THE GOSPEL

OF JUDITH

ISCARIOT

 

by Y.I. H AY

 

 

(Text {for play/movie/novel} for an Eco-Feminist Passion Play, and for initiating seekers of redemption in our technotronic and bureaucratic age into The Order of The HEJERA (The Heavenly Jerusalem Association.)

Version A.2

COPYRIGHT: THE HAYUT FOUNDATION

P.O.B. 8115, Jerusalem 91080, Israel


Table Of Contents

ACT ONE - THE SQUARE
Scene One - JUDITH AND TERESH
Scene Two - THE RASAN AGENTS
Scene Three - JESUS OF NAZARETH
Scene Four - HAKI AND JUDITH
Scene Five - JUDITH AND JESUS

ACT TWO -
Scene One - JUDITH OBSERVED IN THE LABORATORY
Scene One - JUDITH OBSERVED IN THE LABORATORY - Part B
Scene Two - JUDITH AND HAKI
Scene Three - JUDITH IN THE MESSIAH MACHINE
Scene Four - JUDITH AND Mr. SMYTH-JOBS
Scene Five - JESUS AND THE RASAN AGENTS

ACT THREE
Scene One - HAKI AND JUDITH WATCH TV
Scene Two - THE CIRCLE OF JESUS
Scene Three - THE NEW SEDER ORDER
Scene Three - THE NEW SEDER- ORDER - Part B
Scene Four - HAKI RETURNS TO GETHSEMANE
Scene Five - THE CIRCLE OF THE RASANS - AT HEADQUARTERS
Scene Six - JESUS-JOB ON T.V.

EPILOGUE

Notes - CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM ON JUDITH


ACT ONE - THE SQUARE

 

Scene Four - HAKI AND JUDITH

 

(The stage is barely illuminated. We are beneath the University campus, yet under a large, dimly lit dome. Judith is standing in the middle, bewildered. Stars are shining brightly upon the face of the dome. Gradually they seem to rotate. This is an underground planetarium. We see the crescent of the moon setting, and then a bright star of the same size rising. It is a beautifully sparkling blue-green star, with some white cloud cover. The star rotates, some outlines of continents show through the cloud layers. It is the Earth.... The image of the Earth comes nearer and nearer, until it fills the dome. It is like a giant globus, only inverted, a hollow-earth image. The image rotates and we can see the Middle East with its characteristic shores of the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The land of Israel goes down to the "horizon" at the back of the stage.... A door opens right where Israel is supposed to be, and in steps Haki, the young man who saved Judith from the Rasan agents. He is very tall, broad-shouldered and large of build, with a full, reddish-brown beard and hair, and dressed in a white laboratory jacket, blue trousers and white shoes. He turns on the light, and the image of the Earth fades, and we can see that the perimeter of the room is full of work benches with various elaborate electronic devices and many filing cabinets. Judith shakes her head from side to side, as she tries to regain her composure.)

 

JUDITH: Where the hell am I? Am I dead or alive? Who are you? What am I doing here?

HAKI: (speaking very slowly and with effort) Not so fast. One question - at a time. First tell me - did you like my - little show?

JUDITH: It was so disorienting. I thought I must have died and left my body and the Earth.

H AKI: You well might have. But I came up - out of my laboratory - to get some fresh air - I like to see the sunrise - after a full night's work - and found myself - in the middle of a riot. I saw you - being set upon - by two Rasan agents - I have been watching - you looked so helpless - so out of place - it was not a fair game - so I ran and grabbed you - and pulled you with me - to a door in the wall - that leads to the - underground maze - underneath this University. Your pursuers held back - for just a moment - and I managed to open the door - whisk us inside - and lock it again. Then we came down - the labyrinth of corridors - to my hidden cellar - to the laboratory where we are now. You are completely - safe here.

JUDITH: I remember now. I tried to reason with the students and got nowhere. Then some old Parshans came to try and reason with them, and they got nowhere. And then the Rasan riot squad arrived, and ........ Oh, it was horrible. Tell me again where we are. And you don't have to talk so slowly. I'm feeling much better now.

HAKI: This is my laboratory - where I work. My lab -my love. And I always - talk like this.

JUDITH: I'm sorry. I thought you were doing it for my benefit.... What are all these devices, and filing cabinets?

HAKI: The electronic devices - are what I work on. They are components - of large electronic - learning systems - which I build - and which I service - and refashion - from time to time. And the cabinets are full - of microfiches and contain - all the knowledge - once contained in books - which disappeared - from the earth - long ago - except for those allowed - to the Great Parshan himself.

JUDITH: I'm not sure I understand, not that it really matter right now. I'd rather know who you are.

HAKI: A protege - of the Great Parshan. That would be - the best way - to describe me. I am called Haki - as my name is Yitz hak - Hebrew for Isaac - Haki Haifai. {pronounced like HiFi}.

JUDITH: Does that mean that you came from the city of Haifa?

HAKI: Yes, but why?

JUDITH: Because my name is Judith Ishkrayot, and just this morning I was told what my name means. But I trust that you see the connection.

HAKI: Why of course. You are from the krayot - the satellite towns just - north of Haifa - down by the bay. We must have been - almost neighbors once. And one can say - your name means - "man of cities", however - inappropriate that may sound.

JUDITH: I used to envy the people who lived in Haifa, dwellers of the city of lights, so high up, almost in the clouds. But now you are in the equally beautiful city of Jerusalem, and yet you hide underground. Why? If I had the means to play with the heavens as you just did, I'd rather fly up there, to the Heavenly Jerusalem, to check what it's like, so I could build one here on Earth.

HAKI: But that's what my - secret work is all about. Building the gear - to bring the Heavenly Jerusalem - down to Earth. I hide underground - because the work - is secret.

JUDITH: You don't say!. Seems I've been landed me in just the right place, into my old dream about the Heavenly Jerusalem. But how did you get into my dream?

HAKI: I was an assistant - to the Parshans - when I finished my studies here. I devoted my time - to teaching and writing - various very speculative - scientific papers. One of them was - about an elaborate - teaching apparatus - which I proposed to build. It was in the guise - of a flying saucer - and I called it "M.E.S.S.I.A.H.". The Rasans thought it - was just a joke - and paid no attention. But when the Great - Parshan himself read it - he liked it and - I became his protege. I was given adequate funds - and access to all - the secret store of - books and information. Now I spend - all my time developing - electronic learning apparatus. It has taken years of - research and trial and error. When I - with the help of others - made some breakthroughs - I was given these - protected quarters deep under - the University - to build the real thing - an operational model of - the MESSIAH Machine. But why am I telling - all this to you - a perfect stranger? It was all supposed - to be secret.

JUDITH: Seems like you need someone to talk to. Well, I'm known as a good listener. Don't worry, I'm not about to betray you..

H AKI: I know. I knew I could - trust you from the - moment I first saw you. So who are you - Judith Ishkrayot - whom I find myself trusting? What were you doing - caught in the riot? Are you a student?

 

JUDITH: Come off it, do I look like a University student? Or sound like one? In fact I once wanted to be, I dreamt to learn to build cities where people could live fuller and more radiant lives. But this university was not the right place, and I am now an emissary of Jesus of Nazareth. He came to Jerusalem with all his disciples to talk with the students. It was fantastic. He started on about God's universe-city, the Heavenly Jerusalem. This was the first time I've heard him talk in public about the subject that's always interested me most. He was saying how we are all students of this universe-city. But he never got the chance to finish. The students wouldn't let him. They did not really grasp his message, and when he started to pass to them some of his energy, it went to their heads and things somehow got out of hand. Then came some student called Baraba, who incited them to riot.

HAKI: Yes, he is a bad lot - full of himself and headstrong. That "son of the father" - as his name means - I wonder why he got so - incensed by your Jesus? - Could it be that Jesus calls himself that?

JUDITH: That's like really strange. "Son of the father" is precisely how Jesus refers to himself. I guess Baraba didn't like Jesus taking control of the students. But Jesus feels he needs to. He says that the students are the future. It is the future he's most concerned about. Maybe Baraba misunderstood his intention.

HAKI: Or he understood it - too well. Anyway from my - point of view - the future is the - MESSIAH Machine. However - we do have one thing - in common. We are both engaged in - things that threaten - the control of the Rasans - and that can be dangerous - so we had better remain here - where we can hide - and confide.

JUDITH: Wait a minute, Haki Haifi, not so fast! Even if fate has thrown us together.

HAKI: We shall have to - remain here for some time - until the Rasans leave. We can use the time - to make some schemes - and to get to know - each other better. We should set up our agenda. But first, may I - offer you some tea?

JUDITH: We'll see how it goes, but the tea would be nice. And perhaps I would like to get to know you better, Mr. Haki Haifai.

(Haki gets some tea, and both sit down at one of the laboratory work benches, and sip their tea.)

 

HAKI: Let's draw up a list - of what we shall - converse upon.

JUDITH: Can't we just talk, without making up lists and schemes?

HAKI: It is not easy - for me to converse. Well, usually it's not. And we better make the most - of this golden opportunity. I would like us to chart - a universe of discourse. And then build in it - our city - the universe-city that - would most become that universe. And we need to agree - on the basic terms of - that universe - in order to proceed.

JUDITH: Maybe I could, if you're prepared to relate your Messiah thing to the terms I've heard from Jesus. For example, I love to hear his enigmatic term "true knowledge", it just gives me a thrill, even though no one really understands it. "True knowledge", isn't it wonderful?

HAKI: These terms will also suit well my own studies. So shall we begin?

 

(Haki types on a keyboard on an electronic device on one of the benches, and the words TEACHING MACHINES and TRUE KNOWLEDGE appear in bright letters upon the domed ceiling like some stars.

Then the words TRUE KNOWLEDGE start blinking and a written announcement appears: " HEJERA terms?")

 

JUDITH: What is that HEJERA thing that's started blinking of its own? Isn't it something to do with the Moslems?

H AKI: In this place it is an acronym - for the HEavenly JER usalem Association. Right now, it is just - an association of terms - an electronic dictionary if you like - that detects terms which are associated - with the Heavenly Jerusalem. One day, I hope, it will be us - an association of men and women - dedicated to the Heavenly Jerusalem - as you and I seem to be.

JUDITH: And how do we contact those associated terms?

HAKI: Just press the function key number 12 on this keyboard in response to the HEJERA suggestion.

(Judith presses the key, and the following words appear upon the sky-dome:

 


 

TRUE KNOWLEDGE <==> TORAH

 


 

TORAH: (Divine) Instruction. The name of the five books dictated to Moses which form the core of the Bible. This is the earthly version of the Heavenly Torah, the instruction code for the whole creation.

Associated Terms: Moriah (Mount); Yerushalem (Jerusalem).

 


 

Soon the explanation disappears, while the three terms: TORAH, MORIAH and YERUSHALEM remain for a couple of minutes, then they fade away, and only the terms that H aki typed earlier remain.)

 

JUDITH: Look, all the associations disappeared.

HAKI: They are only clues - suggestions for what is like - already expressed lanes - to the Heavenly Jerusalem. They would stay only - if we selected them. But we have the time - it would be best if we - make our own lane inside - the domain of terms - nearest to our particular concerns.

JUDITH: You typed "TEACHING MACHINES". Why not "MESSIAH MACHINE"?. Wouldn't we then have got associations between the word "Messiah" and the Heavenly Jerusalem?

HAKI: Certainly. Many - and strong associations. But as I said - let us add - our own terms - we already got - suggested clue about Jerusalem. So let us add - something about cities - and their planning. You indicated that - you were interested in them - and so am I.

(Haki keys in more letters, and soon the words CITIES, CITY PLANNING and MAN OF CITIES appear shining in the "sky" of the dome.)

 

JUDITH: Okay, so much for me. But now we must set you up there too. There must be issues connected with your name, Haki HiFi.

HAKI: I should be able - to find a view of - the city of Haifa. And I should be able - to connect it - to the locus of CITIES.

(Haki searches through some filing cabinets, then puts a fiche in a slot in one of the electronic devices, and a picture of Mount Carmel, as seen from the Bay, appears on the dome. It is a twilight picture, and we see the buildings of Haifa straddling the mountain with lights in them, and along the roads.)

 

JUDITH: Yes, oh yes. It's just like my childhood City of Lights ascending to heaven. Thank you. This is a lovely place to start. But you seem still to be hiding yourself. Isn't your name, Haki or Yitz hak, that is Isaac, connected with the forbidden book of the Babble?

HAKI: Bible please - not Babble. And as a matter of fact, this Yitzhak - to use his biblical name - is the original model for - whatever your Jesus is - trying to be. But, like countless people - during hundreds of generations - he misses the punch line - of the whole story.

JUDITH: What do you mean? What story?

HAKI: The story of Moriah. It is a story - told briefly in the Bible, about - a father called upon - to sacrifice his son to God - or so he believes. This story has moved people in all generations. But, as I said - most of them have missed - the point of it.

JUDITH: Which is?

HAKI: Almost all readers - read it as a tragic drama - about a father who - is called upon to - sacrifice his son. They were so taken - by the father's point of view - that they missed the others.

JUDITH: What others?

H AKI: There were two companions - and a donkey - whose point of view were - not considered. Also, and more important - the point of view of - Yitz hak himself - and of God himself - have been ignored.

JUDITH: And you claim that only you have discovered them, where everyone else, including Jesus, has completely failed to?

HAKI: Yes - probably because my own name is Yitzhak. This motivated me - to contemplate - the other meanings of the story. In doing so - it finally dawned on me. If it was God who - set the whole stage for the story - He must have had - His own point of view - and He must have given - a sign of it - to what otherwise looks like - a most sordid spectacle. And He did. Yitzhak himself is that sign.

JUDITH: Which means?

HAKI: God set the stage - before the hero was born - by calling him Yitzhak - which means, in Hebrew - the one who will laugh. The point of the story - is that from God's - and eventually Yitzhak's - point of view - the story was to climax - in a hearty laughter. It was to be a - comedy and not a tragedy. But, if people - are not capable of - seeing the hidden laughter - they are bound - to turn just anything - into a tragedy. And that is, I am afraid - what your teacher Jesus - seems intent on doing.

JUDITH: (angrily) You have no idea what his intentions are, or what his powers are, or how he will use them. You sit here hidden from the world in the safety of your underground play-pen, throwing words and pictures on the wall, while Jesus is out there risking his neck, healing and teaching the people, working for liberation and redemption.

HAKI: Well, for someone - who wanted to open - the students minds - he succeeded only in - having their heads smashed. Because of this - we now have some time - on our hands. And we better use it - to try to understand - for ourselves. We have started here - with the issue of - True Knowledge and Torah. This is your basis. Now let us add, as goals - the issues of liberation and of redemption - upon which you seem so intent.

(Haki types on the keyboard, and the word LIBERATION appears on the dome, separated by much dark and empty space from the words CITIES and PLANNING and the associated picture. Then he types the word REDEMPTION, even farther off into the dark space, with just a thin line connecting it to the word LIBERATION .)

 

HAKI: I think this is - a goal we both desire. The question is the way - to get there - through all that dark and empty space. Let us put up - Jesus' version of the way - on one hand - and mine, on the other. Then we can use - the time we have - to play a game. Let's see who can - make the connection between the cities - we live in, and the - ultimate liberation - and redemption. We'll chart thus our paths - to the actualization of the - Heavenly Jerusalem. What do you say? Do you want to play this game?

(Haki types some more, without looking at Judith. Soon we see the words JESUS appearing on one side of the dome, and THE PARSHANS on the other. Somewhere above them, in the direction of REDEMPTION and LIBERATION appears the word MESSIAH, and nearby, the word MESSIAH MACHINE .)

 

JUDITH: I don't want games, I want real action. You may aim at mastery, but what you're actually offering is master-bation!

HAKI: No - it is simulation of - the process of actualization. And you caught - its stimulation - you already began - to play word games.

JUDITH: O.K. I'm game. But I also know some Hebrew. Now I'm going to tell you, Isaac, Yitzhak, Haki, who you really are! Hakai means simulator, and that is what you are. You prefer to deal with images and machines and not with real, living human beings and their predicament.

H AKI: (laughs) Touche! Then a simulator - I shall be. There is not much - else to do here - till the Rasans leave. Then you can go - and seek your action. In the meantime you - may gain some understanding - through this simulation-stimulation - that will aid and abet - your action.

 

JUDITH: Listen, I want action. I don't need simulations. We live too much in a world of artifices and of simulations. To be real, you need to eat real bread, you need to touch the real earth, you need to talk to real people, not just projected images. For me, the really good city, even the Heavenly Jerusalem should have real gardens in its midst where real people will grow real wheat and real vines and make their real bread and wine, at least for sacraments. Get it?

But I'll tell you what. I'll play your game .... if you join my action. Until the Rasans leave, we'll simulate and play, and we'll see what wisdom comes out of your system. But when we can move in the open, then we shall act. We will meet real players, the Great Parshan and Jesus. And we'll see to it, they get to meet, so that we may actually accomplish something. Okay? I'll have you meet Jesus, if you'll bring me to meet the Great Parshan.

HAKI: Agreed. I think I will like - working with you. You will play - my game with me - and I shall act with you. So, before our tea - is completely cold - let us begin by simulating - that we are they - Jesus and the Great Parshan - and let us build their - likely joint universe of discourse - as it should be.

(They sip their tea and discuss. More words appear on the dome, more pictures and lines connecting them. The stage grows darker, while more word-lights appear. Soon we no longer see the conversants, only the words sprinkling (?) above like stars. The word-stars are still pretty sparse on the expanse of the dome as the stage goes dark.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scene Five - JUDITH AND JESUS

 

(Twilight. We are in the camp of Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples, in a desert valley. They are on a small elevation with a crude circle of tents, with Jesus' tent in the center of the circle. He is standing in front of it, surrounded by sick people who are streaming in from all sides. Most of them have some visible defects: lameness, hunched backs, or terrible skin boils, which make them look monstrous. A couple of them who "have demons" are caught in seizures and epileptic fits... Some arrive on canes, or with huge bandages around their heads or limbs, looking like stuffed mummies, while others are carried in stretchers. People are lifting their hands to Jesus, imploringly, and those near squeeze toward Jesus, trying to touch him. Jesus is trying to fend them off, as best as he can. The disciples form a circle around him to protect him from being overrun by the begging crowd of cripples and sick people, admitting only one at a time...... We then hear noises of machines, and four moving contraptions appear from the four corners of the stage, spiralling clockwise toward Jesus. The first is a white four-wheel-drive ambulance. The second is a red tractor fitted with a crane at the back and a forklift in front, upon which is a hospital bed with a patient connected to infusions, and whose limbs are hoisted up by lifting gear. The third is a black motorcycle with a side-car, in which there sits another patient whose head is completely bandaged, with a video camera fitted to his breast in place of eyes. The fourth vehicle is a pale green troop-carrier, full to the brim....... The vehicles keep spiralling around, while Jesus and his disciples try to avoid them. People are throwing fits, and the scene is a pandemonium reminiscent of a Hieronimus Bosch painting. The vehicles stop. Stretchers are pulled out of the white vehicle, with oxygen and glucose supplies held overhead. From the pale green troop-carrier many stretchers with corpses are unloaded and arranged in rows. The red tractor lays down the bed and then swivels and pulls the man out of the bed with the crane. The man is hanging puppet-like, lifting one limb after the other, while being hoisted up to Jesus. The motorcycle deposits the man in the sidecar, and he turns on his video.... Meanwhile, Judith arrives. But, with all the confusion around, nobody notices her, and she is left standing by the side, watching the scene.)

 

JESUS: (to the disciples) That's enough! I can't take any more. I am drained to the core and have no more to give.

JESUS: (to the crowd) Please friends, please go away. I am sorry, but I cannot heal anymore today. I'm sorry, but I must be left alone.

(There is an outcry from the crowd. People point to their deformities. Some crawl on the ground to touch Jesus' feet. Others are afflicted by seizures. The puppet-like man is hoisted nearer and almost touches Jesus, who recoils.)

 

ONE SICK PERSON: Oh please help me. The pain in my back is unbearable.

A BLIND PERSON: Have mercy. Please help me to see.

ANOTHER SICK PERSON: I'm being eaten up from inside, please stop my pains, please, please.

JESUS: You must go, my healing powers are exhausted. I must go to pray with my disciples for my energy to be renewed. And really, believe me, you are able to heal yourselves. Kind brothers and sisters, go heal yourselves. Go and pray. Now go!

(The people won't go, and just press closer and closer in a frenzy. Jesus retreats indignantly.)

 

JESUS: (to himself) This is no good. My energy's gone. There's no end to the sick.

JESUS: (to the crowd) You should have taken better care of your­selves. Even if I had all the powers of heaven, how could I pass them on to you, when you've allowed yourselves to be sick and maimed. You must first learn to open, then you'll be able to heal yourselves.

JESUS: (turning to the disciples) Come and take charge. Heal as well as you can, and send them home. I can't take even one more.

JESUS: (to Judith) Judith! Judith dear, let's go. I must be gone from here, and I want to hear what happened since I last saw you.

(As they try to go, the people and the vehicles try to follow them. They have to climb up the hill on a steep slope where the vehicles and invalids cannot follow. At last they find a quiet place to sit.

 

JESUS: Judith, I sense that you have seen many things since we parted, and have much to tell. You seem excited and confused.

JUDITH: Master, I'm amazed by what I've seen. Also a real opportunity has presented itself.

JESUS: Opportunity for what? Why should a disciple of mine become a seeker of opportunities?

JUDITH: I've seen signs of the secret work of the Parshans, and I am impressed with their means. If their techniques could be added to your powers, we could more quickly liberate ourselves from the Rasans, and be on the way to accomplishing our other goals. I think the Parshans would welcome cooperation, if you could bring them over to our side. Would you confer with the Great Parshan? In fact, I've taken it on myself to set up a secret meeting between you and him.

JESUS: (unimpressed and detached) One thing at a time. First tell me why you're so excited?

JUDITH: I was presented with the image that dominated my childhood dreams about a brighter and better way to live. I was shown developments that could help to build a whole city of understandings. What I saw of their secret work was connected with the Heavenly Jerusalem and with bringing it to Earth. They have a lab equiped to that precise end. It would help to realize our dream.

JESUS: Not so! Theirs has to be the city of the Philistines, no matter how they paint it erudite and urbane. Cities of self-seeking, craftiness and pride are not that New Jerusalem which is my future bride. I see though why their manifestations attract you. After all I taught you, you remain the city-type, the Ishkrayot, what the old reformers condemned as bourgeoisie.

JUDITH: What do you mean, Jerusalem will be your bride? How can a city be one's bride? If you want a bride, then please take me. But don't reject what I bring you without even considering it.

JESUS: I have taken you, and also this hurt and jealousy you show. Pour them out, and I shall make them my own. Express what you feel. This is the way to heal. Whatever you say, I accept it.

JUDITH: But I don't feel for me. I feel for you. There's a limit to how much you can heal. I saw you just now, you were exhausted. I want so much to help you achieve your aim without destroying yourself. Their technics would assist you. That's my only motive.

JESUS: Judith, love, thank you - but you're wront. To regain the Self, one must be able to see infinity. You cannot. I can. I can see it showing all around you, in what you cannot see, and demonstrated in what you say. You would have me marry you. You want the New Jerusalem also, but at bottom you want us both for yourself, while you don't know who or what the real Self is. Or what to do with all its pulsating, living energy.

JUDITH: Okay, so tell me then, what should I be seeing? Where is all this living energy? When you had so much of it back in that Squarewith the students, what did you achieve? But now, when you're surrounded by the sick who need it, where is it?

JESUS: This living energy is all around us, and is infinite. An aspect of it surrounds each person. It is seeking, the hidden source of health, and the answers to all questions. I can both see and be this energy, just as I can see it in all plants, even in mountains. You, as yet, cannot.

JUDITH: You spoke at the Square about "true knowledge", and about making eyes in place of an eye. Is it this special vision? Please tell me how can I see these energies, so that I can help you.

JESUS: The skill is not in the eye, it's in the heart. And the problem is not to see, but to BE; to be-lieve, and only then to see. It is with faith, and the pain of the heart, that one is able to move mountains..

JUDITH: I am trying to understand. An aching heart and blind faith can move mountains? Can you really move mountains with your faith and pain?

JESUS: (singing?) It is the heart, believe me, it is the heart./ I know what I am telling you about./ It is the palpitating, red and perishable heart./ It is not something fancy or romantic./ It is so painful that you could not bear it./ It's so utterly precarious, this beating of the heart. / It must be maintained from this moment to the next,/ not just to sustain one's life,/ but to sustain the whole universe/ even to maintain the mountains./ I know so well this pain, I tell you./ This painit takes to make the mountains stand,/ and then to raise the plants to eat the mountains,/ is much, much more than you could withstand./ I accept more than you could ever understand./ I love the world in spite of its indifference,/ despite ingratitude, disdain and even hate.......

Come, Judith dear, I'll teach you something. Come sit like me, under this olive tree. Lean on its trunk. Immerse yourself in its green. Get lost in the tree, get lost in its greenness, lost to whoever you think you are, and whatever you think you want - just BE

Be the growing tree, and let it be you, replenishing you with living energy. Loosen yourself from your humanity. Just be an olive tree.

(Judith tries to do as Jesus says, as she hangs on his every word.)

 

JESUS: These energies are everywhere. This tree, the earth, your own body. People want to be strong by eating the animal that ate the plants that sucked the earth. But these subtle energies are gained by sharing, not devouring. For me there are no boundaries, I need no inter­mediaries. I am my own source, as you can be, as all can be, if they but become one with me, if they become one with the pain.

JUDITH: I still don't understand. If you can tap the powers of the earth, why don't you use them? Crush the Rasans who've beaten us so cruelly! Surely God's anger should be brought down on them. Why remain immersed in pain and want only to share it with others? Why not use your powers and show the force behind the pain? You'd win more followers that way, to say nothing of ridding the world of oppression.

JESUS: True power comes only through love and suffering. Unprovoked use of force against the Rasans is not for me. And more followers who have not seen the light and have no knowledge of conscious suffering and faith are not for me.

JUDITH: But the Rasans must be overthrown. Surely you agree?

JESUS: Yes, it must happen. None of the things I've told you about can be accomplished as long as the Rasan yoke is on us. I too want that removed. But no violence would achieve that.

JUDITH: But if you were provoked?

JESUS: No use your trying to provoke me. This is the way it is, and the way it must be.

JUDITH: All right, but then why not agree to meet with the Great Parshan? The Parshans also want the Rasan yoke to be removed in subtle ways. You speak about sharing. You could join with them, share with them your knowledge and your being and your power. We could work in subtle ways to drain the Rasan might, so that they will crumble. Just meet with them. Put them to the test.

JESUS: I cannot and will not meet them. They are the ones who hold captive the Heavenly Jerusalem, my bride, as well as a great store of the scriptures of which I have only a few fragments. I have already gone too far in denouncing them. They are too proud. They should have come to me, like the people seeking cures. Even then, I am not sure that I could have talked with them.

JUDITH: Yes, they seem to have horded knowledge, and if I had followed it, I could have found about the relationship between the Messiah and the Heavenly Jerusalem. I'm sorry, but what you are saying has a hollow ring to it. Maybe you're just not sure that you'd be able to put them to the test?

JESUS: I'm ready to put myself to a much harder test than they would. Even unto death. What I say is true, and I am ready to die for it, because I know I shall rise again.... But I see you need to act. So act if you must. You want to return to them, do so. You are on your own, free to choose. Do what you must do!

JUDITH: But would you meet with them if they promise cooperation, and I find that they really mean it?

JESUS: No. It would serve no purpose other than theirs. Mine is already foretold. But if you want to go - go. Go help prepare what must be done.

JUDITH: Not before I can speak my mind. What I really long for is to be close to you. If not as your wife, which you say is the Heavenly Jerusalem, then as your mistress, or whatever. All that pain? All that love? You don't read my heart. If you did you'd know I want you as a woman wants a man. I want to touch you. I want to love you as no one ever has. I would restore your energies in ways you never dreamed of.

(Judith falls to her knees and wraps her arms around Jesus' legs and presses her face between his legs. Jesus freezes as Judith starts kissing his feet and licking and sucking his toes. Then he pushes her away.

 

JESUS: Judith, no! Not in this way! Do as I told you, go away!

Judith rises to confront Jesus, who stares down at the ground and cannot meet her gaze.)

 

JUDITH: You're prepared to die. But you're frightened to live. I hope for your sake you are the Son of God. Because sure as hell you aren't any sort of man. I shall go and do what must be done, even if you will not. If I can serve you in no other way, then in this way, at least, I shall.

(The stage goes dark.)