

Alas! Alas!

PETER (looking at them one by one)

Joanna, Mary, and Salome. Where do they come from?…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

What is the matter, women?

JOHN (approaching one of them)

Mother, what is it?

THE MOTHER OF THE ZEBEDEES

The sepulcher is empty!

SECOND WOMAN

Someone has stolen Jesus from us!

THIRD WOMAN

Alas! Alas!

CEPHAS

What are they saying?… (To the mother of the Zebedees.) Speak, you… Tell what you have seen…

THE MOTHER OF THE ZEBEDEES

We were going to the sepulcher, Rabbi… We were bringing him these spices… The stone was already lifted!… The linens are still folded, those of the head and those of the feet. We searched for him in the cave — he was nowhere!… O Jesus!…

SECOND WOMAN

I saw, standing near the cave, a man in white who was watching us.

PETER

Woe to whoever stole him!…

CEPHAS

Their minds are troubled… What have they seen?

JOHN

And Mary? Mary Magdalene? Was she not with you?

THE MOTHER OF THE ZEBEDEES

We left her at the sepulcher, kneeling and as if in ecstasy… We came away without waiting for her…

PETER (from the doorstep)

Mary of Magdala?… Here she comes.

Enter Mary of Magdala, walking very slowly with fixed eyes. She speaks in an almost low voice and without gesture.

MARY OF MAGDALA

I have seen him… I have heard him… He had come out of the sepulcher… How white his tunic was! He barely touched the earth… He had no more blood or wounds. He was more beautiful than before…

CEPHAS

She speaks as if in a dream…

PETER

What are you saying, Mary? Speak to us… It is I, Peter. Whom have you seen?

MARY OF MAGDALA

It is you, Peter. (She looks around her.) You are all here… Why do you keep these faces? It is past, the long night… Do you not know that we must laugh? That we must walk in the countryside and gather branches… branches?… Have I not told you that he is coming, the heavenly bridegroom, Jesus?

A silence. All, anxious, look at one another.

THE HOLY WOMEN (among themselves, in low voices)

Is it grief that leads her astray?… No, look how her eyes shine…

CEPHAS

Oh! Speak, speak again, tell us.

MARY OF MAGDALA

I was on my knees, I was weeping… then I rose. He was standing before me… He was standing near the door, in a robe new as the day… but my eyes did not know him. He said to me: “Why do you weep, woman?” I answered him: “Someone has taken our Master, and I do not know where they have laid him. If you knew, Lord, then have pity on your servant.” Then his voice said to me: “Mary!” And I cried: “Rabboni!…” I threw myself at his feet, and I wanted to touch his robe… but he said to me: “Do not touch me, for I must return to my Father… Go and tell all that you have seen…”

A silence. The women have drawn near to Mary.

CEPHAS

She seems more than a woman… She is radiant with the morning!

PETER (starting up abruptly)

To the sepulcher, John! To the sepulcher!… Out! Come, let us go!…

JOHN

To the sepulcher!

Both run out.

MARY OF MAGDALA (as before)

I have seen him… I have heard him… He is risen from the dead!

She goes out with the same tranquil step, followed by the three women. A silence.

CEPHAS

Joseph, what have we just heard?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Madness. A woman’s dream!…

CEPHAS

No! No! It was no dream! I know that her eyes had seen… Oh! Joseph! The clouds are rent asunder! The sun is rising! It is a dawn, a dawn of life, and it is spring! I am intoxicated, I am out of the world, as in the days when I thought I was in love! I too must see! I must go out! To the sepulcher!… To him!

He goes out and disappears in haste. Joseph of Arimathea makes a movement as if to hold him back, but stops and watches him depart. The landscape is bathed in light. Alone, he goes to the dark recess where Nicodemus and the Essene buried the body of Jesus. He stands there a moment in silence, then, with a gesture of doubt and resignation, he turns away.

---

ACT THREE

Same setting as Act Two. At the beginning of the first scene, Joseph of Arimathea is alone with a slave. Through the open door, one sees the end of a nocturnal twilight: a warm bluish mist in which the last gleams are muffled.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA (to the slave)

Bring the light in the bushel measure; the Galileans will arrive shortly. Leave the door open; you will close it after the last one comes in — I will signal you. (The slave exits and soon returns with a light. He places the bushel measure on a stool to the left of the door and goes out again. Joseph of Arimathea, who has been standing motionless on the threshold, now takes a few steps in the room. He pauses at times while speaking.) I have allowed them to come one last time; it was necessary. It is better, for them and for us, that they speak here, behind closed doors, than go clamoring in the squares… One cross is enough… and I myself, perhaps?… Enough. Then let them leave!… They will leave… It is Peter who will lead them… Tomorrow they will be far away, scattered… Their voice will be lost in the villages… their zeal will die of itself… unless?… (A silence.) What more could I do to cure these passionate hearts of their dream?… Nothing… (He looks toward the sepulcher.) Nothing… And perhaps, for them, it is better not to be cured… By what right would I have troubled them with a sterile knowledge that would crush them without conquering them?… A lame man’s envy, displeased that others run! Yes, I have known that too… (A silence.) Now, madness to hear?… My ears are patient, and life is spent at this game. There remains Cephas… yes, no doubt… That passionate ardor interests me, perhaps as a memory? That one cannot live blind… Who talks much acts little… He is captive in golden chains… What will be, will be… We shall see. (He stops before the sepulcher.) So this is where what he calls my wisdom has led us! I wished, like another man, to meddle with action. I buried him… without mishap… I have done everything since then so that silence might come… and I am the architect of the scandal, I who await no Messiah. The architect?… Rather the pretext… Without this, no doubt, another would have been found, and the storm would have broken loose again… Nothing can keep love and hatred from battling over this sepulcher as they battled in his footsteps… I myself, listening to that woman, was I not beguiled?… Yes, I believe so in truth… One would sometimes say the mad are the wise. Strange detours of the Spirit!… (A silence.) And he, who sleeps there without a word, what would he think of these things? He speaks no more… He thinks no more… His lot is the best, perhaps!… (A silence.) Our fathers were right to say: O God of Israel, God who savest, thou art truly a hidden God! (He remains motionless for a moment. Cephas enters noiselessly and stops, absorbed in a deep reverie. Joseph of Arimathea goes to him and touches his shoulder.) What news?…

CEPHAS (starting at his voice, but without looking at him)

Since yesterday, I have walked without rest… The tomb was empty… the stone, the enormous block, lifted, as they said… and on the ground the folded linens, those of the feet and those of the head, as they said… But he did not appear to me. I searched for him in Jerusalem like a dog following a scent… at the temple… at Bethesda… at Siloam… at Gethsemane… at Golgotha… everywhere one might still find the fresh traces of his feet… Others had already passed… the sellers have come back to the temple, and I did not find him. I went as far as Bethany, where the two faithful sisters weep. I saw Lazarus… yes… the one he woke from sleep… some say from death itself… I thought: That one, perhaps, knows more than other men?… But Lazarus, since the event, is no more than the shadow of a living man… He looked at me with his vague eyes, where shadows still roll, without even stirring at the name of Jesus.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

And the others?…

CEPHAS

The others have seen him, it seems… at least Peter and John. I alone have prayed in vain! But I am unworthy… Perhaps he will show himself only to his own?

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Or his own, like travelers parched at the end of the day, pay for their faith with a mirage… They are drunk with too much thirst.

CEPHAS

I can no longer mock them… I feel them too high above me… I have seen him nowhere, Joseph, and I could not doubt that woman! She must have spoken the truth! She must have!

A silence.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

They are all coming here this evening, one last time.

CEPHAS

I know; I came to hear them. I need to feel near them… It seems to me that my destiny will lift its torch tonight. (Judas enters, his face haggard, and stands before them a moment without a word.) Who is this tawny-haired beggar?… He looks like a lost animal.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

It is the man from Kerioth… Judas.

A silence.

JUDAS

Yes, it is I… You recognize me, you do, Rabbi… I ate the Passover lamb here, the thirteenth of Nisan at evening… Why do you look at me like that?… Do I have leprosy?… Are you going to flee or shake your fist at me, as the others do?… I asked an old woman for a drink; she dropped her jug… she thought she saw the demon… Ha! Ha!… I am thirsty. Will you drive me out, Rabbi?…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

I neither fear you nor drive you out; we have nothing to do together. Speak quickly and go your way; the disciples are coming.

JUDAS

They!… It is they who would be in flight!… At Kidron they could have defended themselves… but a few clubs sufficed… Ha! Ha!… And I kissed his lips, and he returned the kiss!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Dog! Tell us what brings you here, or leave!

JUDAS

It was you, was it not, Rabbi? It was you who placed him in the sepulcher?…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Yes, it was I.

JUDAS

And you sealed it with a stone… a great block of stone?… Ha! Ha!… He was quite dead, the corpse… the feet were cold, and the head… the head hung, dead… Ha! Ha!… The dead do not lift stones.

CEPHAS

He too!… So that is it?…

JUDAS

Magdalene, the demoniac, says she saw him… She would like that! She would like to pour the myrrh… and rub her hair on the bare feet… And Peter, and John, and all the others would like to see him!… But he is dead! Dead!… Dead on the cross!… Nails in the feet! Nails in the hands! And his God let him writhe, and bleed, and cry. Ha! Ha!

CEPHAS

He lives! Mary Magdalene has seen him! And Peter and John have seen him too!

JUDAS

Who are you?…

CEPHAS

A Pharisee…

JUDAS

Your people paid for his death… They are satisfied… They paid… and I returned the sum; they did not want to take it back… but I threw the money at them!…

CEPHAS

You returned the silver? Why?

JUDAS

I have no need of your silver!… Judas did not sell himself… Ha! Ha!… I wanted to see the traitor die… Him, Jesus… to see him die… He had promised us the kingdom and had betrayed us… Good enough!

CEPHAS

Wretch!… And if you should meet him?…

JUDAS

You… believe it too?…

CEPHAS

I? Yes!

JUDAS

All… All of them… And it is all against me alone… it is to drive me mad… Ha! Ha! But I will not believe the imposture!… He is dead, and someone is hiding him!… He was not thrown into Gehenna… since I searched, body after body… And if I should meet him?… Ha! Ha! I would cry again in his face that he is not the Messiah! Ha! Ha!… And that I hate him, dead and living! That I hate him! That I hate him!… As I hate you all! All! All! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!…

He goes out walking backward, his head bowed, and flees. A silence.

CEPHAS

One cannot hate like that except a god…

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Here they come… Let us go.

A group of disciples enters and bows before them. Both pass to the right and observe what follows.

FIRST DISCIPLE

We must believe Peter’s testimony… Peter is an honest man.

SECOND DISCIPLE

And John too. They were together.

THIRD DISCIPLE

It was Mary of Magdala who saw him first — she saw the dove descend, and the two men in white.

SECOND DISCIPLE

Who were they?… Moses and Elijah?…

THIRD DISCIPLE

No doubt… or John the Baptist… They were cherubim clothed in fire.

FOURTH DISCIPLE

It is strange that a Syrian woman should see cherubim… and this one! She was no saint, once, the Magdalene… She used to dance in the taverns for the sailors!

THIRD DISCIPLE

He had cast seven demons from her body… and since then she was no longer the same woman.

SECOND DISCIPLE

Since yesterday morning she is no longer the same…

FOURTH DISCIPLE

But Jesus?… Are they quite sure?… Did they see the hands and the feet?

THIRD DISCIPLE

He was standing in a great light… like swords, they say…

FOURTH DISCIPLE

They should have seen the stigmata…

FIRST DISCIPLE

Patience, we are going to hear them… Here come the women…

Enter Mary of Magdala and the Holy Women, who pass to the left. They raise their veils.

THIRD DISCIPLE (indicating Mary of Magdala)

Look at her walking without seeing… Would you not say she is a virgin?

SECOND DISCIPLE

She is smiling, deep in her heart…

FIRST DISCIPLE

Here are Peter, and John, and James his brother.

SECOND DISCIPLE

Heads high, like messengers!…

THIRD DISCIPLE

Peter is more care-worn than the others.

The three apostles greet Joseph of Arimathea and Cephas from afar and approach the Holy Women, with whom they converse in low voices. Other disciples enter gradually and mingle with the first group.

A DISCIPLE (entering abruptly)

Judas of Kerioth is dead!

A silence. The disciples look at one another. Various murmurs.

PETER

Where did you see him?

THE DISCIPLE

I was passing through the field of Henoch the potter. There, beneath a tree, I see a man… His head nearly touched the branches, and his feet seemed to dangle; it was no longer light… I call to him… He is like a stump… I come closer… Yes indeed, well hanged! The rope around his neck… It was Judas!

PETER

He killed himself?

THE DISCIPLE

No doubt… He was seen passing like a madman…

FIRST DISCIPLE

Praise be to Yahweh!

SECOND DISCIPLE

Justice rises!

THIRD DISCIPLE

They shall all perish by the rope!

PETER

Peace, brothers. It is not for us to judge.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA (in an undertone)

The apostles are improving…

Enter the two Pilgrims of Emmaus, staff in hand.

THE FIRST PILGRIM

Where is Simon, son of Jonah?

PETER

Here I am…

THE FIRST PILGRIM

You will believe us, Simon?… We have seen him; he spoke to us… He was with us on the road… He has just left us a moment ago…

THE SECOND PILGRIM

He spoke to us as he used to.

SEVERAL VOICES

Where?… How?

PETER

Be witnesses, all of you!… They have seen the Lord!… These are not apostles, nor women — lend your ears… And you, speak, as your heart bids you.

All the disciples press together in a group to listen to the Pilgrim. He speaks leaning on his traveling staff. At a sign from Joseph of Arimathea, the slave closes the door without a sound.

THE FIRST PILGRIM

If I am mistaken, let Cleopas correct me… We were going to Emmaus together, before nightfall, but when the shadows are already long… We were speaking of these last days, of the Sanhedrin and of Golgotha, and of what is told in the city… On the road, a stranger accosts us — from where he came, I do not know… He said to us: “Why are you sad? And what are you speaking of thus?…” Cleopas said to him: “Are you alone so much a stranger in Jerusalem that you do not know what everyone is talking about?” He said to us: “What then?” And Cleopas: “What happened the day before yesterday… the death of Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in word and deed… It was the doctors and the scribes who put him to death, and Joseph of Arimathea buried him, and now the tomb is empty… Mary Magdalene and two apostles say they saw him at dawn… but we do not know what to believe… and this is already the third day…” Then this stranger answered us: “Have you not read the Scripture?… The prophets must die so that the people may hear their voice…” Is that not what he said, Cleopas?…

THE SECOND PILGRIM

Yes… and he quoted the song of Isaiah: “Yahweh willed to bruise him through suffering… but from the price of his labors many shall be satisfied.”

CEPHAS (to Joseph of Arimathea)

Who was the man who spoke thus?…

THE FIRST PILGRIM

That is it. And he added many other marvelous words along the road… for he was traveling with us… and his voice was like a song… But we could not understand everything, because we were thinking of these things. As we drew near Emmaus — it was at the first stars — in my turn I said to him: “Lord, behold, night is falling… We must stop and sit down to eat. I beg you, stay with us.” He wished to continue on his way, but we would not let him go. Now, while we were at table, breaking the bread and offering the wine, he was teaching us as a Master.

A DISCIPLE

That is what he used to do, every evening. He would then tell the parables…

THE SECOND PILGRIM

He spoke from further away than before…

THE FIRST PILGRIM

And our eyes were held; we did not see him vanish! He departed like the day… and we were left alone… Then we said: “Who was that? Was not our heart burning within us when he was explaining the Scripture?… And when he broke the bread, did we not recognize his gesture? Why did we want him to stay, and for that evening to last forever?… There was light upon his lips when he spoke to us…” Cleopas cried: “It is He!” And our hearts were stirred… for we knew it was Jesus… We have come back in haste so that you may believe with us…

A silence.

PETER

O glory be to Thee, Lord.

SEVERAL VOICES

Speak to us, Simon… Speak to us!…

The two Pilgrims join the group. Several of the disciples sit on the ground to listen. The women are at the left, standing. Throughout this scene Joseph of Arimathea remains impassive and as if a stranger to all around him. Cephas listens eagerly, his whole body leaning toward the apostle.

PETER

Who am I that I should speak to you? You do not know what my shame is… I am the last among you! I suffer, in this joy, from all my remorse — I, Simon! I betrayed him like the others. I betrayed him as you all did, and worse than you!… Brothers, hear me and judge me. You know my whole life… He had chosen me among the first, and I left everything to follow him, in those mornings when he taught by the lake of Tiberias… Since then I have known him morning and evening, in victory and in distress, always the same, always greater… We came to Jerusalem. He had foretold my defeat! And I did not believe him… And behold: The other night, in the courtyard of Hanan, while they were putting him to the test, one of the soldiers came and said to me: “Are you not one of his?” I answered “No!” to the soldier. A servant who recognized me cried: “You are Simon Peter, the apostle!…” I said to the servant: “I do not know that man…” And, after I had denied him a third time, I went out… The cock was crowing… Then I wept… I wept for being alive… and for not knowing how to die… To pay for such a moment, will life and death be enough?

SEVERAL VOICES

How he loved him!… His eyes still burn with shame! Does he not speak like a prophet?…

CEPHAS (to Joseph of Arimathea)

Look… a flame from elsewhere is in him…

A DISCIPLE

We all believe in you, Simon!

SEVERAL VOICES

Yes! Yes!

PETER

Do not say you believe in me… It is from him that all strength comes… And yet, thank you! Thank you! I feel absolved of the blasphemy, and I would bless this anguish in which I wept! Only then did I understand that I was a man… I understood that I loved Jesus… I understood his death; I see it! I confessed Christ in suffering, as Jacob, by his wound, recognized Yahweh… (A silence.) And behold, all is loosened… Behold, I feel on my soul the wings of a mighty Cherub. Hear what the Word says… Yes, brothers, he had to die, to conquer us at last! We were gross mercenaries, and we were waiting for our meal. His death has told us what we must expect, what the Son of Man must endure before possessing the true riches! And his death is the last sacrifice offered for Israel to God… Laden with all our miseries, he was slaughtered like the lamb. He has washed us in his blood… And we are redeemed!… Redeemed!… But how dare we believe these things?… Who would have said it, on the evening of Golgotha?… And now you know the rest… We were naked; we are clothed. Our mouths were closed; they can open and sing the new canticle!… We were ashamed of ourselves and appeared to be in madness… Now who shall be against us, since the Eternal is for us? It has risen from the invisible, the sign in which we had faith! As we saw him on Mount Tabor, between Elijah and Moses clothed in flame, when our eyes were heavy, so we have seen him again in his glory. The stone of the sepulcher is lifted!… Now, better than John by the river, better than I at Caesarea, better than the people on the day of the Palms, we can repeat what the scribes murmured among themselves in mockery… what Pontius Pilate had nailed upon the wood of the cross: Jesus, Christ! Brothers, let us hail Christ Jesus!…

ALL THE DISCIPLES

Glory to Christ Jesus!

CEPHAS (in an undertone)

Jesus… Christ!

PETER

Brothers, to walk through the days, henceforth we have better than a law: we have a life… his whole life, full, rich, and pure, for guide and pillar of fire!… To be like Christ — there is our law! We shall no longer await the kingdom of God with folded hands, like beggars at a rich man’s door. That kingdom is alive today; it is within us. It is the sun that rises in the heart of every man who believes!… Look into the depths of yourselves: you can move mountains and dry up the Ocean!… Shall we then remain motionless, arms crossed upon our breasts, where we would hide this treasure? No! We shall make largesse of it! We shall go bearing it to our brothers! We shall proclaim Christ Jesus!… We shall gird our loins with the tunic. We shall take the staff and the wallet. We shall go through the fields and cities, preaching, as he foretold… What do we need on our journeys? To sleep, a host’s hearth; to speak, a square, a wood… We are the Master’s envoys… We were twelve, one for each tribe… We are twenty; we shall be five hundred; we shall be the sands of the sea… The Mighty will rise against us… But to us will come those who weep: the slave, the woman, the cripple, the poor, perhaps the rich… Who shall say how many there are who weep? And we bring them peace… The young men and the wise virgins will also laugh at our coming, and the mothers, and the grave old man, and the child with hands full of ears of grain… Our message is not of sadness but of festival and of great joy. We come so that all may marvel and remember that they are children… We are the light of the world that has risen with the cross! If Judea will not have us, we shall go to Samaria! If Samaria rejects us, we shall knock at the door of the Gentiles!… We shall cross the seas and the lands, as far as the day and the night reach! Yes, the Greek and even the Barbarian must gather at the foot of the mountain from which his arm opened the kingdom to us! They will come from every sky! O brothers, one day all men shall be gathered together as we are now, close and joyful under the same sun! That will be the day of the Son of Man… He shall appear at the right hand of the Father. Then he will know his own!

JOHN

And the dead shall rise from the sepulcher!…

A DISCIPLE

Tongues of fire surround him…

CEPHAS

O my heart, O my heart, how did you know?…

PETER

Presently, at the break of day, we shall leave by the eastern gate this barren Jerusalem that saw her Savior come and did not hear him. We shall leave to the High Priest and the Scribes their temple, which they wish to keep… Let the hand of Yahweh be upon them! For us, brothers — to Galilee! There lie the homeland and the temple. If he appeared to us here, will he not be with us at every hour, at Capernaum, at Tiberias, at Nazareth, at Bethsaida? Remember the former spring — it is going to be born again, and all the gladness… Let us go. It is Jesus who speaks to you… He is there wherever we are together. He watches with us; he follows us… It is He who cries through my mouth: Forward, to the land of Galilee!…

THE DISCIPLES

To Galilee! To Galilee!…

ONE OF THE HOLY WOMEN

Look at Mary Magdalene.

A silence. All look at Mary of Magdala, whose eyes, wide open and fixed, are turned toward the closed door.

MARY OF MAGDALA

Silence… Listen, all of you… There… there… (She points toward the door. A silence.) He is there!… I know he is near… but he does not wish to show himself… (A silence. Outside, a sound like a storm is heard. A flash of lightning gleams.) I have seen him!… There… near the door!… It is he… Listen and believe…

A DISCIPLE

A breath has passed.

SECOND DISCIPLE

Is it the storm? The wind blows outside.

THIRD DISCIPLE

I saw a light flash.

FOURTH DISCIPLE

I heard in the air: “Shalom…”

FIRST DISCIPLE

It was his voice!

SEVERAL DISCIPLES

It is He! It is He!…

A silence. They wait still, without daring to move.

PETER

Let us pray… (All rise, heads uncovered. A silence.) Lord, we have felt thy breath, and our eyes before thy light have remained dazzled… We pray thee to abide yet, to still our breasts and steady our knees! Lord, thou seest us… We are weak… Our heads are still troubled by the too-strong wine of the spirit… Like birds of the air at autumn’s end, we are gathered here… Tomorrow will be the journey; tomorrow we shall all be scattered. Thy breath must guide us… If we feel thee at our side, what shall we have to fear from the world? O Lord, lead us!

ALL

Amen!

PETER

We believe thou art the Messiah… Thou knowest we wish to fulfill thy law… Who are we to repeat thy word? We are still but children. But as the stars rise in multitudes after the day has gone, so, in the shadow where thou leavest us, thy truths shall shine in us. We will conquer ourselves, until our hearts are splendid as the sky at dawn. We will love all men, even the face of the enemy… We shall not curse those who strike us, remembering that they struck thee. Remembering that thou didst die in sorrow, we shall always be ready for death! Thus we shall await thy kingdom… We know well thou wilt return; Eden shall bloom again for the Just; the earth and the sea shall be a smile; all tears shall be wiped away. O Lord, by the bread and the wine, sustain us in the twilights!…

ALL

Amen!

PETER

And now the hour has come… Perhaps we shall see thee no more?… Perhaps thou no longer treadest for long this earth of blood and tears? One day thou must return to Him who sent thee… Oh! How we would wish yet to see thee leave the last mountains and the sky close over thee!… But it is not by the eyes that we must live, and thou knowest well what we need… Our souls will be resigned, since we keep thy spirit… And now the hour has come… We shall go upright through the world, joyfully, as thy messengers, as the sower upon the earth at dawn, as the fisherman on the great waters… We shall proclaim the Good News… We shall cast the grain into the wind, so that the forests of the future may be born. We shall go upright through the world, until death welcomes us, and we shall laugh at the unknown one who will bring us back to thee!… Sustain us for death and life, O Lord Christ! Amen!

ALL

Amen!

PETER (after a silence)

To work! First, thanks to the host who has sheltered us this evening. May he have his part with the Just! (To Joseph of Arimathea.) We salute you, Rabbi. Farewell.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Farewell!

PETER

And now — to Galilee!…

ALL THE DISCIPLES

To Galilee!…

Peter, James, and John go out first, followed by the Holy Women, then by all the disciples, who repeat once more in an undertone “To Galilee!” and all disappear outside into an impenetrable night. Joseph of Arimathea and Cephas are left alone.

CEPHAS

Father, lay thy hand upon my face… Bless me, and let us part.

He bows before Joseph of Arimathea.

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Where are you going?

CEPHAS

Out there… where the sun is young, and whence a god has come to us!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

Are you sure of yourself?