JESUS VERSUS THE EAGLES

 

A village in the Galilee, I the year 26 CE/AD. In the public space at the center of the village, two men are confronting each other. We cannot hear what they are saying, only the background music. One of the men is visibly agitated, red-faced and gesticulating. The other speaks softly and remains calm.  The whole village is observing without intervening. The angry man slaps the other on the right cheek with a backhanded slap. The one who has been hit remains calm and offers his left cheek also to be slapped. The villagers move in closer, and make it clear that their sympathies are now with the man who took the slap. The offender is afraid and ashamed, and flees the scene. The quiet man begins conversing with the villagers. We now can hear what everyone is saying. 

 

Villager: Bar Abba, how can you do it? Are you not suffering dishonor when you allow someone to insult you like that? 

Yeshua Bar Abba: Sin is the only dishonor. It is a sin to do violence to your brother.

Woman: What if it were a Gentile, and not a brother?

Yeshua: Our Heavenly Father is the father of all mankind, Jews and Gentiles both. He sends rain and sunshine on Israel and on foreign lands. His love is equally impartial.

Young man: (who comes running into the village) Fathers! Brothers! Disaster falls on Israel! A new Roman governor has arrived at Caesarea, and has ordered idols in the shape of vile birds of prey to be raised on Temple Hill!!

Commotion and sensation. Many ask for war and taking up arms. A few others ask Yeshua for advice.

Yeshua: Where birds of prey gather, there must be dead bodies. And dead bodies is what we shall be if we wage war against the legions of Rome.

Ignorant man: So, are you saying we sould just give up?

Yeshua: Of course not. Have you forgotten what we were talking about before?

Woman: You were talking about turning the other cheek, standing firm without either hitting back or running away. Do you think that would work against the Romans?

Yeshua: Yes. Let us go down to Caesarea and tell the Roman governor we oppose his plan. Perhaps he will listen to reason. 

Fiery man: More likely he won't! We should strike with the sword!

(Many shout approval, shaking their fists).

Yeshua: The Father will be on our side - if we are on His side. Are we so righteous that Heaven will fight our battles? Examine your hearts. Are you totally free of sin?

All those present become quiet and pensive, pondering the question.

Yeshua: If one of you looks at another with lustful thoughts, he has already committed adultery in is heart. A fire inside a house may not burn down the house, but will blacken the walls. 

Woman: But the Roman, being an evil man, will certainly not listen to our pleas.

Yeshua: Perhaps not. But I remember how my mother, a poor widow, came repeatedly before a judge to ask for justice. The judge was unjust. He had neither fear of Heaven nor love of people. If you had no bribe to give him, you had no hope with him. But my mother came back and kept coming back until she finally wore him down. He did not fear Heaven, but he learned to fear her chutzpa. So, let all of us who are fast runners, arise and go to all the villages and towns in Israel and tell every Israeli to go down to Caesarea to beseech the governor. Let us take no food and no human weapon, but only our trust in the Father and in his spirit!

 

Yeshua rises and begins to run. Many follow his example. 

 

Pontius Pilate, with four armed Roman soldiers and two advisers - Aradus and Hispanus - is inspecting Caesarea  Maritima, his new capital city. 

 

Aradus: The city, your palace, the port, the theater - they were all built by Herod the Great.

Hispanus: Great? There was nothing great about him. His own people hated him so much  that he gave orders that several notable citizens were to be put to death when he died, in order to force the people to mourn. Otherwise they would be dancing on the streets. 

Pilate: Not everyone who is called Great is great. Alexander of Macedon really was great, as everyone will agree, except for incurable fools. But Pompey the Great did not really deserve the title, but the Senate voted for him to have it, and his son and heir bears it to this day. And say what you will about old Herod, perhaps he was a monster, but if he built this beautiful city, he deserves a lot of credit. It is hard to believe we are in Judea and not in Greece or Italy.

Aradus: What is happening over there? Is the city being invaded?

Hispanus: I see no weapons.

Pilate: Neither do I. But I do see great numbers. We are not enough to deal with them, whether their intentions are peaceful or not. Let us go back to the palace, and return here with more soldiers.

The seven turn around and head back in the opposite direction. More and more people, all of them Jewish, continue to pour in through the gates of the city. 

Woman: Bar Abba, how did you become so wise?

Yeshua: (laughing) Only God is wise. But he gives wisdom to those who ask in faith.

Man: And how did you learn that?

Yeshua: It began in my native village, Natserath.

Another man: Never heard of it. 

Yeshua:  Nobody has heard of it. It is a tiny hamlet, with no walls around it. It has no gold, and very little silver. No palaces, no mansions, no public baths, no library, no school, no theater, no market, no glass, no marble. No synagogue building. We have a synagogue, but it's out in the open air, without walls. Every now and then a wandering melamed or even a Rabbi would stop by to teach the children their alef-beth and make sure everybody is eating kosher, and keeping other essential commandments. 

Old gent with a white beard: Once I heard Shammai complain that too many people in those Galilean hamlets are rather lax about observing the Torah.

Yeshua: It is true. I've heard some folk griping about the Yom Kippur fast, or about not being allowed even to break a stick in half on the Shabbath. But I never had a problem with those or any other commandments. So I was not too interested when news came to the village that a preacher in the desert of Yehudah was immersing people in the Yordan river to help them get free of their sins.

Man: I went to get baptized by Yohannan! 

(Many of those present agree - "So did I," and such, ad lib, or nod.)

Yeshua: At the time I was living with my mother and my brothers - Yaakob, Shimeon, Yehuda, and Yossi. 

Old man: Good Hebrew names, those. 

Yeshua: Right. No Greek names in our family.

Enter Hispanus and Aradus, with two squads of soldiers. Hispanus asks for an explanation, and Yeshua explains.

Hispanus:  But if the Eagle were so displeasing to the Gods, would the Gods allow Rome to plant images of these birds on every land under Heaven?

Yeshua: Ah, but those birds are not in every land under Heaven. There are many vast lands to the east, to the north, to the south and to the west where no one has seen a Roman or a bird-standard. And those lands are more than those that Rome controls.

Hispanus: Hmmm. Maybe to the north, and certainly to the east. But to the south there is nothing but desert, and to the west nothing but ocean. 

Yeshua: But beyond the desert and beyond the sea there are vast green lands full of people and animals.

Hispanus: How would you know that?

Yeshua: I have seen them. The Holy Spirit took me up to the skies and showed me those lands. So I know that all the Empire of the Romans is but a tiny fraction of the world. If you took all the Empire away, almost all of the world would still be there, very little changed. 

Hispanus: You have given me much to think about, O philosopher. I must do just that, and talk about it with the Procurator. Then I shall come to talk with you again. (Departs, with escort).

Man: Did that really happen, Bar Abba?)

Yeshua: Yes, it did. It may have been just my spirit, without my body. but I have no doubt that it was a real experience, and that what I saw was the truth and no illusion. The Father has many other flocks on many other fields, that we know nothing about as yet.

 

The Procurator's palace. Hispanus reports on his exchange with bar Abba.

 

Pilate: Well? Who can tell me more about this Barabbas fellow?

First spy: He lives in the Galilee?

Pilate: Where exactly in the Galilee?

Second spy: Nowhere in particular. He moves around a lot. From village to village, from town to town.

First spy: Never goes to the big cities. He seems to have a phobia of them.

Pilate: That is interesting. He may have some secret reason for it.

First spy: here is something else of interest. He seems to have a talent for healing, but he denies it. What he likes do is to preach his philosophy. But lepers and cripples and other sick folk seek him out and ask him for cures; and he cures them. He uses no medicines, incantations or rituals. just a touch or a word. And here is the strangest part: he never asks for any payment. The most he will accept is a meal - and sometimes not even that.

Aradus: The man is insane. 

Pilate: Either that, or his healing abilities are much exaggerated by gossip and rumor.

First spy: If they are, it is no thanks to him. He denies he has healing powers and tells his patients: "It is your faith that has cured you." And he asks them to tell no one about the healing. He could be rich if he promoted himself, but he does the very opposite.

Hispanus: Procurator, remember Pompey. 

Pilate: What of him?

Hispanus: Early in his career, everything went perfectly for him. Fortuna smiled on all he undertook. Then he took Jerusalem, about ninety years ago, and forced his way into the Holy of Holies of the Temple of the Jews. After that, all went wrong for him. To improve his failing fortunes, he sponsored great games. Prisoners of war fought with spears against elephants. People wept with pity for the plight  of the poor beasts. And you remember what happened in Alexandria. 

Pilate: Yes, I remember, and I shall keep that in mind, among other things. I am not unmindful of the gods, even the Jewish god.

 

Return to the outside.

 

Pilate: All right, who is Barabbas?

Yeshua: Why, you are, sir.

Pilate: What? Am I a Jew?

Yeshua: God is the Father of us all. Everyone is Bar Abba, son of the Father.

Many men and women: I am Bar Abba!!!

Soon, the whole crowd takes up the cry

Pilate: Silence! Be silent or I'll have you all slain!

Old Man: Go ahead! We'd rather die than see the Holy City defiled!

The chant resumes. Several people bare their bosoms.

Pilate: Oh, all right, you stubborn fools! There will be no Eagles in your city!

Hallelujahs and Hosannas! Pilate and his people walk away.

Hispanus: Procurator, I commend you for your humanity.

Pilate: Do not give me too much credit. How would it look if I began my administration with a massacre of thousands of unarmed people? Also, there is the story you told me about Pompey.