He hath anointed me to preach good tidings Unto the poor; to heal the broken-hearted;To comfort those that mourn, and to throw open The prison doors of captives, and proclaim The Year Acceptable of the Lord, our God!
He closes the book and sits down.
A PHARISEE.
Who is this youth? He hath taken the Teacher's seat!
Will he instruct the Elders?
A PRIEST.
Fifty years Have I been Priest here in the Synagogue, And never have I seen so young a man Sit in the Teacher's seat!
CHRISTUS.
Behold, to-day This scripture is fulfilled.One is appointed And hath been sent to them that mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, and the oil Of joy for mourning! They shall build again The old waste-places; and again raise up The former desolations, and repair The cities that are wasted! As a bridegroom Decketh himself with ornaments; as a bride Adorneth herself with jewels, so the Lord Hath clothed me with the robe of righteousness!
A PRIEST.
He speaks the Prophet's words; but with an air As if himself had been foreshadowed in them!
CHRISTUS.
For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest Until its righteousness be as a brightness, And its salvation as a lamp that burneth!
Thou shalt be called no longer the Forsaken, Nor any more thy land the Desolate.
The Lord hath sworn, by his right hand hath sworn, And by his arm of strength: I will no more Give to thine enemies thy corn as meat;The sons of strangers shall not drink thy wine.
Go through, go through the gates! Prepare a way Unto the people! Gather out the stones!
Lift up a standard for the people!
A PRIEST.
Ah!
These are seditious words!
CHRISTUS.
And they shall call them The holy people; the redeemed of God!
And thou, Jerusalem, shalt be called Sought out, A city not forsaken!
A PHARISEE.
Is not this The carpenter Joseph's son? Is not his mother Called Mary? and his brethren and his sisters Are they not with us? Doth he make himself To be a Prophet?
CHRISTUS.
No man is a Prophet In his own country, and among his kin.
In his own house no Prophet is accepted.
I say to you, in the land of Israel Were many widows in Elijah's day, When for three years and more the heavens were shut, And a great famine was throughout the land;But unto no one was Elijah sent Save to Sarepta, to a city of Sidon, And to a woman there that was a widow.
And many lepers were then in the land Of Israel, in the time of Eliseus The Prophet, and yet none of them was cleansed, Save Naaman the Syrian!
A PRIEST.
Say no more!
Thou comest here into our Synagogue And speakest to the Elders and the Priests, As if the very mantle of Elijah Had fallen upon thee! Are thou not ashamed?
A PHARISEE.
We want no Prophets here! Let him be driven From Synagogue and city! Let him go And prophesy to the Samaritans!
AN ELDER.
The world is changed.We Elders are as nothing!
We are but yesterdays, that have no part Or portion in to-day! Dry leaves that rustle, That make a little sound, and then are dust!
A PHARISEE.
A carpenter's apprentice! a mechanic, Whom we have seen at work here in the town Day after day; a stripling without learning, Shall he pretend to unfold the Word of God To men grown old in study of the Law?
CHRISTUS is thrust out.
VI
THE SEA OF GALILEE.
PETER and ANDREW mending their nets.
PETER.
Never was such a marvellous draught of fishes Heard of in Galilee! The market-places Both of Bethsaida and Capernaum Are full of them! Yet we had toiled all night And taken nothing, when the Master said:
Launch out into the deep, and cast your nets;And doing this, we caught such multitudes, Our nets like spiders' webs were snapped asunder, And with the draught we filled two ships so full That they began to sink.Then I knelt down Amazed, and said: O Lord, depart from me, I am a sinful man.And he made answer:
Simon, fear not; henceforth thou shalt catch men!
What was the meaning of those words?
ANDREW.
I know not.
But here is Philip, come from Nazareth.
He hath been with the Master.Tell us, Philip, What tidings dost thou bring?
PHILIP.
Most wonderful!
As we drew near to Nain, out of the gate Upon a bier was carried the dead body Of a young man, his mother's only son, And she a widow, who with lamentation Bewailed her loss, and the much people with her;And when the Master saw her he was filled With pity; and he said to her: Weep not And came and touched the bier, and they that bare it Stood still; and then he said: Young man, arise!
And he that had been dead sat up, and soon Began to speak; and he delivered him Unto his mother.And there came a fear On all the people, and they glorified The Lord, and said, rejoicing: A great Prophet Is risen up among us! and the Lord Hath visited his people!
PETER.
A great Prophet?
Ay, greater than a Prophet: greater even Than John the Baptist!
PHILIP.
Yet the Nazarenes Rejected him.
PETER.
The Nazarenes are dogs!
As natural brute beasts, they growl at things They do not understand; and they shall perish, Utterly perish in their own corruption.
The Nazarenes are dogs!
PHILIP.
They drave him forth Out of their Synagogue, out of their city, And would have cast him down a precipice, But, passing through the midst of them, he vanished Out of their hands.
PETER.
Wells are they without water, Clouds carried with a tempest, unto whom The mist of darkness is reserved forever.
PHILIP.
Behold, he cometh.There is one man with him I am amazed to see!
ANDREW.
What man is that?
PHILIP.
Judas Iscariot; he that cometh last, Girt with a leathern apron.No one knoweth His history; but the rumor of him is He had an unclean spirit in his youth.
It hath not left him yet.
CHRISTUS, passing.
Come unto me, All ye that labor and are heavy laden, And I will give you rest! Come unto me, And take my yoke upon you and learn of me, For I am meek, and I am lowly in heart, And ye shall all find rest unto your souls!
PHILIP.
Oh, there is something in that voice that reaches The innermost recesses of my spirit!
I feel that it might say unto the blind:
Receive your sight! and straightway they would see!
I feel that it might say unto the dead, Arise! and they would hear it and obey!
Behold, he beckons to us!