The Young Messiah Page #3

If you tell me these men

are not bandits and thieves,

I'll believe you.

They've been in

Alexandria seven years.

They're craftsmen.

I received a letter

only a month ago

that tells of their

plan to come here.

You know we have to

put down this rebellion.

(CORK POPS)

It's good wine.

It's very good wine.

For the life of my family,

would I give you bad wine?

(CHUCKLES)

Take it.

Take it with you.

It's a hard thing

you have to do.

Yes.

We leave this village as it is.

I thank you, grandmother.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

(SOLDIER LAUGHING)

The Lord make his face to shine

upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up

his countenance upon you!

And give you peace.

(ALL LAUGHING)

CLEOPAS:
What would you know

about woodland nymphs

and gods who eat ambrosia?

Well, look in the boxes

of scrolls, o curious one.

Do you think my father had no room

in there for Homer and Plato?

Where are the rest of

the people, Old Sarah?

They're hiding in the hills

in the caves, child.

Or in the tunnels.

But I'm too old

to go crawling through tunnels.

And besides,

the Romans fear the young.

Let us pray

they don't come back.

They're Romans.

They're everywhere,

protecting a corrupt

Jewish king.

How can we pray

they don't come back?

Because a messiah is born

who will save us.

His star has been seen.

(GRINS)

He lives.

He will deliver us.

(LAUGHING) Amen!

(CHUCKLES) Ooh. Mmm.

JOSEPH:
Son! Are you here?

There you are.

You're all alone.

I was praying-

And playing-

I'm sorry. I was

supposed to help James.

I think he's climbing

a tree somewhere.

Sit.

I know this isn't Alexandria.

Do you miss it?

No. Do you?

I don't think of it like that.

But it was the only home

that you ever knew.

And this is

so quiet and isolated.

We're safe here. No one

knows what I've done.

And you must never tell anyone.

I know you have many questions.

But you need to let them

sleep in your heart for now.

Why?

Because your questions

are the questions of a child.

But the answers

are the answers for a man.

That is one bridge

I cannot build.

I don't know how.

But God can,

and we must trust him.

I do. I trust him

for everything.

My boy.

(DRUMBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)

(MUSIC STOPS)

Sit.

Yes, my king.

I give you your mission,

and where are you?

Out crucifying rebels

like some common Roman.

I am vulnerable!

Do you not see that?

SEVERUS:

Yes, my Lord, I understand.

It's difficult.

Where's the boy?

Where's the boy?

I can't question

every 7-year-old in Israel.

Ahhh! I don't want

every 7-year-old!

I want one 7-year-old.

One.

A man came to me today

with the story of a boy

that age born in Bethlehem.

He heard a rumor

we were looking for one.

Where is he?

I had him crucified.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Seleni...

Oh...

Come with me. Come.

He's down the road.

He's probably still alive.

HEROD:
Come.

This boy,

where was his family heading?

He's just like his father.

Who? The boy?

Herod.

I'll give you water.

Give him water!

(UNSTEADY BREATHING)

So I can suffer longer?

What then?

(GROANS)

(FLIES BUZZING)

Uh-huh.

North.

That's all I remember.

Some little town.

(GRUNTS)

Near Galilee?

Aye.

I gave the boy a toy camel.

(LAUGHING)

Why did you go to Herod?

Reward. Blood money.

Don't make me wait.

(GRUNTS)

(GROANS)

CLEOPAS:
Brother, you won't mind if I teach

him a thing or two myself, will you?

Since I was almost a scribe.

JOSEPH:
Your uncle has always

been very imaginative.

These are our sons, Rabbi. It's

time to resume their education.

I know James, your cousin

whom you adopted, but

who is this? Jesus bar Joseph.

He's my son.

Everyone here

remembers your betrothal.

There are other things

we also remember.

The morning your betrothed, young

Mary, came out of the house,

crying about an angel,

upsetting the village.

Rabbi, is it not for his father

to tell him these things in time?

OLD RABBI:
Where was he born?

Bethlehem.

The City of David.

And then you went

to Egypt, I understand.

CLEOPAS:
They have good

rabbis there, too.

(CHUCKLES)

Same old Cleopas.

Look at me, Jesus bar Joseph.

Why did the Phoenicians

cut the hair of Samson?

Forgive me, Rabbi, but it

was not the Phoenicians.

It was the Philistines, and they

cut his hair to make him weak.

Where is Elisha who was

taken up in the chariot?

It was Elijah who was taken up.

Elijah's with the Lord.

Who resides in

the Garden of Eden?

No one.

There is no one in Eden.

There is no one

in Eden writing this

and all the deeds

of the world down?

Men say it is Enoch,

but Eden is empty,

until the Lord says all the

world will be Eden again.

Why did the Lord break his

covenant with King David?

The Lord does not break his covenants.

The throne is there.

Where is the King?

He will come.

And his house will last forever.

(SOFT CHUCKLING)

Will a carpenter build it?

Yes. There's always

a carpenter.

Even the Lord himself

is a carpenter sometimes.

How is the Lord a carpenter?

Tell me.

Didn't the Lord himself tell

Noah how to build the ark?

What kind of wood to use,

and how it should be pitched?

And wasn't it the Lord

who granted the vision of the

new Temple to Prophet Ezekiel

with the dimensions of the

galleries, the gates, the altar?

Yes, it was.

And when the Lord

made the world,

wasn't wisdom there

like a master craftsman?

If wisdom is not the Lord,

what is wisdom?

And when Cyrus

the Persian decreed

that we could

return to our Holy Land,

the carpenters came home

to build the Temple

as the Lord said

it should be built.

And how...

(CHUCKLES)

(ALL CHUCKLE)

This is a good child.

I like this child.

School tomorrow morning.

(SIGHS)

(CLEOPAS CHUCKLES)

Ah...

CLEOPAS:
Let me edify you.

Whilst Mary was

weaving the veils

for the Holy of Holies

in Jerusalem,

I studied with the Pharisees.

Some of the best ones, too.

And some maybe not so good.

Like some of the students.

Sometimes I amaze myself

at what I might have done...

Son?

CLEOPAS:
had I not

gone off to Egypt.

Son, are you all right?

(CLEOPAS LAUGHS)

Your hand, it's very warm.

Son! Son! (GROANS)

I think I could've been a prophet.

Joseph, what do you...

(INDISTINCT MUMBLING)

It's the fever. Riba,

get more water and rags.

(MARY MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY)

MARY:
Dear God,

heal my child, I beg you.

(INDISTINCT MUMBLING)

May your love and compassion

shine upon your blessed child

and spare him from suffering.

Please forgive the sins

for we have this day.

Send a word

from his righteous path...

(INDISTINCT PRAYERS)

You are no child.

Who are you?

Why don't you dwell

in the house of

the Lord in Jerusalem?

Answer me!

You don't know the answers.

You don't know what's

going to happen, do you?

You don't know

how it's going to end.

Who are you?

I demand you tell me!

Don't touch me!

Never, ever lay

your hands on me.

Or what, angel child?

I'll drop dead?

Let me show you

your precious Jerusalem

last Passover.

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