Easter Play: The Day of Quietness by Ken Sears
Narrator: Sabbath day, the day of rest. But this Sabbath is a day of quietness like no other. For with a cry “It is finished!” a Voice like no other has fallen silent. In this silence the souls of those who loved Him are permeated with grief, guilt, helplessness. They can do nothing, say nothing, to bring an answer or hope. What can be done, what can be said, when there is no future? At the door of a grief-filled house, there is a knock. Some in the house are sleeping, but one, a mother who has witnessed what no mother should see, has not ceased her vigil. She opens the door to her visitors.
Mary: (whispering) Lazarus! Thomas! Come in, come in!
Lazarus: Mary… Mary….
Thomas: Who is that over there?
Mary: Shh, Thomas. That’s Salome, and Mary of Magdala. They only just fell asleep this past hour. Thank God they're sleeping. It was a terrible night… terrible.
Thomas: Terrible nights are all that is left to us now. And days— oh, God, days without life at all.
Mary: And are you a prophet now, Thomas? No. There will be no more nights like this one. There will be no more days like yesterday. Everything changes, Thomas. Always.
Lazarus: And "the mercies of the Lord are new every morning." Even death cannot change that. The new day comes even when your heart lies in the grave.
Mary: Hope is a very severe master, Thomas. She doesn't let us lie long in our grief. She calls us early to rise and go to work.
[Mary Magdalene and Salome are awake. We hear Magdalene's voice as if from a short distance]
Magdalene: "Are there not twelve hours in a day? Must we not do the work of the Father while there is light?"
Mary: Oh, Mary, Salome, we woke you up. I'm so sorry. I wanted you to sleep.
Magdalene: It was enough. I will not sleep again till I have fulfilled my duty to my Lord.
Salome: Nor I. We'll go today and…anoint the body.
Thomas: Today? Salome, it’s the Sabbath! You mustn’t!
Magdalene: "Is not the Son of Man also Lord of the Sabbath?" How can you even speak that way, Thomas? Can anything we do for him defile us, or break God's holy law? Didn't the Lord heal on the Sabbath?
Thomas: But… to enter a grave, to touch… the dead on the Sabbath day….
Magdalene: Didn't he touch the dead? Didn't he touch them and raise them back to life? Did that make him unclean, Thomas? Did it?
Mary: And are you going to raise my son back to life, my dear?
Magdalene: (shaken) Oh… no, I didn't mean—… Oh, my dear one, I only wanted—… I need to do something for him. (She weeps)
Mary: I know. I don't blame you, but… today is not the day. Today is the day of quietness. He is quiet, where he lies, today. We too must be quiet. None of us can do anything for him now. Even to think that we can is, somehow, terribly wrong—perhaps even sin…. I feel this, I know it in my heart. Hasn't he shown us all – you, brothers, and you, my sisters, and… me – that we never really knew his purpose? Even when he told us, we refused to hear him; we said he must be wrong. "The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of sinners and be crucified, and on the third day, he will rise again." On the third day, the third day—[We hear Mary Magdalene and Salome approaching Mary, their voices louder, the rustle of their clothes and footsteps can be heard as they whisper comforting words.]—oh, whatever happens tomorrow, let my son rest quiet today.
[Mary sighs sadly, even the slightest weeping, Mary Magdalene and Salome quietly whispering comforting words; then there is a knock at the door]
Narrator: The small circle freezes in fear, Mary gives a nod to Lazarus. Lazarus opens the door.
Lazarus: (with relief) Nicodemus!
Nicodemus: Lazarus, dear brother.
Narrator: This is Nicodemus, the Jewish nobleman who came to Jesus by night and was forever transformed by this encounter. It was Nicodemus who, with Joseph of Arimethea, asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, then placed the Lord in Joseph’s newly hewed tomb. Entering the house, Nicodemus recognizes Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Nicodemus: I saw you before… with Him. You are His mother.
Mary: Yes.
Nicodemus: I–
Mary: I know who you are. And I know that he loved you. I also know what you and Joseph have done for my… for the Lord. How can I thank you?
Nicodemus: Please don’t speak of thanking me. I feel I have failed him utterly, I feel…a criminal, a murderer.
Magdalene: Perhaps you are.
Thomas, Lazarus, Salome: ("Mary!" "How dare you?" "What are you saying?")
Magdalene: Perhaps we all are! I heard him cry from the cross—never, never can I forget the sound of his cry: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Instantly the answer pierced my heart like a sword. I knew. I knew why he was abandoned—by his own Father in heaven! It was me. What my sins deserved, the Lord was suffering there. He brought it all… there… I never asked him to, I never wanted him to. But it was always what he…what he knew he would do.
Salome: If he had asked me, I'd have told him no— no—not for me, Lord, no! You're… holy, I'm unworthy; it's not right, you don't deserve to suffer—
Nicodemus: Glory to the Most High, Jesus never asked any of us for… permission to fulfill the Father's will…as if we'd have ever understood. (recalling, reciting the words of Scripture) "Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Now, as blind as I am, I begin to see… glory to the God of Israel…. "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities… by his wounds we are healed… the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all… for the transgression of my people he was stricken… he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
Thomas: "This is my blood which is shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins"…
Mary: All of it is what had to be—yes, and the sword that has pierced my own heart, too. It's terrible—it has always been terrible: we are in the hands of the living God and are undone… the world is undone. It's the end of the world. …I don't know what world tomorrow brings, but it must be a different one, a new one. There's no other possibility. (resolutely to the others…) So no more talk about which of us would "permit" my son to do… what he's done. It's… it’s blasphemy. The whole world… all of heaven… expects nothing from us, today. …Today the world is silent, silent—while He is silent in the grave….
Nicodemus: (as if seeing a vision)"Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling." Oh, Lord… and when he rouses himself…what then? (snaps back to the present moment) But I have forgotten the reason I came here. Lazarus, I came to tell you you must leave the city immediately. The Pharisees have dispatched men to kill you. You're the greatest threat to them now after… after Jesus. And in your case they won't bother with a trial. Who can charge them with killing a man who was already dead?
Lazarus: How do you know this?
Nicodemus: You know I sit in the Sanhedrin. I have friends, Lazarus, who aren't as full of hate, or under the power of darkness, as the rest. They tell me things they hear…. But we're wasting time. You must leave quickly. You are a living sign of Jesus' power. The Pharisees are intent on eliminating that sign. And this time, my friend, Jesus won't be there to stand in front of your grave and call you out.
Lazarus: Oh no Nicodemus, the next time he will call me from my grave.
Magdalene: And me.
Salome: And me.
Nicodemus: (accepting the sense in which they speak) And me, Lazarus. And me. Yes. I believe. He is the savior of the world.
Thomas: "I am the resurrection and the life. Who believes in me will never die…."
Magdalene: "And I will raise him up on the last day…."
Salome: "The dead will hear the voice of the Son of man, and—"
Nicodemus: But how? …How? Now he is dead. Who'll stand before his grave? Who'll call him to come out, Lazarus?
Mary: (fiercely) No one. … No one, Nicodemus. "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days…."
Nicodemus: But, but he was talking about the temple—
Mary: No. He wasn't.
Lazarus: In the grave of death, I heard his voice telling me to live, and–I had to live. I know who he is, Nicodemus: the Prince of Life. And you ask who will call him out of the grave? Why don't you ask who counseled the Lord God when He made heaven and earth?
Nicodemus: Oh, I believe, I believe… but I can't understand—I am an old man—
Lazarus: You're a teacher of Israel.
Nicodemus: …. No, I was a teacher, but I knew nothing. I realized that when—
Thomas: When he spoke to you.
Nicodemus: Yes.
Thomas: Nicodemus… dear brother… none of us understands. We're devastated and heartbroken. …I thought I understood when the Lord said, "Let's return to Judea." I said, "Let's go back and die with him." Oh, I was so brave, Nicodemus, so sure of myself. But I understood nothing. He knew… everything: that we would all leave him; that he would die alone, there, on the cross; that my courage was just empty, meaningless words. He knew, and we knew… nothing.
Salome: You're wrong, Thomas. We knew he had the words of life—
Magdalene: And the power of life—
Lazarus: The power of God.
Thomas: …Yes, we did, and we believed.
Nicodemus: And we'll continue believing. It's all we can do. Our brother Lazarus could do nothing in the grave until the Lord spoke. Now we're like Lazarus in the grave. We're—dead with grief. Yet hope does live in us, all the same. We will hear his voice again.
Lazarus: And now I must go to Bethany. My sisters need me. They're surely in danger, too.
Thomas: I'll go with you. And whatever happens, I'll stand by you, Lazarus, and Martha and Mary.
Nicodemus: Come, I have friends waiting to help us to get out of the city unseen.
Lazarus: Us?
Nicodemus: I'm going with you. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but when it comes I want to be with the one who heard Messiah's voice call him from the grave to life.
Thomas: But, the sisters… who'll take care of them?
Salome: (in bitter irony) When you disciples ran away in fear, we women continued to follow the Lord, and now you worry who'll take care of us?
Mary: Salome, don't. Go, brothers, we'll be alright. John and Mark are coming soon. They went out to find Peter. I'm worried for him. I hope soon we'll all be together again. Lazarus, when you can, when it's safe, come back to us with your sisters. I… I know that he will bring us together again—for His purpose.
[As Narrator reads the following, they softly, as background sounds, uttering parting phrases like "Go with God," "Go in peace"]
Narrator: They say goodbye to each other, preparing to leave, when there is another knock at the door. [we hear the knocking as soon as the narrator reads the word "knock"] Thomas goes and opens it. A young Jewish woman enters. She is unknown to them. She is trembling with apprehension.
Judith: My name is Judith. I am a servant in the house of Governor Pontius Pilate.
(The next three lines are quite spontaneous, slightly overlapping)
Magdalene: Pilate!
Nicodemus: How dare you come here!
Salome: Like Judas, she'll bring the Romans here to arrest us!
Mary: No – let her speak! (everyone goes quiet) Please, my dear, why have you come?
Judith: I… I… I have a message for the mother of Jesus. It was forbidden to me to tell it to any man, only … to you?
Mary: Yes, I am his mother. So then, you cannot tell me while these friends of ours are standing here? (slight pause, as Judith nods silently in agreement) Well then, dear brothers, once more: peace, go with God.
Thomas: But—
Mary: It's all right. Go. (we hear their footsteps and the door closing behind them) Now, Judith, there are only we women here. Tell us your message.
Judith: There is no message.
Magdalene: You lied?!
Salome: Just as I said, she's a traitor!
Judith: No, no! I beg you, listen! I couldn't tell you why I came while they were here. My mistress would have punished me severely. I had to make them leave.
Mary: If you serve in the house of Pilate, then your mistress is Claudia, his wife.
Judith: Yes.
Mary: Why did she send you to us?
Judith: She didn't send me.
Mary: (her weariness and the strain are breaking through) Oh… dear, now you make my head spin. There's a message, there isn't a message, your mistress sent you, she didn’t send you—please… we've borne enough these last hours…. I'm listening, Judith: why are you here?
Judith: Forgive me, I didn't mean to torment you, truly. I'll speak plainly: My mistress didn't send me here with a message. I've brought my mistress here to see you.
Salome: The governor's wife— you led her here?!
Magdalene: Why?!
Judith: She's suffering terribly. She's desperate to know more about this Nazarene, the one that Pilate—. (she sees the grief on the women's faces) I'm sorry.
Mary: How did you know where we were?
Judith: Jesus the Nazarene had followers even in the house of Pilate. It wasn't difficult for me to find out.
Salome: But you were not one of his followers?
Judith: No… not yet—though word about him had come to me: reports that sounded wonderful, but frightening, too. A strange hope began to rise in my heart… But now it's too late.
Mary: No, Judith, not too late, not too late. …But where is your mistress?
Judith: She's waiting, hiding in a side street, till I come and let her know it's safe. She feared Jesus' followers would take revenge on her for Pilate's deed.
Mary: Revenge? That is not the Way Jesus taught, Judith.
Judith: I know that. But my mistress doesn't know.
Mary: Go, bring her here. Tell her that we receive her… (determinedly) with love.
Magdalen: (forcing herself) Yes. With love.
Salome: (with grief in her tone) …With love.
Narrator: Judith exits, quietly closing the door behind her. Mary, Mary Magdalene and Salome wait in suspense, wondering what this could mean.
[We hear a soft knock on the door]
Mary: (gently, steadily) Come in.
[The sound of a door quietly opening, then a moment’s silence]
Mary: We receive you in peace, Claudia, wife of the governor Pontius Pilate.
Claudia: You are the mother of the man Jesus, the one they crucified yesterday?
Mary: Yes.
Claudia: And now he's… dead?
Mary: Yes.
Claudia: Truly dead?
Mary: …His body is lying cold, without breath or heartbeat, in the tomb. If, dear lady, that's what you mean by "truly dead", then… yes.
Magdalene: What—are you afraid he's not dead?
Claudia: (with nervousness, indecision) I'm… afraid. Of what, I don't know, I don't understand.
Mary: Come, please sit. Tell us. We'll help you. And you, Judith— come, sit.
Judith: No, no. I may not sit in my mistress' presence.
Salome: In this house, she is not your mistress. We are free women here.
Magdalene: No, not "free". We're the slaves of another Lord, the only Lord… and he is not Caesar, he is not Pilate.
Narrator: The ruler's wife is shocked at such words. In her distress she does not know whether to be angry, but the thirst for truth in her heart, and the sense of love in this house, mixed with the deepest grief, calm her soul. Claudia nods gently to Judith.
Claudia: Yes… Judith? Come and sit with us.
Narrator: Judith hesitates
Claudia: Please. [A rustle of movement is heard as Judith sits down, Claudia continues...] I don't know how to begin… Please receive my… deepest… sorrow for your grief.
Mary: I receive it.
Narrator: Suddenly Claudia jumps to her feet, unable to contain herself. Judith starts to rise with her mistress, but Claudia gestures to stop her.
Claudia: I cannot sit! No, Judith, stay there. But… Who is He? Who is your Son? What is he going to do? Will he destroy us—me, my husband, the empire—for the… the sin we've done? Please tell me. I'm losing my mind, I can't stand it anymore!
(There is a moment’s silence, as you can imagine the women absorbing this sudden outburst and what it means. Finally Mary Magdalene asks with a quiet but deep intensity)
Magdalene: How do…you know of His power?
Claudia: Then it's so. Your faces tell me. My visions were true. What have we done? Oh, my husband, my husband…!
Mary: Please, whatever you've done, the Lord's power is greater—not only to destroy but to save… to forgive.
Claudia: (this word strikes Claudia, stuns her; no Jew ever talks to a Roman noble like this) Forgive? Forgive… is this not truly the highest treason, the worst insult? Who dares to forgive Pilate? To forgive the imperial power of Rome?
(The young women respond defiantly, with “pluck”)
Salome: The King of kings, God's Anointed.
Magdalene: The Son of God!
(a moment’s pause, in which we can imagine Claudia’s stunned, terrified bewilderment; Mary steps in with calm control…)
Mary: Tell us what you saw. What were these visions?
Claudia: (pulling herself together to speak) That night ... before they brought ... Him to my husband, I had nightmares all night. No. It was visions. There was a Power there, not a person to be seen, but a living power, the beginning of all power. And…Life. Then I saw a hand, just a hand, reaching toward the Living Power to touch what…what no one must ever touch. With horror I realized the hand was my husband's. Terror seized me, in the vision I screamed "Leave it! Don’t touch it!,” but too late. Pilate struck the Presence and, all at once, everything, the whole world, my own soul, became a whirlwind and chaos, torn up, disintegrating, flying away to nothingness. And all the time there was... no, not a sound but a voice–so strong it shattered chaos itself. An endless roaring voice, as if mountains were crumbling, crying out, "The kingdom of this world has come to an end! The kingdom of this world has come to an end!" And in this chaos, this everlasting thunder, my own annihilation was taking place. It was a madness from which I thought I would never escape.
Judith: (overwhelmed with emotion, realizing in fear ...) He is the Son of God. He truly is the Son of God!
Claudia: When day came, it was a… a miracle that I survived such a night. But then they brought him, the Nazarene, and I knew. What I had seen was happening. That Living Power had come! It was all real. Again, as in the vision, I tried to stop him, my husband: "Don't touch him!" But he—he— Oh-h-h, what will happen now?
Mary: Now you must sit, dear lady. (pause as we imagine Mary is helping Claudia to a chair; then Mary continues, drawing on her deepest memories with quiet, firm certainty) Listen, please, to what I say. A messenger from heaven announced to me that I would bear the Son of God. He told me, "Don't fear." Now, dear lady, I tell you: don't fear. With God all things are possible. What you must do now is believe, hope for the mercy of the living God. And… wait. This is what we’re all doing now, today. Today we can do nothing else.
Claudia: Wait? For what?
Mary: (with quiet certainty, directly) For the kingdom of God that comes when the kingdom of this world is fallen. He will bring it soon. Death won't stop Him.
Narrator: Suddenly three men burst into the room without knocking. They look wild, exhausted, on the verge of madness. The man in the lead throws Claudia a fierce, hostile look. Claudia rises in panic, clutching Judith to her.
Claudia: Judith—Judith!
Judith: Yes, my lady!
Claudia: We’re going!
Mary: (with urgency in her voice) Trust, and wait. He has power to save… and forgive.
Magdalene: You have His followers in your household, including Judith here. Be assured: when the time comes, we will send word to you.
Salome: One thing more, Lady Claudia. Before you can gain everything—everything: his Life, his kingdom—you'll have to lose … everything.
Narrator: Claudia meets Salome's gaze thoughtfully, nods meekly, then she and Judith walk out quietly, avoiding the gaze of the three unknown men. When they’re gone, the first of the men speaks. He is Peter.
Peter: (with irritation, a tone of rebuke in his voice) The Roman – who was she?
Magdalene: (defiantly) Claudia, wife of the governor Pontius Pilate.
Peter: (Magdalene’s defiance worked; Peter is stunned) What? What are you—? Have you lost your minds? She'll turn you over to Pilate, and they'll kill you all! What were you thinking? You can't—
Magdalene: Is this what you've come back for, Peter? To give orders?
Peter: Clearly someone must. Oh, you foolish women—
Salome: How dare you—!
Mary: (like a thunderclap) Simon Peter son of Jonah! (total silence, then Mary speaks with a supernal strength just managing to subdue her violent emotion) There will be a day, Peter… when the Lord makes you… a shepherd of His people. Of His people, Peter... yes, there will be a day. …But today, Peter: (the intensity of her emotion is expressed by speaking even more quietly) Be. Quiet.
Peter: (a pause in which we can imagine Peter suddenly coming to his senses; when he speaks he is entirely changed, ashamed, his voice utterly sincere) Forgive me. Oh–forgive me!
Narrator: Peter suddenly bolts for the door, but his companions, John and Mark, block his path.
John: Where are you going?
Mark: Peter!
Peter: I'm leaving. It’s over. Forgive me, all of you, the pain I brought you. I only came back, at all—to say goodbye.
Magdalene: No!
Salome: What are you saying?
Mark: No, Peter! You can't betray Jesus like this! (sudden silence, as if Mark has uttered the unspeakable; but Mark persists....) You can't.
Peter: (with a desperate urgency, half in anger, half in despair, but mostly to terminate this dangerous line of thought immediately) Mark–oh, Mark, you don't know what you're talking about.
Mark: (determinedly) Yes. I do. You've already denied Him.
(a moment’s pause; we know Peter is appalled)
Mary: …We all know, Peter.
John: I told them.
Peter: John, why? How could you?!
John: (with a tender exasperation) Oh…my dearest brother… "Nothing is hidden that will not be known". It wasn’t to shame you, but—Peter, it's not my fault. I won't answer for anything I said. When we came to the house, we were all of us out of our mind with grief and horror. And it all came pouring out of me like it was happening all over again. Everything: what they did to Him… what He went through… and when you said you didn't know Him—
Narrator: Peter rushes for the door again, but John blocks his way.
John: No! Mark is right. You can't leave us. The Lord won't let you.
Peter: The Lord? Or you, John?
John: "But I have prayed for you, Peter… and when you've returned, strengthen your brothers…." The Lord told you this would happen, and you didn't believe it. You wanted to be the one who loved Him more than any of us. “Even if they all leave you, I won’t,” you said. And you never stopped to think how you insulted us, Peter. You were so sure that we… that I…would leave Him but you wouldn't. Oh, Peter, how foolish your pride is…. But, still, how great your love.
Magdalene: "To him who loves much, much will be forgiven."
Mark: Peter, I'm waiting. I don’t know what it means, but I’m waiting…for Jesus. And you’re going to wait with me. You begged him once to leave you because you were a sinful man and unworthy, remember? Well, look—what’s changed? Nothing! …"The Good Shepherd will give up his life for his sheep." It's done, Peter: he did it—he's given up His life. Whether you wanted him to or not. It was never up to you. Peter, Peter… You thought you were the greatest disciple, and now you think you're the worst traitor…. Whatever it is, you always have to be the most. No, Peter. You're nothing. I'm nothing. And you and I are going to wait for him–together. … You begged him to leave you once and he said "No." Now you can't leave…. Peter, he promised to come back for us….
Peter: (quietly, almost to himself, almost in prayer; he’s making a choice; we are not quite sure what his “No” means at first….) No… no… I'll never… I’ll never… deny him again… If only he’ll, if the Lord will only….
Mary: (knowing what he means) Peter, yes. He will.
Peter: (Peter is coming back to himself, thinking out loud, in spite of himself taking charge again, but with a much gentler spirit) The others…all the others… we've got to find them!
John: Yes, brother.
Mark: Let's gather them all, quickly.
Peter: John, you know where they must have gone….
John: I think so. The cave, under the Garden. On the Mount of Olives.
Peter: Yes.
Mary: Go, bring them. We must be together, and ready.
Peter: (shaken at the thought of needing to be "ready" again; in quiet intensity…) Ready… Yes… Lord, make us ready…. Let’s go, brothers.
Mark: Peter, John, wait! (a moment’s pause, as if Mark is collecting himself to say the worst) What if…what if we… find Judas?
[another pause, finally Salome breaks it]
Salome: If you find him, then—it's God's will. And if not, then… it’s God's will.
Narrator: Still in grief and anguish, still in fear and doubt, but with renewed purpose and intention, the disciples go out into the night in search of their brothers. The house is quiet again. The three women are together, yet each alone in her soul with her memories and grief.
Mary: "Enough for today are today's troubles." I feel in my heart, sisters, we've survived today's troubles. There's time now to rest, time to gather strength for tomorrow.
Magdalene: Tomorrow Salome and I will fulfill our duty to the Lord, and nothing will stop us.
Mary: (pensively, with a slight smile and a slight weariness) Maybe… and maybe not. Or perhaps, dear Mary, you cannot yet know what your duty to the Lord will be… tomorrow. But come, we'll prepare something for the brothers to eat… when Peter brings them back.
[As the narrator reads the following line, the players playing Mary and Magdalene can walk away from their microphones, so that only Salome remains standing at her microphone. When Mary says her last line, she can do so from some distance from the microphone, as if from the next room]
Narrator: Mary and the Magdalene retire to the next room to begin preparations. Salome lingers, collecting cups and plates from the table, then stops as a fervent prayer springs from her soul.
Salome: Oh Jesus, Lord Jesus. See how your flock needs you. There's no way ahead for us without you. You must return to us.
… Oh "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” rest now: it is finished.
… Oh Son of the Living God, we are waiting for your glory….
Mary: (as if from the next room) Salome?
Salome: (softly) Yes, I'm coming.
["Salome" leaves the microphone. There is a brief pause. Narrator speaks again]
Narrator: This Sabbath day, a day of quietness, helplessness and grief, yet a day also of rest and expectation, comes to an end, whispering of hope. Hope is a stern teacher indeed, allowing no surrender. There, outside the city gates, in the silence of a cold tomb, the Beginning of all power, the Life of all life, does not surrender, but gathers Himself for the victory of all victories. The day of quietness quietly draws to an end. The morning star approaches, whispers to hopeful hearts, “Yes, I will come as I promised. Believe.”
***
