THE GOSPEL OF JUDITH ISCARYOT - ACT III

Scene Five - THE CIRCLE OF THE RASANS - AT HEADQUARTERS

(The stage is illuminated. It is the entrance to Mr. Smyth­-Jobs office at the A.B.A. Television building. Two guards are bringing in the Tall Agent.)

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Bring him in, and leave.

(The Tall Agent is brought in, and stands at attention, as the two guards leave.)

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Sit down.

(Just as the Tall agent sits down, and begins to relax, Mr. Smyth-Jobs begins shouting.)

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: On your feet, you bastard! Admit it! You plotted the whole thing! You suggested bringing him to the T.V. show rather than finish breaking him, as you were supposed to do. It's your fault, the mess this filthy messiah brought.

TALL AGENT: I only did what you suggested. You told us about the girl's idea to have him appear on TV, and you asked me to break him just enough so he would appear and obey everything you said. That's what I did.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Some obeying! Just like you, opportunist bastard. You tried to make me look bad, and damn near killed me in the process. For three days I was blinded by that damn trick performance of this obedient trainee of yours!

TALL AGENT: I did not plot. How could I know he could influence electric circuits? Nobody ever saw him performing such a feat before. And I did break him sufficien­tly, only you pushed him too far.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Plotting or negligence or just stupidity, you'll pay for it. You know what a mess this has put me in?

TALL AGENT: Yes I do, though I doubt that you realize your full predicament. You have been lying in bed in the hospital with your tart, Maria, while I have been doing my duty, listening to what the people are saying. They are certain that Jesus has tricked us and is still around somewhere. They don't believe he died, or they don't want to. And the people up there, and everywhere, know that this T.V. show of yours was the most damaging thing that ever happened to the Rasan regime. So don't think that you can make me your scapegoat. The people out there see you and your masters as the villains in the plot. It is your head they want, not mine. I'm just a faceless cog in the machine. You and your masters have the face, and you've lost it.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Sit down, you leech! O.K., you have a point. We are both in the same boat. We are both going to be questioned, and if we blame each other, we shall go down together - the classical prisoner's dilemma. So we had better think up something fast.

TALL AGENT: You're right. But I have a revolutionary idea that will do it. Not only can it get us out of all that mess, at the same time it will make you a hero. The whole population will identify you with admiration as the head of Messianic Rasanism.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: What are you mumbling about? Spit it out.

TALL AGENT: Why do you work with television? Why did people follow Jesus? It is really one and the same. People need human figures whom they can identify with, and both you and Jesus like being identified as public figures. The big problem with Rasanalism is that its agents do not make public figures, and few go over well on TV, for obvious reasons. But you do, and Jesus did, or he could have, if he had half a chance. You've got it, and he had it. Why was Jesus popular? He actually preached the invisible and formless God of the Jews - which is the very worst subject for TV. But he himself could have been a great TV personality. Now this is precisely what I propose for the two of you - TV stars. You and Jesus will appear on TV again, only no slip-ups this time.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: An intriguing idea, except for its one fatal drawback. Jesus happens to be dead!

TALL AGENT: There is no drawback. People everywhere are waiting for Jesus to return. Well, you tell them that he will return, on your program, the very place where he has disappeared. We'll prepare his apparition, which I will explain to you in a moment - and it can be done. Then, with this peak audience, you play the repentant and win over the people. You will say that the spirit of Jesus appeared to you and told you to let him appear each week on your show, and that - as your penitence - you agreed to be his humble mouthpiece. We'll rig up an apparition to play the part of Jesus, lasers and computers and all that jazz. When we searched the university basements we found those Parshans have developed a whole gear to do it. And, with a peak audience rating, you and Jesus go on every week and make the greatest story of TV history. You play the repentant apostle and he plays your Messiah. But you will really have the top role. You'll be in control, because you will be the one who instructs the apparition what to tell the people.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Interesting. But what if it doesn't work? We cannot risk another disaster.

TALL AGENT: No chance. The first time, the body and mind of Jesus were there. This time it will only be his spirit, so to speak. And it will be you who will embody it. We will enlist the best of Rasan technology to produce a holographic apparition of Jesus, and you will be able to program it to say whatever you want.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: And you think that the people will fall for it? If it doesn't work, I would become a laughing stock - if I lived long enough.

TALL AGENT: The people will buy anything, if it's done right. They are hungering for his return... and for your scalp. If we do it right, it will work. What have you got to lose? If you have this show, and it fails - what then? You will be humiliated. But your superiors will benefit from your humiliation, as it will appease the people who are after you now. Then they can put the blame again on the media. Don't worry. Your superiors will love it. You sacrifice yourself, take all the blame, and they get off the hook. I'm sure they will guarantee you a quiet abundant retirement. But think what will happen if you succeed! You will become the power behind the throne, the one who gets the message from the mouth of the Lord Jesus, the most powerful person in the world.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: A master stroke - out of the mess becoming the message harbinger - in fact the messiah's own master! I wonder what Jesus would say if he were still alive. He might have liked the idea of coming out of the grave to appear and speak on television.

TALL AGENT: Soon you will be deciding all Jesus says, and all that he thinks. Whether he would have liked it or not.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Yes, I like that. However, there may be a slight problem. What if his disciples object to the way he is presented? What if they stir up the population, claiming a fraud? We can't just eliminate all the disciples of the man we are going to make the idol of the people. It would look bad.

TALL AGENT: Either exterminate them gently, one by one, or even better, canonize them, make them official saints, and send them off to remote monasteries to contemplate. That way, no one would notice what they are saying. They may still pose a problem, but we can easily cope with it. They can't prove that their notions of what Jesus would say are more true than what Jesus will say each week on TV. However, they are not the ones who worry me. There are others who claim a more authentic basis for determining what Jesus would say, and they are not the disciples.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Who?

TALL AGENT: The Parshans, entrenched in the university, and the only ones still clutching their ancient Babble Book, in which refutats our Messianic version.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: Babble Book! It's been exposed as Anti-Rasanal irrational superstition, a disaster for the ecology and an impediment to progress. It was banned long ago! and is completely forbidden in the educational system. Even if, as is rumored, the Parshans have it in their collection of source books, they can't teach it.

TALL AGENT: We could make a good use of the Babble Book to help program this apparitional Jesus. Then we shall publish the sermons of the Jesus-Job that you will produce. This will be our revised version of the Babble Book. A whole New Testament, that will contain all that a good Rasan Jesus would proclaim. But the Parshans would still remain a problem. They could undermine the whole project by using their own hidden copies of the Babble Book, to pinpoint who­knows-what from each letter or dot of that text, and so discredit whatever our Jesus-Job will say.

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: The solution is to deny them any access to the public, either through the mass media or in the university. It won't be difficult to convince my superiors to remove them from the university, to confiscate all their books and equipment, and assign them to oblivion.

(The stage grows dark.)

Scene Six - JESUS-JOB ON T.V.

(When the lights go on we are in a TV studio at A.B.A. Mr. Jobs is seated on the stage. Standing nearby is the TV announcer. They are surrounded by TV cameras. Mr. Jobs is now dressed in a monk's attire, light khaki in color. All his former elegance and suavity seem gone. He stares at a spot on the floor of the stage in front of him, above which there is a very complicated system of lights and equipment)

TV ANNOUNCER: Ladies and Gentlemen, we are bringing you tonight a show the likes of which has never been seen on TV, or anywhere else. It is the show of the millennium. I'm sure that you must have been watching, or heard about, our program last week, when Jesus of Nazareth appeared - and seemed to disappear, when we experienced some sort of explosion and had technical difficulty with the picture. And I'm sure that you all know that Jesus was hurt in the explosion and subsequently died. Our own Mr. Jobs was also hurt by the explosion, blinded, but he is fully recovered, as you will soon see. It is the miraculous story of his recovery that is the subject of our show tonight, and only he can tell it. The terrorist device which caused Jesus' death and blinded Mr. Jobs must have been something entirely new, and no known terrorist group has yet been identified to be connected with it. But the investigation continues.

The doctors unanimously agree that Jesus must have died of a stroke precipitated by the explosion. Now for what you don't know, you will soon see Jesus again. Yes, believe it or not (Hushed sounds in the audience), but this is something that Mr. Jobs will have to explain. Over to Mr. Jobs himself to tell you the true story, in his own words.

(Jeers and derisive comments are heard from the audience.)

Mr. JOBS: I hear you, brothers and sisters, and I accept your jeering as my due. Believe me, I deserve it. You should even whip me, and weep for me, for I have followed the path of the devil all my life, and lied and cheated and schemed, and worse. I had many names, not just Mr. Jobs. I had many jobs, and all of them to work out mischief. But this evil man is no more! He died, right on that last TV show, almost in front of your eyes. He was stricken by lightening and blinded, and in truth ceased to exist. A new, born-again Mr. Job took his place, revived by the great Lord Jesus. I have seen the error of my ways, and now follow only in the path of Jesus.

(More jeers and derisive remarks are heard from the audience.)

Mr. JOB: You find it hard to believe that I am speaking now of Jesus as our Lord. I understand. You have seen me before, heaping pain and scorn upon him. But it was the good Lord Jesus Himself who showed me the light. I know that you are asking yourselves, how can I now, all of a sudden, claim to worship the man I humiliated so? But I tell you, brothers and sisters, Jesus has forgiven me. I hope that you can find it in your hearts to do the same. I was a miserable sinner, but am no more. Jesus had me born again! I am a new man and I have but one name - just call me Job. I have been hit and stricken by the Lord, and all my former roles and fortunes are bygone. I now have but one job, and that's to give testimony to Lord Jesus. Please, kind brothers, allow me to tell you my story, and then judge me if you will.

(The audience mutters words of encouragement. No more jeers.)

Mr. JOB: I'll tell you exactly what happened. Most of you remember last week's show. Right in front of your eyes you saw how Jesus was ridiculed and humiliated under my directorship. It was all my idea! I am no longer trying to avoid the responsibility or to put the blame on anyone else. I am to blame. It is not just that I allowed all this to happen, I must reveal to you that it was intentional. The evil scheme of the evil man I was.

(He falls upon his knees, weeping)

Mr. JOB: You can despise me for what I did, but no more than I despise myself.

(sounds of hoots and curses from the audience.)

Mr. JOB: But let me rise and testify. You saw with your own eyes how I ridiculed and humiliated Jesus till he collapsed. Then that dazzling light came. The light hit and blinded me, as something exploded, but without sound, and no one else saw the light but I. They saw nothing but whirlwind and dust from the explosion. But I looked directly into the dazzling light and my eyes were burned, because I had dared to look into the light of our Lord Jesus before I repented. But before my eyes burnt, I saw that the light was alive! The light was alive, and in it I saw the figure of a man who had no skin and flesh and bones, but was only the light. And the figure of light appeared from the whirlwind, and it was the figure of Jesus! And it made a roaring sound and the voice of Jesus spoke to me from the whirlwind. Would you like to know what were the words of the Lord?

(Loud cries from the audience, some "Let's hear" and some "Let's see".)

Mr. JOB: I know you want to hear the words of the Lord. And so you shall. But not from me. You'll hear Him with your own ears! Even as your eyes will see Him! Let me repeat to you His words as He said them to me, and through them you will be transformed, as I was. Just over there (pointing) this light appeared, and a voice was speaking.

(A light starts to appear at the point he indicates, and the light seems to be condensing. When Mr. Job says the next words, it is his voice, but it gets amplified and is reverberating to the extent that it sounds quite different, grand and magnificent and as if coming from the light, in which a figure seems to appear.)

JESUS-JOB VOICE: (thundering) Job, Job, why are you persecuting me? Why have you been keeping me from loving you? Why have you identified with a wretched Job which is far less than you could be? You were a bad Job to start with, and what you are doing has only botched you up more. You are a bad job, Mr. Jobs, a thoroughly bad job. Repent!

Mr. SMYTH-JOBS: (in his normal voice, but full of awe) Yes my Lord, forgive me, for I knew not what I was doing. I have sinned against thee, and I am to blame. How can I repent?

JESUS-JOB VOICE: (thundering) Get on your feet, you bastard! Let's have the truth! Admit it! You plotted the whole thing! You suggested bringing me to the T.V. to humiliate me...

(Just as the thundering voice changes, Mr. Job gets to his feet like a puppet and then falls down again, pleading, just as the Voice softens...)

JESUS-JOB VOICE: I forgive you. You are just one of many who have lost their way. And I forgive you all. People have always made a bad job of accepting who I AM. You can repent by making a good Job out of yourself, Mr. Job, by making a good job of testifying for me! Testifying that you are alive in me and I am alive in you.

Mr. JOB: My Lord Jesus, whatever I AM told I'll do and obey.

JESUS-JOB VOICE: (in a mellower tone) You created this show to shame me, but you have shamed only yourself. I can bear my shame and yours as well. I make all things new. You can be renewed in Me. Dedicate your show, which was used to shame me in vain, for hallowing my name. Together we shall bring light to the world. Your show will be my way to show others the way. I shall appear in front of all the multitudes that watch it, even as I AM appearing to you. What do you say?

Mr. JOB: I would repent in any way you asked, my Lord, no matter how demeaning. But you ask me to do only what I would gladly do. And I shall.. but...

JESUS-JOB VOICE: No "buts" at all. yet I shall answer your unasked question. I will give you three signs, not just one, to show you My Truth. You have been made blind. But in three days' time, your blindness will be healed, and the scales will be removed from your eyes. And you will then be filled with a new spirit. That will be the first sign. Then you will go to your superiors, acting without fear, and tell them that you will not continue with the miserable job you have been doing. Yes, say you will be doing the very same work - but that now you will make of it the greatest job ever done, because the Lord Jesus will be your partner in this job. And your next sign will be that they will agree. And the third sign will be my appearance on your show, each Sunday, right on the Hour!

Mr. JOB: But how will you appear on the show?

JESUS-JOB VOICE: That is not for you to know, but to believe. You just make sure there is enough light concentrated at a spot on the stage, light that looks white, but contains the whole band of seen and unseen light. My spirit will descend there, just in time for each show, and clothe itself in garments of light. At first there will be just low intensity and resolution, so as not to blind the viewers, even as you have been blinded. And then, as the people get more purified, we shall turn it on and on, Oh Yes! Till all can see the light!

(The figure seems to bow its head to signal that the re­creation of what happened has been complete.)

Mr. JOB: (turning to the audience) And that, my brothers and sisters, is the way it happened. And the hand of our Lord Jesus has been on me, guiding me ever since. My blindness was miraculously healed, and all my former restraints were gone. I dared to face my superiors, I talked to them until they agreed. Yes, I got my two signs, and I found the great scientists that helped to produce this light beam from which the Lord Jesus can readily appear and converse; as you just saw for yourself, He did appear! Can anybody here see the Light? Can you see the Lord? Not all can see, only the pure! Who can testify? For that is the third sign.

(The white light becomes more intense, then there appear streaks of shade moving in it, and the whole beam looks like a palpitating, living thing. At times a human figure can be seen and then it seems to dissolve again, at times the likeness of a face appears, and it is Jesus' face, and a figure, and it is Jesus' figure.)

PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE (voices building up to ecstasy):

- I saw the face of Jesus!

- I see the light coming to me, and Jesus was in it!

- I saw the light and heard Him speaking!

Mr. JOB: That wasn't much of a response. All who are pure of heart can see, if they try. Try! He is there now, just as he was for me! Open your hearts, and let the purity shine through! Do you see the light and the Lord Jesus?

THE WHOLE AUDIENCE (Shouting): Yes. We see the light and the Lord Jesus! hallelujah!

Mr. JOB: Oh, Yea. Oh, Yea. Glory to the Lord Jesus. I knew you could see if you put your hearts to the test, and He will bless you all. Now that you have seen, let Him enter your hearts! Let Him live within you too! Good!.... I can feel that He is entering all of you! Glory hallelujah!... And now, let us hear from Jesus himself, in his first ever performance since he rose from the grave.

JESUS-JOB VOICE: Dear sisters and brothers. I am very happy to have this opportunity to appear before you, and to convey my message, tonight and every week from now on. And I want to give special thanks to the A.B.A. network, and to the Rasans, for having afforded me this opportunity. There was no need at all to rebel, to get my message to the world. And my message tonight is the same as I conveyed to you before I died, the same words that issued forth from the midst of my humiliation, for from humility comes truth. (pause) I love you all out there, and all of you here in the studio. And God loves you all too. And you should know, that the Rasans love you all too. You may have heard rumors that I preach insurrection. Nothing is farther from the truth. I am not against the Rasan rule. (pause) I AM not against anything. I AM for God and Love and understanding and acceptance and the betterment of humankind. And so, in fact, are the Rasans. Truth does not change just because earthly bonds are dissolved. This is why I have repeated what I said previously. And each week from now on, right here on A.B.A., I shall teach you all how to be fulfilled, and how your lives can be full of love and acceptance and understanding. Mr. Job, can you hear me?

Mr. JOB: Yes, master, your servant is listening. I stand under your command.

JESUS-JOB VOICE: What do you understand, Mr. Job? You who were a wretched job of a man, but made a new job of yourself! What is it that you understand? What can you tell the people?

Mr. JOB: That I was lost, but am now found in You. In You I am blessed. In you I have found love. You have given my life new meaning and purpose, and I shall serve you faithfully all the days of my life, and so say all who have seen the light.

JESUS-JOB VOICE: No one has spoken so well as my servant Job. He has suffered, but is now blessed at last. And so will all of you out there, and here in the studio, be blessed. For I AM the Love and the Truth, and these will be added to you. Give me your old selves, your worthless existence, your meaningless jobs, all the misery and woe that has befallen you.

You, the tired and weary, the outcasts of life, the sinners and sinned against, the lame and the blind, all of you, whoever and wherever you are, come to me. In me you will find safe refuge from the storms of life. All will pass away like a bad dream, and you will awaken to your new selves... if you will but follow me. (pause).

Now goodbye to you all, for I must go and attend some other affairs in the galaxy which my father in heaven trusted me with. But I shall come again to you next week. It's a promise!

(The light beam dims slowly and then goes out. Mr. Job is left alone on the stage.)

Mr. JOB: hallelujah, Glory to Jesus! He has returned, and will return every week, right here in this studio! And next week when he returns, we shall welcome Him with a choir and a mass prayer. He will minister to people in the audience, to whatever their needs may be, and to those viewers at home who are open to Him and take Him into their hearts. So reserve your places for our show next week! And till then, his faithful servant, and yours, bids you goodnight. And for those of you who want to give testimony, or bear witness, or join our "Jesus Lives" Club, just call our easy number, 666-666. There are twelve operators standing by to receive your calls, at all hours.

(A giant announcement is flashed to the audience and the viewers at home: