Seán Walsh: Brought To Heel
Brought to Heel
CAIAPHAS
So, Rabbi… I am told you have been scrolling?…
JORAM
Eh-hh… A little, yes. Here and there. A snatch of research –
CAIAPHAS
And what have you uncovered?
JORAM
Oh-hh… Nothing of any great signifi –
CAIAPHAS
Oh, Joram, Joram! You would deceive your High Priest?
JORAM
Eh-hh… I, eh –
CAIAPHAS
Tell me.
JORAM
Well… the capture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane –
CAIAPHAS
Yes? –
JORAM
We have the assurance of the Temple militia that his closest followers abandoned him and, and fled.
CAIAPHAS
Agreed.
JORAM TAKES A PAPER FROM A JACKET POCKET.
JORAM
I – I have found a passage in Zecharias that is uncannily close to the mark.
CAIAPHAS
Oh?
JORAM (READING)
Thirteen, seven.
“I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered…”
CAIPHAS
And?… So?
JORAM
Well, do you not think – I mean, is it not incredibly akin to the fulfillment of a, a – ?
CAIPHAS
Prophesy?… Zecharias is, after all, one of our revered prophets.
JORAM
In-incredible as it may seem?…
CAIPHAS (STANDING, CIRCLING)
You stand there and tell me all that befell the Nazarene on the Mount of Olives was in fulfillment of a prophesy?
JORAM
Well, I, I –
CAIAPHAS
Easy enough to cull through the writings of yore – deleting here,
highlighting there – come to a conclusion far removed from Orthodoxy!
JORAM
Still, it would seem on the face of it –
CAIAPHAS
On the face of it?!… Now hear me, Joram, mark well my words!
Abide by the counsel of your fellow Scribes – settle for the collective
wisdom of the Sanhedrin – and you will not – cannot – falter!…
JORAM
Yes, I –
CAIAPHAS
As if I did not have enough to engage me without one of my Inner
Circle scrolling, amiss, the Scriptures…
Now leave me. Keep to yourself a while.
JORAM TURNS… PREPARES TO EXIT.
Oh, and Joram?…
JORAM TURNS BACK.
You like it here, do you not?… Jerusalem. The Temple. Your work with the people…?
JORAM
Indeed. Very much so.
CAIAPHAS
I should tell you that one of our brethren has gone to his rest. Recently. A town out in the country – if it can be called a town. ‘Desolate’, by all accounts. Still… the synagogue there is now in need of a Rabbi. It is for me to decide on a replacement. Soon…
THEY STAND LOOKING AT EACH OTHER.
DARKEN SET.
Seán Walsh – From my drama, CONCLAVE, paperback and kindle from Amazon. The drama was written long before a recent film of the same name!