| Matthias: |
Wow—
|
| Cleopas: |
Yeah.
|
Short pause.
|
| Matthias: |
Wow!
|
| Cleopas: |
Yeah.
|
Short pause.
|
| Matthias: |
That was weird.
|
| Cleopas: |
It was strange—
|
| Matthias: |
And not a little confusing—
|
| Cleopas: |
That was weird.
|
Pause.
|
| Matthias: |
And rather unexpected.
|
Short pause.
|
| Cleopas: |
What do you think it means?
|
| Matthias: |
You know, I’m still working on that.
|
| Cleopas: |
Yeah.
|
| Matthias: |
Yeah.
|
Beat.
|
| Cleopas: |
Me too. (beat) Emmaus—who knew? |
Pause.
|
| Matthias: |
Nice running into him again.
|
| Cleopas: |
Oh, sure. Very nice.
|
| Matthias: |
Kind of unexpected, though.
|
| Cleopas: |
Something of a surprise.
|
| Matthias: |
Kind of caught me off-guard.
|
| Cleopas: |
Yeah.
|
| Matthias: |
Yeah.
|
Beat.
|
| Cleopas: |
Me, too. (long pause) That was
him, right?
|
| Matthias: |
Yeah, it was him—
|
| Cleopas: |
I mean, it would be kind of embarrassing—
|
| Matthias: |
It was him—
|
| Cleopas: |
—to go back to Jerusalem and say we saw
him, and have it turn out that it wasn’t him after all—
|
| Matthias: |
It was HIM!
|
| Cleopas: |
—It’s just that that would be
embarrassing.
|
| Matthias: |
(turning on him, with all his might)
IT WAS HIM!
|
| Cleopas: |
If we got back to Jerusalem and told
everyone about meeting him on the road to Emmaus and then having
lunch with him—
|
| Matthias: |
IT . . . WAS . . . HIM!—
|
| Cleopas: |
I’m just saying.
|
Beat.
|
| Matthias: |
Yeah. (short pause) He always was
good at surprises.
|
| Cleopas: |
Yeah. (short pause) And special
effects.
|
| Matthias: |
Yeah. (short pause) And that
water/wine thing, he had that down pretty good, too
|
Pause.
|
| Cleopas: |
Yeah.
|
| Matthias: |
Yeah.
|
Beat.
|
| Cleopas: |
Didn’t our hearts burn within us?
|
| Matthias: |
(truly puzzled) What?
|
| Cleopas: |
(motioning to his upper stomach area) Didn’t
our hearts burn . . .
|
| Matthias: |
Something you ate?
|
| Cleopas: |
No! Didn’t our hearts burn
within us when he explained the scriptures to us?
|
| Matthias: |
Oh, well yeah. I mean, it’s nice
to have someone who knows what he’s talking about, not just trying
to twist the scriptures to support some political agenda.
|
Pause.
|
| Cleopas: |
I thought we were never going to see him
again.
|
| Matthias: |
Thought? I knew we were
never going to see him again!
|
| Cleopas: |
And yet—
|
| Matthias: |
And yet, there he was.
|
| Cleopas: |
There he was.
|
| Matthias: |
Just as big as life.
|
| Cleopas: |
Bigger than life!
|
Pause. Matthias turns and looks at Cleopas.
|
| Matthias:: |
(drawing out the first word) No-oo,
big as life is plenty big enough, you know, considering he had been
dead for about three days. Being alive under those circumstances is
plenty big enough.
|
Pause. Cleopas turns and looks at Matthias.
|
| Cleopas:
Matthias:
Cleopas:
Matthias:
Cleopas:
Matthias:
Cleopas:
Matthias:
Cleopas:
Matthias:
Cleopas:
Matthias:
Cleopas::
Matthias:
Cleopas:
Matthias: |
So, there he was.
There he was.
Big as life.
Big as life.
Walking with us.
Talking with us.
You know, he was always so enjoyable to listen to.
What?
He told a good story.
True.
And he told it well.
Well?
He had a nice speaking voice.
Nice?
Pleasant to listen to.
Pleasant?
|
| Cleopas: |
And he never mumbled or spoke too low or
swallowed his words.
|
| Matthias: |
What—
|
| Cleopas: |
He could have made a good living giving
lessons in public speaking.
|
| Matthias: |
What are you talking about?
|
| Cleopas: |
But, well, that wasn’t his calling, was
it?
|
| Matthias: |
Being a good public speaker didn’t have
a thing to do with his teaching.
|
| Cleopas: |
I beg your pardon! I’d think whether or
not people can understand what one is saying might just have some
impact on one’s ability to teach!
|
Pause.
|
| Matthias: |
(a restart) Didn’t our hearts
burn within us when he explained the meaning of the scriptures?
|
| Cleopas: |
(caught a little off guard by this
shift) Uh, yeah. Yeah, they, uh, they did.
|
At this point they move into that moment a few hours
earlier when they met with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They
remember and prompt each other, creating a space for Jesus,
quoting his words (as best they can remember them), and
responding to them, as though he were in front of the
congregation with them.
|
| Matthias: |
—As he fell into step with us. "I
noticed you two seemed to be caught up in some deep
discussion." And the one called Cleopas said—
|
| Cleopas: |
You must be the only person around who
hasn’t heard what’s been happening in Jerusalem.
|
| Matthias: |
"Like what?"
|
| Cleopas: |
About Jesus—from Nazareth? There was
a guy. He was prophet, a strong speaker and a stronger do-er.
|
| Matthias: |
(himself, to Jesus) You didn’t
hear how the leaders at the Temple and the rulers at the palace gave
him to the Romans and had him crucified?
|
| Cleopas: |
We had hoped he was the one who
would set us free—
|
| Matthias: |
And then, on top of everything, this
morning, three days after everything, some of the womenfolk came
running back from the tomb, claiming that angels had told
them that Jesus, our Master, was no longer dead, but was alive!
|
| Cleopas: |
And then some more of our people ran
to the tomb, and they saw everything the women had described—
|
| Matthias: |
Except they couldn’t find him!
|
| Cleopas: |
"Oh, you poor, wonderful fools—why
is it so hard for you to believe what the prophets told you? Don’t
you see that it was inevitable that Jesus would suffer and would
find his glory?"
|
| Matthias: |
(to Cleopas) Then he started out
with Moses—
|
| Cleopas: |
(to Matthias) And all the rest of
the prophets—
|
| Matthias: |
And explained all they said about him.
|
Pause.
|
| Cleopas: |
And that was some meal, especially that
trick with the bread when he made us recognize him.
|
Short pause.
|
| Matthias: |
(smiling and nodding) Yeah, yeah,
that was a good one. (beat) We better get going.
|
| Cleopas: |
(almost sighing) I suppose so. (They
start off, through the congregation.) Do you think they’ll
believe us?
|
They are gone as the play ends.
|
