Act Two, Scene 2

Segment 2.3


(The Upper Room. The Apostles Peter, James, John, ANDREW, MATTHEW, NATHANAEL, THADDEUS, SIMON ZELOTES, PHILIP, and JAMES ALPHAEUS gather and listen intently as Cleopas and the Disciple continue singing. A few other disciples are also present, but Thomas is absent.)

CLEOPAS and DISCIPLE
Did not our hearts burn within us as He walked with us?
Did not He open the scriptures by the way?
Did not He come deliver even us
By rising from the grave?
He came to take our sins away!

PETER: Cleopas, did He give you any instructions?

JOHN: Andrew, better bolt the door.

PETER: Yes.

(Andrew bolts the door and returns to the conversation.)

Cleopas tells Peter and the apostles
CLEOPAS: At first we didn’t recognize Him. Our eyes were holden.58

DISCIPLE: We thought He was a stranger in Jerusalem, a rabbi. But then we walked with Him and asked Him to abide with us—and eat.59

PHILLIP: He ate?

CLEOPAS: He took the bread and He blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to us.60

JAMES: Like our last supper together.

DISCIPLE: And then the eyes of our understanding were opened, and we knew Him.

JOHN: Have you heard that the women have seen angels?

CLEOPAS: Yes.

JOHN: Have you also heard that they have seen Him?

DISCIPLE: Who did?

JOHN: Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and some of the other women.

PETER: He gave them instructions. What did He say to you?

CLEOPAS: He taught from the scriptures, Peter, beginning with Moses and all the prophets.61 And He expounded the words written about Himself.

JAMES: And what did you learn?

CLEOPAS: All of this had to happen, Brethren. The Prophets knew it, and He knew it, too.

PETER: And not only knew it, He didn’t stop it . . . He let it happen . . . He took it upon Himself.

(A man representing the Savior, dressed in a white robe, appears.)

[Music cue: “I Stand All Amazed” underscore MP3, PDF ]

SAVIOR: Peace be unto you.62

JAMES: Peter!

(All kneel, frightened.)

Peter kneels before Christ
SAVIOR: Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.63

(The man in white extends His hands. Peter, James, and John come forward and touch the palms of His hands.)

SAVIOR: Have ye any meat?64

PETER (passing a basket of food forward): We have fish and honeycomb.65

(The man takes the basket and eats. He hands the basket back to Peter.)

JOHN: Thou hast risen from the grave, Lord, and yet Thou eatest as a man.

PETER: Wilt Thou teach us, Lord, the meaning of these things?

SAVIOR: These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.66

Christ appears to the Apostles
JAMES: What things, Lord?

SAVIOR: Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.67

(As the light fades, the man representing the Savior walks away. The Apostles and disciples, at first overcome, slowly begin to stand.)

JOHN: Witnesses!

JAMES: To all nations!

PETER: Brethren, what we have seen, the people need to know. They are ready, and many will listen. What we thought was the end is the beginning.

(The Apostles and disciples begin to leave.)

DISCIPLE: It’s not over, Cleopas. There is something we can do.

CLEOPAS: And in Jerusalem!

JOHN (quietly): Peter, what about Thomas?

PETER: We will find him.

(Before exiting, Peter turns to look back into the room.)

BLACKOUT

 

NOTES
58. See Luke 24:16.
59. See Luke 24:29–30.
60. See Luke 24:30.
61. See Luke 24:27.
62. Luke 24:36.
63. Luke 24:38–39.
64. See Luke 24:41.
65. See Luke 24:42.
66. Luke 24:44.
67. See Luke 24:46–48.


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