St. John in Exile (1986) - full transcript
One of Jesus disciples, John has been punished in exile to the island of Patmos. He is all alone and has time to reflect and tell us about his life, faith and troubles. This is a one man play developed by Dean Jones. He traveled performing it until he put it to video.
(uplifting synthesizer music)
(applause)
- Well now, Papias.
These quill pens are well sharpened.
Your ink all mixed?
We want good readability.
This will be a letter to the seven churches, Papias.
Good arithmetic!
Nine copies is just what we'll need.
Seven in Greek, one in Aramaic for me,
and one in Latin just in case.
Now Papias, don't start crying hand cramps again.
From all those copies of the
Acts of the Apostles you made,
I know you have fingers of iron.
(chuckles)
Now then.
John.
To the seven churches which are in Asia.
Grace be to you.
Peace.
From Him who is and who was and who is to come.
Even our Lord Jesus, the anointed one.
I received your letters with joy and gratitude.
My thanks for your willingness
to help the prisoners, er, deepest thanks,
make that deepest thanks, for your
willingness to help the prisoners here
at Patmos Penal Colony in the ways that I've described.
Timothy will send deacons to you from Ephesus.
Well!
What, you've arrived early!
Splendid, splendid!
I wasn't expecting you so soon!
Well how was the crossing from Ephesus?
Rough, windy?
Yes, well it usually is.
I trust the Roman guards down at
the pier were not too troublesome.
Oh they searched you did they?
Yes, well they're looking for scriptures.
Or those newfangled fish amulets
that you're wearing nowadays.
(laughter)
You know, if the Roman commander here ever
really decides to enforce the anti-Christian edict,
many of you would have to decide
how much of a Christian you really are.
They say if you refuse to sacrifice
to their divine emperor, Domitianus,
you'll be admitting you're a Christian.
And these Romans can kill you.
So until you learn your way around
this dangerous Roman world, please be careful.
You've come a long way to see me,
I'd hate to lose you now.
(laughter)
Where's Timothy?
Down in the camp, no trouble is there?
Ah, distributing the food.
Good, good.
Well welcome to Patmos!
(chuckles)
Beautiful, beautiful Patmos.
I wasn't laughing when the Romans brought me
here two years, well nearly three years ago now.
Put me down in the rock quarry cutting stone.
I was 84.
Dawn to dusk hours, inhumane conditions
would've finished most men my age quite quickly.
Life expectancy of the young inmates
is hardly more than a year.
But all my life I've been healthier and
harder to kill than an Egyptian crocodile!
(laughter)
And let me tell you beloved,
Romans kept a close watch on me too.
Afraid I'd make a break for it.
(laughter)
And I admit, I was not a model prisoner.
You see all day long, as I held
the cutting chisel, I'd be telling
the man swinging the hammer all about Jesus.
(laughter)
before the Romans knew it I had
converted half the inmates and five guards.
(laughter)
That's when the commander found me out,
shut me up in this cave.
Surprised me.
Could've killed me.
When he didn't I got suspicious.
I got in touch with Timothy in Ephesus.
Asked him to find out why, well...
(chuckles)
They say it was that that commander here
has orders not to kill me or even hurt me.
The procurator in Ephesus is afraid
that if anything happens to that
Christian sorcerer that they'll be riots in the streets.
Riots, can you imagine that?
He may be one of those people
who've heard I'll never die.
Now that rumor got started because
of something Jesus said to Peter about me,
but later on the Romans tried to boil me in oil,
the Lord Jesus delivered me, and the rumor really spread.
(laughter)
I've just never been able to stop it.
Course now that I'm 86 and I still feel like 26,
I'm beginning to wonder myself.
(laughter)
(chuckling)
You see what I mean?
(heavy breathing) (laughter)
The Romans, they...
They don't understand us Christians.
When I die I want a celebration!
Can you imagine what the Romans will think
of all the praising God at my funeral?
Oh they'll be there.
Just to make sure I am.
(laughter)
I'm glad I'm still in the fight, beloved.
If there's battle smoke I wanna smell it.
Course there's precious little of it in this cave.
Now I'm not complaining, I'm not complaining,
I have all the amenities here.
It's musty and damp, but roomy enough as caves go.
It's big enough to chase pneumonia around in.
(laughter)
And catch it.
But I'm not complaining.
The Romans have given me their
latest style in furniture, as you see here.
Romanus prisonus.
(laughter)
This piece I'm sitting on
should be called Romanus Porcupinus.
(laughter)
But I just, oh!
And the Romans allow pets!
Cave rats you could ride to market.
There go two of them now.
I call these two Annas and Caiaphas.
They're always together.
(laughter)
I missed them again.
I've given them all names.
Herod stays back in that area over there.
And Pontius Pilate sneaks back and forth,
back and forth, underneath there.
(laughter)
Sometimes at night he comes out
while I'm asleep and does my toenails.
(laughter)
Where was I?
Oh yes yes yes, well.
When I found out I had an inch,
was fairly safe here, I immediately took a mile.
Arranged for Timothy to begin to visit me from Ephesus.
And soon he was carrying supplies
and letters and visitors back and forth.
And then his young friend Papius here
agreed to stay on and be my helper.
Beloved, we've got a regular scriptorium going here.
(laughter)
It's true, it's true, right under the Romans' noses.
And that's a lot of shade.
(laughter)
We copy out the epistles.
The acts, the three gospels.
We get them to Timothy in Ephesus and he
secretly distributes them to the seven churches.
And they're used in the training
of my beloved young missionaries.
Oh beloved, I'm so glad I can still be useful.
And I'm glad that you've come to visit me too.
Did you know that the churches
have even asked me to write a gospel?
Can you imagine that?
They call it a gift that only I can give.
I suppose they mean by that that as far as we know
I'm the last living disciple who saw the Lord.
Of course Luke is still with us.
Oh thank God for that.
Thank God, his letters are such
a strength, such an encouragement to me,
but of course Luke wasn't with the Lord.
Now he hears Jesus.
But he wasn't with us.
I told the churches that as far as I can see,
Matthew, Mark, Luke was as complete
and accurate a record of Jesus' acts
and words as our faith would ever need.
I, the youngest, least worthy of the disciples,
I just, I should not presume to add to it.
Papias.
Papias, bring your eyes over here.
Look down there.
Coming up the cliff path from the quarry.
You see that?
Well I know, I know it's a Roman, Papias,
but can you make out who it is?
The penal colony commander?
Well.
Now what have I done?
(laughter)
I can't think of anything new.
You know, it could mean that he's decided
to listen to my proposal for helping the prisoners!
Yeah, yeah, Papias, put those epistles
of Peter's way back there in that trunk
in the dark, and those new papyrus
copies of Luke's gospel, put...
No wait.
Put a copy of Luke's gospel right here.
Yes yes, right in the open where he can see it.
Of course he'll confiscate it.
(laughter)
(sighs)
Well Commander!
Commander, come right in.
Come right in, sit down, sit down.
Stand if you prefer.
(laughter)
Yes, Commander.
Yes, I believe I do have a working
proposal on the prisoners.
All right, so here it is.
Those walking skeletons you have
down there in that quarry, they'll never
cut enough marble to earn their keep,
much less make your a profit.
Not as long as you keep them sick,
demoralized, starving, but let me
give them some decent food,
warm clothes, and a good place to sleep.
Give them enough hope to believe
they'll live long enough to be released.
And then you'd have a work crew
that would cut marble for you, Commander.
You'd see some of that profit you're supposed to get.
No no no, no cost to you.
We'll provide everything.
Who's we?
Well that's...
That's to say some friends of mine on the mainland.
Never mind if they're Christians
or what they are, Commander.
You just get us a Roman quartermaster seal.
We'll stamp every shipment with it,
the minute it gets to the pier
in Ephesus, right aboard with no difficulty.
Keep your secret?
Commander, keep our secret.
If this thing is ever discovered
all you'd get is a mild reprimand.
I get the slow boil in oil.
(laughter)
You know the Lord Jesus delivered
me from that once, Commander.
I know, I know I've told you about that,
but I just want you to know
I don't want to tempt Him again.
(laughter)
Profit?
Profit?
How much of your profit do I want?
You pagans are all alike.
You cannot believe that anybody would want to do
something for somebody else simply because it's...
All right, I will say it!
Because it's the Christian thing to do!
(laughter)
You and your cynical Roman disregard
for the value of human life.
I tell you Commander, if I did not have
perfect control of my temper I...
(laughter)
I...
I beg your pardon.
I beg your forgiveness.
This infernal temper.
It has been my lifelong curse.
But I will discipline it if it is
the last thing I do in this life.
Next time it may be?
(laughter)
I see.
All right Commander, you've heard
my proposal on the prisoners.
I don't want a widow's mite of your money,
but I do wanna help those men
down there in that quarry.
Now you want promotion and gold.
Do yourself a favor.
Say yes.
Good.
Good.
You may be closer to the Kingdom than you know.
Oh yes yes, we'll keep you completely informed, Commander.
Yes, Timothy will be in touch with you.
Scroll?
What scroll?
(laughter)
Oh, oh that scroll.
Well it's just something I was reading, why?
Yes yes yes, it's Christian,
it's Christian, how can I deny it?
A friend of mine named Luke.
Commander, now you're not going
to confiscate this one too?
You have my copies of Matthew and Mark
and you never return anything.
(laughter)
All right.
All right, all right, what can I do
but go mad in this cave with nothing to read.
Yes yes, take it, take it if you must.
Yes, good day, good day, good day to you too.
(sighs)
Is he gone?
(laughter)
(laughs) There's more than one way
to get a pagan to read the word!
(laughter and applause)
He doesn't know it yet, but next
he's gonna confiscate Paul's epistles!
(laughter)
He's such a hard head.
Wouldn't surprise me if even Paul can't reach him.
Beloved, I do pray for that man, I do pray.
I do pray for him every day, I...
I'm afraid I'm not much an example of the Lord to you.
That bothers me.
My brother James had a temper too.
He was worse than I was.
Am.
I beg your pardon?
When did I what?
Oh, when did I first see the Lord?
Well beloved, I'll never forget that day.
You see, Andrew and I had to deliver
my father's salt-preserved fish
to his customers in Jerusalem.
On this one journey we kept hearing
about a new prophet called John the Baptist.
Found him at the Jordan River.
He was a brawny, wild-haired giant.
Clothed in animal skins.
Physically strong, spiritually intense.
And when he baptized me, he taught me
how to pray at the same time.
Held me under so long I came up sputtering
the sincerest prayer of my life.
(laughter)
Oh what a voice the baptist had.
He could out-bellow a camel.
And he often had to.
But you couldn't fail to hear his message.
"Repent!
I baptize you with water to prepare you
"for the one who is coming!
"He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy Spirit!"
The one who's coming.
I first saw Jesus on a beautiful
spring day on the Jordan River.
Crossing called Bethabara.
Andrew and I were helping the baptist
baptize there in the sunny cool current.
Suddenly I sensed a strange quiet.
I looked up to see the baptist gazing at the far shore.
There was a solitary stranger, stepped into
the water, came, stood before the baptist.
The baptist was usually fiery,
he was subdued that day, and he said
"Do you come to me when it is
"I who should be baptized by you?"
And the stranger said "Let it be so now.
"We must fulfill all things righteously."
Well the baptist baptizes him there.
And as the stranger leaves us, the baptist
turns to Andrew and me and says "Do you see?
"Do you see the Holy Spirit descend
"on Him like a dove out of Heaven?
"This is He.
"This is He for whom the world has been waiting.
"Now follow Him."
Well we followed him.
When we caught up with Jesus, I didn't know
what to say, I just said Rabbi!
Rabbi, where are you staying?
(laughter)
Jesus turned and said "Come and see."
Well beloved, we spent all that day with Him.
Talking about everything in the world.
And then around the fireside at night.
The next morning, Jesus asked Andrew and me
to go north into Galilee with Him.
And on that six day journey I observed Jesus very closely.
I sensed in Him things that I'd
never seen in anyone before or since.
He was intelligent and warm and loving, good.
Goes without saying.
But in Him these were not aspirations.
They were accomplishments.
All made solid by a total command of mind and body.
Scriptural scholarship vast.
Yet He enjoyed good company, everyday conversation.
But when He spoke with someone,
when He talk with you, beloved, Jesus knew.
Your needs, your heartaches, and your dearest dreams.
And from that day forward you were never the same.
And He invited Andrew and me to follow Him.
I still don't understand it, beloved.
I'm sincere about that, I really don't.
The only thing that gave me the courage
was from the first moment
I saw Him I said He needs a friend.
And this may sound strange to you,
but I felt that I could be that friend.
And that's exactly the way it turned out.
When Andrew and I got to Capernaum,
I ran to get my brother James and he hurried
to get his brother, Simon Peter.
Now Simon Peter was already know all around
the Sea of Galilee for his stormy, emotional nature.
And then we got Phillip and Nathaniel too
because we wanted them all to meet Jesus.
Beloved, you must understand something.
We were very ordinary men.
We had no education but our trade
and what we heard growing up in the synagogue.
But Jesus spoke to us in ways we could understand.
"I will make you fishers of men."
Be a long time before we even began
to realize what He had in mind.
I remember.
I remember our first lesson.
Our first shock!
Came when Jesus gave us His view of the Messiah.
Now we and all Jews were looking for another Joshua.
Another King David who would drive out
the Roman parasites forever.
But Jesus proved to us from scripture that not just Israel,
but all of the gentile world was to be saved.
The gentiles.
And He also showed us that the Messiah was not only
a Lord of battle, but a Prince of peace.
And that His Kingdom would last longer
and be greater than the Romans!
Because it would be where they or any
like them could never invade or conquer it!
It would be in the hearts of good people.
Who love God and treasure peace.
That's you, beloved.
A Kingdom of God, I didn't understand it for a long time.
But I understand it better now
every time I look into your faces.
Miracles?
Did I see miracles?
Oh yes beloved, I saw many miracles.
Some before great numbers of astonished people.
Like when Jesus changed water into
fine table wine at the wedding in Cana.
You know, it was in that same city,
yes, that a nobleman came to him.
He was seeking healing for his sick boy
who was in far away Capernaum, yes.
And as that grief-stricken father found out
when he got home, his boy had been healed
even as he had talked with Jesus.
Oh Jesus cured so many.
There was the blind man, the man born blind.
The lame man at the pool of Siloam.
My favorite?
My favorite miracle?
I would have to say the feeding of the thousands.
Yes, yes, possibly because
it meant so much to me personally.
You see beloved, Jesus' miracles had more
than one purpose, they were probably proof
that He was who He said He was, but they were
also private signs to us, His disciples.
And when we got through feeding
5,000 hungry men, and their families,
with what that little boy had in his basket,
five small barley loaves if you saw a fish.
I began to understand.
Little could be much in Jesus' hands.
And He could take the little that I was and make me
into something useful for His great purpose.
Do the same for you.
I decided right then that if Jesus
were willing to attempt the impossible,
the least I could do was cooperate.
(laughter)
After that the crowds grew.
I don't blame them!
Best bread I ever tasted!
(laughter)
We took up 12 baskets of leftovers,
had them for supper that night.
Hate Jesus?
Hate Jesus?
Speak up young man, speak up.
Oh yes, if the people loved Jesus
why did the temple authorities hate Him?
They...
They preferred their kingdom to God's.
The temple spies began to follow us everywhere.
Then Herod arrested John the Baptist, had him beheaded.
Everything Jesus did took on a new urgency.
He chose six more of us to become
His 12 messengers, apostles.
There was Matthew, the ex-tax collector
and his brother James.
There's Jude Thaddeus, my nephew,
Thomas the twin.
Simon the former Zealot,
and Judas from the town of Kerioth.
He spoke to us that day in unmistakable terms.
He said that He needed a small group of men.
But men who knew precisely what they believed and why.
We were not to judge people.
We were not to judge people!
We were to...
Show them how to be released from the sin enslaving them!
How to be forgiving and to be forgiven!
How to find new life transforming
relationship with the Father!
We were to proclaim the Kingdom of God on Earth.
It was the day to choose and we pledged ourselves to Him.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave.
The fame of it flew before us and struck
deeply into the hearts of the priests.
What people wouldn't want a king who could raise the dead?
Could all the legions of Rome defeat
an Israel led by such a power?
This was what the priests were afraid
the people were thinking, and they were right.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, thousands greeted Him,
waving palm branches, putting down
their clothes for a pathway
for the colt that he was riding on.
And they shouted the traditional greeting
for a victorious king of Israel.
♪ Hosanna ♪
♪ Hosanna to the son of David ♪
- And the priests trembled.
It was obvious to all who had eyes.
If Jesus wanted the people to make Him
king all He had to do was say so.
And right then, they decided to kill Him.
That night at Lazarus house in Bethany,
when Peter demanded that Jesus save Himself,
he got the most terrible rebuke.
"Get thee behind me, Satan.
"You're thinking as men think, Peter.
"See these things as God does."
From that hour, Peter carried a hidden sword.
Few nights later on the eve of Passover
we had our last supper together.
In the upper room of the house owned by Mark's parents.
I believe most of what Jesus said that night
you know from Matthew, Mark, and Luke's gospel,
but I have a few remembrances of my own.
I remember, after supper,
Judas got up and went out on an errand.
Wasn't supposed to do that, the Passover.
We all felt a tremendous heaviness come over us.
Jesus knew, but He didn't spare our feelings.
It was as if He was saying "Now you're no longer disciples.
"Now you're ministers.
"Now you must stand.
"Love one another.
"If you love one another, the world will know your mind.
"The hour is coming when all of you
"will run away and leave me.
"But I'll not be alone.
"Because the Father's always with me."
At that point, Peter leaps to his feet and says "Master!
"Master, I will never leave you.
"I'd lay down my life for you."
"Would you Peter?
"Peter, before the rooster crows, you'll have
"denied three times you even know me.
"When I say I go to my Father,
"your hearts are filled with sorrow
"and yet I go that you might receive
"the comfort of the Holy Spirit,
"your understanding and your power.
"Without Him you'll accomplish nothing.
"But if I go, I'll come to you again.
"And then nothing will ever take away your joy.
"Don't be afraid of what the world will do to us now.
"I've overcome the world."
And then Jesus prayed that none of us
be lost in what was coming.
We followed him out into the clear starry night.
Up the dark ravine of Kidron.
Along the temple walls.
Their drains gushing the blood
of thousands of Passover lambs
now being slaughtered on the altars within.
I'll never forget the feeling that came over me
when I watched Jesus step across
the coursing scarlet flood.
Before long, we'd come to our
favorite garden spot, Gethsemane.
He asked Peter and James and me
to stay near Him while He prayed.
In the moonlight we saw Him cast Himself to the ground.
Stricken of soul.
We wanted to go to Him and give Him
what comfort we could, but we never
interfered with His times of prayer.
I sat down against an olive tree.
What seemed like only a moment, I let my eyes close.
The next thing I knew, Jesus' hand was on my shoulder.
On his face.
Dark sweat.
Like drops of blood.
And oh the sadness in his voice.
"John, could you no watch with me this little while?"
My best friend, my Lord, had been in the lake of fire.
I'd been asleep.
Peter cries out a warning.
Yes Peter.
Yes, I see them, helms and spears,
torches coming up from Kidron!
Master, we must leave here!
But Master, Master they're coming to arrest us!
But...
Peter, he...
Look.
Leading them.
Judas.
Judas!
The soldiers sweep in through the gate.
Jesus steps forward and confronts the captain.
"Who do you seek?"
"Jesus of Nazareth!"
"I am He."
The soldiers fall backward to the ground.
Such was Jesus' power over them had He chosen to use it.
Again Jesus commands the captain.
"It is I you want.
"Let these go."
The captain hesitates, bewildered by his own weakened will.
Then motions to his men.
Peter leaps forward, sword in hand, and cuts off
the ear of Malcus, the high priest's servant.
Jesus intervenes.
"Peter!
"Put away that sword.
"Shall I not drink this cup that the Father has given me?"
With that I panicked.
Ran into the olive grove.
Coward that I was.
I hid myself among the trees.
Somehow in the moon shadows Peter finds me.
He wants to follow the retreating line
of torches and I say no, Peter.
No, they let us go once, they won't again, Peter.
Why should we risk that?
Because we love Him?
But Peter...
Yes.
Because we love Him.
We caught up with the temple guards
as they entered the courtyard
of the house of Annas, the ex-high priest.
Next to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate,
the most powerful man in Jerusalem.
There was a servant girl keeping the door
and somehow she remembered me as
the fishmonger boy from Galilee, but not Peter.
"Aren't you one those Jesus followers?"
"No.
"Certainly not."
She believes him and lets him in.
Inside the guards had started a fire, and as we
warm ourselves, another one notices Peter.
"You!
"You look like one of this Nazarene's men."
"No, I wouldn't know the man if I saw Him!"
Inside the house there's a commotion.
Jesus is led into the courtyard, there's a bruise
on His cheek, on His lip a trace of blood.
He looks toward us.
But for our sake He gave no sign He knows us.
Another guard confronts Peter.
"Here!
"You!
"You were in Gethsemane tonight!"
"I was not in Gethsemane tonight!"
"You were the one with the sword!"
"Sword?
"I'm a fisherman, I wouldn't know
"what to do with a sword."
"You were the one who protected Him!"
"Why I would protect a man I don't even..."
Know.
A rooster crowed.
And in Jesus' eyes I saw a haunting
sadness as they led Him away.
Outside the compound Peter weeps.
The stones of the alleyway grind his knees,
his hands, even his face, and he howls
to the night sky "Lord God!
"Have mercy on me and Judas Iscariot!"
But I felt no pity for Peter.
Does that surprise you?
I didn't deny the master.
But then...
Jesus' words returned from the dark garden.
"John.
"John.
"Could you not watch with me this little while?"
And I see my own sin against Him.
Outside the city walls.
The sunlight warns us as we follow to the place
where the Romans like to kill our people.
A little hill called Golgotha.
Shaped like a human skull.
Peter and I hide in the mob, afraid of arrest.
And with Jesus are two thieves.
The Romans crucify them first.
There is a screaming, struggling, like mutilated animals.
And then.
Then on the ground between them.
Jesus lays Himself on His cross.
He offers His hands and His feet.
And I remember His words,
"No man takes my life, I lay it down of myself."
Iron spikes, falling hammers!
Blood spurting up from wrists and ankles, oh God!
(weeping)
They raised the cross and the full weight
of his body fall to His flowing wounds.
Still He does not cry out.
A Roman soldier raises a ladder.
Tacks a sign above Jesus' head.
Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews!
The Roman governor has made a joke.
Angry, Pharisees pushed past us.
"Take down that sign!
"He is not our king!"
Roman spears push them back!
We have our orders!
It stays!
And so.
In mockery and jest, He's first proclaimed to the nations.
Jesus speaks.
(heavy breathing)
"Father.
"Forgive them.
"For.
"They.
"Know not.
"What they do."
Even now.
He prays.
For the soldiers at the foot
of His cross gambling for His clothes.
And I realize something.
They crucified him on orders and pagan ignorance.
And these Pharisees looking on so self-righteously,
they condemned Him thinking they were serving God.
But what of us?
What of us, His 12, for three years we followed Him.
We saw His signs and wonders, we learned
the secret of who He really was and still
we betrayed Him, we denied Him, we deserted Him!
And I see the damning difference!
We knew what we did.
Four women approached the cross.
Brave women weeping.
Jesus' mother and her sister.
The mother of Matthew and James and Mary Magdalene.
Jesus' mother looks at me, terrible pain in her eyes.
Peter, I'm going to her.
I don't care about the risk!
My life means nothing to me now.
Why should I be afraid?
Oh my God.
My heart breaks.
Where the cross is planted, Jesus' blood
and the earth make dark red mud.
Swelling ankles disjointed by the iron spike.
Lacerated knees, cramping thighs,
modesty outraged, his whip-torn
chest and arms, heaving for breath.
(sobs) Beneath the blood-dripping thorns, his eyes find me.
He's always known my thoughts.
Can He read them now?
Does He know my grief, my pain, my sorrow?
His eyes move between me...
And His mother.
She comes to my arm.
He rises up on the nails.
"Woman.
"Behold.
"Your Son.
"Son.
"Behold your mother."
Yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord.
Jesus stares at the horizon, his eyes
dancing madly, as if seeing horrors even He
who cast out demons cannot bear to look on.
He rises up on the nails.
"My God!
"My God!
"Why have You forsaken me?"
(heavy breathing)
(screams)
"I thirst."
"It.
"Is.
"Finished.
"Father, into Thy hands.
"I command.
"My.
"Spirit."
(heavy breathing)
(death rattle)
The spear point rises.
Gores into Jesus' side.
Blood and water gush into the dusty earth.
Blood and water.
The certain mark of death.
Now come Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
They dared to go to Pontius Pilate
and beg for Jesus' body.
While He lived, the discipleship
was compromised by fear, hesitation,
and prudent concealment, yet now no sooner
is He dead than by their presence
here they openly declare for Him.
And Peter too, standing with me for all the world to see.
I think of Jesus' words.
"When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to me."
Even now it's working.
The strangely compelling power of the cross.
We raise a ladder.
Extract the stubborn nails.
And take our murdered master down.
He ends His life as it began.
Cradled in His mother's arms.
We follow Joseph down the hill.
To his private garden and a new cut tomb.
Peter and I carried Jesus' body inside.
And with Nicodemus' hundred weight of myrrh
and aloes, we give Jesus what burial we can.
There's a silken napkin for his head.
A body shroud of finest woven linen,
long to cover front and back.
I carefully arrange it around
His shoulders and His arms.
As if it would warm Him
in the chill and dampness of the tomb.
Then.
Then something evil.
Hovering, craving entrance to the tomb or into us.
Peter, do you hear it?
Whispering, mocking.
"I will sift you now.
"Like wheat.
"You who also
Are forsaken!"
A day, a night, another day and night,
in fearful anguish and despair Peter and I hide,
thinking on all we'd seen and lost!
Over and over in my mind go Jesus' words from the cross.
"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
"My God, my God, why have You..."
There was no doubting what it seemed to mean,
and yet there was something more,
there was something familiar.
(speaks in foreign language)
I knew...
My childhood.
My childhood from the synagogue.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me
was the first line of a Psalm of David.
Was Jesus, in His deepest agony, praying David's prophecy?
Or was he just despairing?
(speaks in foreign language)
♪ My God, my God ♪
♪ Why have You forsaken me ♪
♪ Why are You so far from helping me ♪
♪ And from the words that I cry ♪
(speaks in foreign language)
♪ I am poured out like water ♪
♪ I number all my bones ♪
♪ They pierced my hands and my feet ♪
(speaks in foreign language)
♪ They part my garments among them ♪
♪ And cast lots for my clothes ♪
♪ All they that see me, laugh me to scorn ♪
♪ They shoot out the lip ♪
♪ They shake their heads saying ♪
♪ He trusted in the Lord ♪
♪ He trusted in the Lord ♪
♪ He trusted ♪
(weeping)
(applause)
(applause)
Some people don't like these.
But I acquired a taste for them from John the Baptist.
(laughter)
That's right, locusts and wild honey.
Care for some?
(laughter)
Anyone?
All the more for me.
(chuckles)
I was just thinking.
Jesus had a wondrous singing voice.
How many of you knew that?
He did.
In fact all the disciples loved to sing.
All except Judas.
Judas never sang with us, I don't know why.
He had a fine speaking voice too.
But we used to love to sing with Jesus
as we walked along the high roads.
We were sharp, flat.
Peter just loud.
(laughter)
But...
Would you like to sing one of Peter's favorite songs?
Would you?
Good, good, good.
It's a very easy one.
Andrew wrote the words to this
and I made up the music myself.
It goes like this, you'll get it very quickly.
♪ Lord God almighty ♪
♪ Thou art holy ♪
♪ Maker of the sea and land ♪
♪ The universe and skies ♪
♪ Lord God almighty ♪
♪ Thou art holy ♪
♪ Dwell within my heart and mind ♪
♪ My fingers and my eyes ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ La-la-la-la-Lei ♪
(rhythmic clapping)
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ La-la-la-la-Lei ♪
♪ Lord God almighty ♪
♪ Thou art holy ♪
♪ Maker of the sea and land ♪
♪ The universe and skies ♪
♪ Lord God almighty ♪
♪ Thou art holy ♪
♪ Dwell within my heart and mind ♪
♪ Fingers and my eyes ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ La-la-la-la-Lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ La-la-la-la-Lei ♪
(laughs)
(heavy breathing)
- I was thinking as I was singing there
the time that Peter was walking along
and he was really into the spirit of that song.
He had his eyes raised to Heaven,
his hands lifted in praise, and he fell
right into an irrigation ditch.
(laughter)
Oh how we laughed.
Andrew and I tried to help him out,
but he shrugged us off and wouldn't allow us to.
It was only a mile or two before he was
his normal outgoing self again.
(laughter)
I suppose I shouldn't be so blatant
about it, but Peter was my favorite.
You just couldn't help liking the man.
He was a walking bundle of outrageous extremes.
(laughter)
No one praised and encouraged Jesus as much as Peter did.
Or interrupted and interfered with Him as much as Peter.
(laughter)
But I'll tell you something, beloved.
Peter was never the same after
the Lord let him walk on water.
(laughter)
It's true, it's true.
Walking on water's a heavy thing, beloved.
It'd changed you too.
(laughter)
Oh, but he was so courageous after that.
It was just a few steps, but it gave him.
(coughs)
Excuse me.
These little legs get in your teeth.
(laughter)
I just, I'll never forget Peter.
He couldn't seem to get over the fact
that he felt Jesus wouldn't forgive him.
That was his problem.
But no sooner had Mary Madeline come
and claimed that the tomb was opened
and the body gone then Peter was up
and dragging me out the door.
Oh beloved, how he ran through
the streets of Jerusalem that morning.
Only this time, this time I arrived first.
I...
I saw the soldier's watch fires, but no one was around.
The tomb was opened and the stone rolled away,
but I'm afraid to go in.
Peter comes running up, takes one look,
and goes directly into the tomb.
I follow him.
(laughter)
The body's gone.
Peter.
But look.
Look, the linens.
The linens, if someone stole the body
would they strip it first?
There'd be no need to.
Peter.
These, these grave clothes have not been moved.
Look.
Look here, the shoulders, you see these folds?
The arms.
I arranged these folds myself.
I...
Am the resurrection and the life.
Do you remember Peter?
At Lazarus' tomb, "I am the resurrection and the life?"
(choir sings Hallelujah)
I believe.
I believe, Peter, that something
wonderful has happened here!
Yes!
Yes, He's raised our temple up again!
Jesus is alive and He's coming to it!
Peter, we must tell the others!
Andrew, James!
Jesus has risen!
He's alive!
Phillip!
Phillip, Nathaniel!
Jesus has risen!
He's alive!
♪ King of kings and Lord of Lords ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ Forever and ever ♪
♪ King of Kings ♪
♪ Forever and ever ♪
♪ And Lord of Lords ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ And He shall reign forever and ever ♪
♪ King of Kings and Lord of Lords ♪
♪ King of Kings and Lord of Lords ♪
♪ And He shall reign forever and ever ♪
♪ Forever and ever ♪
♪ Forever and ever ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ Halle ♪
♪ Lujah ♪
- By the evening of that day,
Peter and I had found all the 12.
Except Judas, and Thomas, who believed
his doubts and left Jerusalem.
We met again in the other room.
This time Peter had difficult news.
"Brethren.
"I hate to tell you this, but Judas is dead.
"Ashamed of what he did, he hanged himself."
There's vengeful approval in the room.
And Peter rebukes it.
"Are any of us without blame?
"Can we not follow the Master's commandment
"just once and not judge Judas?
"Let us pray for ourselves that we
"fall not into a worse temptation."
And then Mary Magdalene spoke.
"I have seen the Lord.
"This morning, outside the tomb."
Seen the Lord?
Well Mary, I was in the garden this morning, so was Peter.
We didn't see Him.
Why should He appear only to you?
"Why shouldn't He appear to me?
"Because I'm a woman?
"Maybe the Lord's trying to tell you men something."
(laughter)
There was no doubting her sincerity, but I doubted.
(laughter)
And just then, there was a sound in the shadows by the door.
Into the light stepped Jesus.
His arms open in greeting, His face was smiling.
And He said.
"Shalom.
"Peace be to you."
We were petrified.
(laughter)
I hesitate to tell you that, beloved,
but we didn't wanna come near Him.
And He said "Don't be afraid.
"It's me.
"John.
"Come here."
Well I had no choice but...
But to take His hand.
It was warm.
Real.
The nail wounds were almost healed.
He showed us His side, the imprint
of the spear was closed and fading.
And we begin to realize Jesus had returned to us.
Not as a spirit or vision, but He Himself
in the flesh like He said He would.
From the cross and the tomb,
death itself could not hold Him.
Oh beloved how we praised God that day.
He stayed all that night with us.
And then just before He left He...
He breathed on us.
And said "Receive.
"Receive, receive.
"The Holy Spirit."
And then, just as quietly as He left, He was gone,
down the wooden steps and out.
I could see Him there in the cold windy night.
Jesus appeared again to us in Jerusalem,
and this time Thomas was with us.
Now Thomas had said "Unless I put
"my finger in the nail wound.
(laughter)
"And my hand into His side, I will never believe."
Thomas, Thomas was a strong man,
and he desperately wanted to be sure.
Well Jesus knew Thomas' boast,
and He made him carry it out.
Thomas fell to his knees.
"My Lord and my God."
Jesus looked at Thomas, then at all of us, and said.
"Have you believed only because you've seen?
"Blessed are they that will never see, yet will believe."
He was speaking of a faith far greater
than we, his 12, would ever have, beloved.
He was speaking of a faith like yours.
Then Jesus told us to go home.
Home!
Galilee, and home we went!
We worked on my father's neglected boats,
we scrapped and painted hulls, repaired rigging.
Frustration, fear, because no word,
He said He'd come to us.
We fixed sails and mended nets.
Still nothing.
Suspicion, doubt.
Had we really seen what we thought we had seen?
And now Thomas is emphatic.
He said "He is coming to us, why do you doubt?"
(laughter)
The next morning Peter leaps to his feet
and says "I'm going fishing!"
We said we're coming with you!
Fished all night.
Caught nothing.
The sun came overhead on the water,
I knew it was going to be a hot day.
And as we pulled closer to the shore
I noticed a solitary man standing on the beach.
He called out to us.
"Lads!
"Have you any fish?"
No!
We've caught nothing, try the next landing!
(laughter)
"Cast to the right and you'll find."
Well instantly Peter and I lock eyes.
This preposterous proposition we'd heard once before.
(laughter)
We cast the nets to starboard,
and suddenly they're full of fish.
Fat, choice, hundreds of them.
Peter, it's the Lord.
Peter immediately dives overboard and swims to shore.
(laughter)
And then we follow along in the boat,
pulling this enormous catch of fish.
And there on the beach is Peter and Jesus.
They've started a fire of coal, they're baking bread.
They're ready for the fish.
Then Jesus said "Come, eat with me."
Oh beloved.
Beloved, it was like old times.
Good fellowship by the lake.
Hot food.
And oh the life in Him.
The life in Him, beloved.
I can still see those eyes.
That I closed with coins in the tomb.
Those eyes so vibrant and alive.
Well the stories I could tell you, beloved.
Jesus returning to the Father.
The Holy Spirit descending on us at Pentecost.
And we did preach fearlessly,
we gained power beloved, believe me.
We preached in the streets, in the temple itself.
And thousands believed.
The Jewish church took root.
But it was in our first gentile mission
when we began to evangelize the gentiles
that the Romans, our most dedicated enemies,
in scorn gave us the name that has blessed us.
Christians.
Then tragedy.
Tragedy sowed the gospel to the
farthest reaches of the Roman Empire.
The Jewish zealots threw the Roman
garrison out of Jerusalem.
The Romans returned with a legion and laid siege.
They took no prisoners.
A forest of crosses began to grow around the holy city.
It was only by a miracle leading that
Jesus' mother and I escaped to Ephesus
where Timothy's church took us in.
Soon after that the Romans broke into the inner city.
And Jesus' tearful prophecy came to pass,
there was no one stone left standing upon another.
Over one million Jews were exterminated.
Beloved.
Beloved, be wary.
That the world never see such a thing again.
I beg your pardon?
Excuse me?
Would...
Would I write a gospel?
Oh beloved.
Beloved, I...
Copying as we do here is one thing, but writing?
That's another thing completely.
You see, Matthew and Luke,
and Mark, setting down Peter's words,
wrote primarily from the Jewish point of view.
They explained Jesus' life and ministry
as the long awaited Messiah of Jewish scripture,
and that He was in the light of the prophets.
But to the Greek and the Roman mind, this means
very little in terms of their tradition.
You see, what they need is a...
A different but faithful approach.
I can only pray.
Seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I'm considering telling you something, beloved.
I hesitate not because I don't love you
or trust you, but only because I don't know
that I have it clear enough in
my own mind to make it understandable.
The commander not long ago began to allow me
a walk each day out there, on the sea cliffs.
And it was there, on the Lord's day,
that I came into the spirit.
I heard...
A voice.
Behind me.
It was like a trumpet in the sunny air,
"I am alpha and omega, the first and the last!"
I turned and saw seven golden candle stands.
And walking among them, one like the son of man,
His hair glistening snow, His eyes fire,
His face the sun in all its power.
And He spoke again, this time like mighty falling waters.
"Write this revelation in the book
"And send it to the churches!"
It seemed the heavens opened.
I flew above a sea of crystal.
To the rainbow throne of God.
A book.
The prophecy of the Lamb's ultimate
triumph sealed with seven seals.
The Lamb of God breaks the seals
and tribulation dawns war and pestilence,
famine and death, ride across the earth!
The powerful and the rich, the weak and the poor,
the famous and the obscure, all hide themselves
in mountains and caves, God's wrath has come, who can stand?
And then from out of the sky there came a fiery...
Star!
It falls into the sea and there's a mountain of fire!
The cities of the nations are burned to dust,
in an hour they all perish.
Millions, millions and millions die.
The rest pray to die, but death
eludes to 'til its own good time.
And now no lamplight shines.
No working men, no careful wives,
no children play, the voice of the bride
and the bride groom heard no more.
And then, when I thought it had ended,
from Heaven there comes a golden city.
From all of time, from all the world, the raptured
faithful gather at the gates and they open.
Angels.
The heavenly hosts and Jesus.
He said.
"Come in.
"Come in.
"This is the place I've prepared for you.
"The Father awaits us."
Oh beloved.
It was a miracle that my mind contained.
All that the glorified Christ had revealed to me.
Poor Papias, he'd heard speaking
in tongues, but nothing like this.
(laughter)
The thing that went over and over in my mind
was the Lord's words "write this revelation".
So.
I.
I must write.
But...
Alpha and omega.
The ministry of Jesus.
Might best be understood by the gentile world as...
The Logos.
The word.
The wisdom, the order, the logic of God.
Come to Earth.
The mind of God made man, yes!
Yes, they understand that.
This has been from the beginning.
Jesus' sinless life and self-sacrifice
on the cross, a perfect demonstration
of the Father's eternal love for mankind.
Yes yes, alpha.
And even then Jesus was there with the Father,
and will be there, omega, until the end when all
of the revelation that I have seen comes to pass.
Yes.
It's as Paul taught me so many years ago.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Timothy!
Oh Timothy come in, come in my son.
I'm sure you know most of my guests.
Well no no, I'm certain they won't mind, but...
Beloved, Timothy, he seems to have something to say to me.
Would you excuse us?
Beloved.
We have just learned...
That the Romans, in...
The Greek city of Achala, where He was preaching...
The Romans have crucified Luke.
(weeping)
Oh Luke.
Beloved physician.
Well.
They have stilled his mortal voice.
But the God-whispered words he gave us.
They will never stop them now!
Jesus said that His church would be a costly bride.
And as always, His prophecy is true.
Her price has proven to be
unspeakable terror and rivers of blood.
♪ Glory, glory ♪
♪ Glory unto our God ♪
♪ Glory ♪
- It began with Steven.
When Paul, not yet one of us, had him
stoned in the streets of Jerusalem.
♪ Glory ♪
- My brother James was next.
Beheaded for preaching the risen Christ in the temple.
♪ Glory ♪
- Matthias tied to a cross.
Draped with carrion, eaten by vultures!
♪ Glory ♪
- Jude Thaddeus, crucified and shot to death with arrows!
♪ Glory ♪
- Nathaniel was skinned alive
and crucified in double agony!
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
- Phillip was hanged from the column of a Greek temple.
Andrew crucified in Egypt.
Matthew beheaded at Alexandria.
Mark dragged to death behind a chariot!
James Alpheus thrown from Herod's temple roof!
Thomas speared by a mob!
Simon the Zealot sawed to pieces alive!
♪ Glory glory, glory glory ♪
♪ Glory, glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
- Peter and Paul were taken in Rome.
While thousands of believers gorged
Nero's lions in the Colosseum.
Paul beheaded on the Appian Way.
♪ Glory, glory, glory to God ♪
♪ Glory to thee, oh God ♪
- Peter was forced to watch his beloved wife
crucified on Vatican Hill!
And all through her agony he cried out to her
"Oh thou beloved, remember Christ!
"Remember Christ!"
♪ Glory to God ♪
- Peter felt unworthy to die as Jesus had.
So he asked to be, and was, crucified head downward.
Beloved.
If someone comes to you and says I will believe
your gospel if you can give me one proof, tell them!
Tell them of these ordinary men
who overturned the world and proclaimed
to the very end, some from their own crosses,
the life-giving truth of the triumphant risen Christ!
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
(heavy breathing)
- What's that, Papias?
A message?
From the commander, let me see.
God forbid that he's changed his mind
about helping the prisoners.
Timothy.
Emperor Domitianus is dead.
The Senate has declared an amnesty.
The Christian persecution is over.
Oh my God.
Oh Lord God, King of the universe, you have
delivered us out of the hands of our adversary!
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
Oh think of it.
Think of it, Timothy.
Thousands have died yes, but thousands more will live!
And Papias, the churches will worship openly again.
We'll visit them all together,
oh how they'll welcome us, Papias.
And my school.
My school, yes yes.
Oh there'll be so much to do.
Commander!
Commander come in, come in,
thank you for the good news sir.
When can we leave?
Today, splendid, splendid!
You say what?
Now I'll give up helping the prisoners?
Oh Commander, you are a...
You are a trial to me, Commander.
(laughter)
Why did you think, because I am free in Ephesus,
I would give up helping those men?
In Ephesus, Commander, I can help them even more.
Yes yes yes yes, what new condition?
Christian instruction for who?
For you?
(laughter)
If this is sort of trick Commander, I...
Well no no.
Of course I believe you.
Yes yes yes, I praise God.
Praise God, you see there?
(laughter)
It just took me unaware, that's all, I...
Only if I instruct you?
But that would mean that I would
have to stay here possibly for months.
You certainly can't believe that the Lord...
God's ways are not our ways?
(laughter)
Where did you hear that?
(laughter)
A footnote in that Gospel of Luke I gave him.
Oh Lord, why do you answer my dearest
prayers at the worst possible time?
(laughter)
What's that, Papias?
You'll stay if I will?
Well Timothy, I'm surrounded.
But would I have time to write in Ephesus?
I can't defy the Lord's command.
A revelation, possibly a gospel, I...
Yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord.
All right, Papias.
You go with Timothy to the pier.
Tell the pilot the boat for Ephesus
will have to leave without me, but you be aboard.
Be back here within 48 hours with
a barrel of ink, a a bale of papyrus,
and five flocks of geese' worth of quill pens.
And you, Commander!
So you want to learn about Jesus do you?
Well you're going to.
As I dictate to Papias here, right here.
Yes yes Commander, right here in this cave.
You've made it home to me now.
(laughter)
No no, we cannot begin immediately.
Go, go Commander, you'll need your strength.
But be back here sunrise after tomorrow!
And don't keep the Holy Spirit waiting!
(laughter)
And God bless you too, brother.
(laughter and applause)
Wonder of wonders.
Well beloved.
We've had good fellowship together.
I've walked and talked with Jesus again,
and as usual I love Him more.
And I see what He has in mind for what remains of my life.
A witness that will endure.
So if the Father will spare me the days
and the Holy Spirit will lead, I will
give the churches what they've asked for.
A gospel for the Greeks and the Romans,
and this will be His message.
God so loved us.
He so loved the world!
That He gave us His only Son.
That whosoever believes in Him need never die.
But have everlasting life.
Life, beloved.
That's what He's offered us.
Life has come, death is conquered!
Hell itself can never prevail in your life again!
This is why, this is why I declare these things to you,
what my eyes have seen and my hands have touched,
that you might have victory in fellowship with us.
Because truly our fellowship is with the Father and the Son.
Oh beloved, when fear enters your mind,
disease your body, death or enslavement your spirit,
speak the name of the Prince of Life!
Speak the name of Jesus and Hell itself
will be put under your feet!
We're not born of blood.
We're not born of the will of the flesh
or the will of men, we are sons and daughters of God.
And it does not yet appear what we shall be.
But we know this.
That when He comes again, and He will,
let no man take that from you,
when He comes again we shall see Him
as He is, and we shall be like Him.
Oh be like Him now, beloved.
Love one another.
If you love one another, the world will know you're His.
Oh little children.
Love one another.
(uplifting synthesizer music)
♪ Glory, glory, glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
(applause)
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
(church organ music) (applause)
(applause)
- Well now, Papias.
These quill pens are well sharpened.
Your ink all mixed?
We want good readability.
This will be a letter to the seven churches, Papias.
Good arithmetic!
Nine copies is just what we'll need.
Seven in Greek, one in Aramaic for me,
and one in Latin just in case.
Now Papias, don't start crying hand cramps again.
From all those copies of the
Acts of the Apostles you made,
I know you have fingers of iron.
(chuckles)
Now then.
John.
To the seven churches which are in Asia.
Grace be to you.
Peace.
From Him who is and who was and who is to come.
Even our Lord Jesus, the anointed one.
I received your letters with joy and gratitude.
My thanks for your willingness
to help the prisoners, er, deepest thanks,
make that deepest thanks, for your
willingness to help the prisoners here
at Patmos Penal Colony in the ways that I've described.
Timothy will send deacons to you from Ephesus.
Well!
What, you've arrived early!
Splendid, splendid!
I wasn't expecting you so soon!
Well how was the crossing from Ephesus?
Rough, windy?
Yes, well it usually is.
I trust the Roman guards down at
the pier were not too troublesome.
Oh they searched you did they?
Yes, well they're looking for scriptures.
Or those newfangled fish amulets
that you're wearing nowadays.
(laughter)
You know, if the Roman commander here ever
really decides to enforce the anti-Christian edict,
many of you would have to decide
how much of a Christian you really are.
They say if you refuse to sacrifice
to their divine emperor, Domitianus,
you'll be admitting you're a Christian.
And these Romans can kill you.
So until you learn your way around
this dangerous Roman world, please be careful.
You've come a long way to see me,
I'd hate to lose you now.
(laughter)
Where's Timothy?
Down in the camp, no trouble is there?
Ah, distributing the food.
Good, good.
Well welcome to Patmos!
(chuckles)
Beautiful, beautiful Patmos.
I wasn't laughing when the Romans brought me
here two years, well nearly three years ago now.
Put me down in the rock quarry cutting stone.
I was 84.
Dawn to dusk hours, inhumane conditions
would've finished most men my age quite quickly.
Life expectancy of the young inmates
is hardly more than a year.
But all my life I've been healthier and
harder to kill than an Egyptian crocodile!
(laughter)
And let me tell you beloved,
Romans kept a close watch on me too.
Afraid I'd make a break for it.
(laughter)
And I admit, I was not a model prisoner.
You see all day long, as I held
the cutting chisel, I'd be telling
the man swinging the hammer all about Jesus.
(laughter)
before the Romans knew it I had
converted half the inmates and five guards.
(laughter)
That's when the commander found me out,
shut me up in this cave.
Surprised me.
Could've killed me.
When he didn't I got suspicious.
I got in touch with Timothy in Ephesus.
Asked him to find out why, well...
(chuckles)
They say it was that that commander here
has orders not to kill me or even hurt me.
The procurator in Ephesus is afraid
that if anything happens to that
Christian sorcerer that they'll be riots in the streets.
Riots, can you imagine that?
He may be one of those people
who've heard I'll never die.
Now that rumor got started because
of something Jesus said to Peter about me,
but later on the Romans tried to boil me in oil,
the Lord Jesus delivered me, and the rumor really spread.
(laughter)
I've just never been able to stop it.
Course now that I'm 86 and I still feel like 26,
I'm beginning to wonder myself.
(laughter)
(chuckling)
You see what I mean?
(heavy breathing) (laughter)
The Romans, they...
They don't understand us Christians.
When I die I want a celebration!
Can you imagine what the Romans will think
of all the praising God at my funeral?
Oh they'll be there.
Just to make sure I am.
(laughter)
I'm glad I'm still in the fight, beloved.
If there's battle smoke I wanna smell it.
Course there's precious little of it in this cave.
Now I'm not complaining, I'm not complaining,
I have all the amenities here.
It's musty and damp, but roomy enough as caves go.
It's big enough to chase pneumonia around in.
(laughter)
And catch it.
But I'm not complaining.
The Romans have given me their
latest style in furniture, as you see here.
Romanus prisonus.
(laughter)
This piece I'm sitting on
should be called Romanus Porcupinus.
(laughter)
But I just, oh!
And the Romans allow pets!
Cave rats you could ride to market.
There go two of them now.
I call these two Annas and Caiaphas.
They're always together.
(laughter)
I missed them again.
I've given them all names.
Herod stays back in that area over there.
And Pontius Pilate sneaks back and forth,
back and forth, underneath there.
(laughter)
Sometimes at night he comes out
while I'm asleep and does my toenails.
(laughter)
Where was I?
Oh yes yes yes, well.
When I found out I had an inch,
was fairly safe here, I immediately took a mile.
Arranged for Timothy to begin to visit me from Ephesus.
And soon he was carrying supplies
and letters and visitors back and forth.
And then his young friend Papius here
agreed to stay on and be my helper.
Beloved, we've got a regular scriptorium going here.
(laughter)
It's true, it's true, right under the Romans' noses.
And that's a lot of shade.
(laughter)
We copy out the epistles.
The acts, the three gospels.
We get them to Timothy in Ephesus and he
secretly distributes them to the seven churches.
And they're used in the training
of my beloved young missionaries.
Oh beloved, I'm so glad I can still be useful.
And I'm glad that you've come to visit me too.
Did you know that the churches
have even asked me to write a gospel?
Can you imagine that?
They call it a gift that only I can give.
I suppose they mean by that that as far as we know
I'm the last living disciple who saw the Lord.
Of course Luke is still with us.
Oh thank God for that.
Thank God, his letters are such
a strength, such an encouragement to me,
but of course Luke wasn't with the Lord.
Now he hears Jesus.
But he wasn't with us.
I told the churches that as far as I can see,
Matthew, Mark, Luke was as complete
and accurate a record of Jesus' acts
and words as our faith would ever need.
I, the youngest, least worthy of the disciples,
I just, I should not presume to add to it.
Papias.
Papias, bring your eyes over here.
Look down there.
Coming up the cliff path from the quarry.
You see that?
Well I know, I know it's a Roman, Papias,
but can you make out who it is?
The penal colony commander?
Well.
Now what have I done?
(laughter)
I can't think of anything new.
You know, it could mean that he's decided
to listen to my proposal for helping the prisoners!
Yeah, yeah, Papias, put those epistles
of Peter's way back there in that trunk
in the dark, and those new papyrus
copies of Luke's gospel, put...
No wait.
Put a copy of Luke's gospel right here.
Yes yes, right in the open where he can see it.
Of course he'll confiscate it.
(laughter)
(sighs)
Well Commander!
Commander, come right in.
Come right in, sit down, sit down.
Stand if you prefer.
(laughter)
Yes, Commander.
Yes, I believe I do have a working
proposal on the prisoners.
All right, so here it is.
Those walking skeletons you have
down there in that quarry, they'll never
cut enough marble to earn their keep,
much less make your a profit.
Not as long as you keep them sick,
demoralized, starving, but let me
give them some decent food,
warm clothes, and a good place to sleep.
Give them enough hope to believe
they'll live long enough to be released.
And then you'd have a work crew
that would cut marble for you, Commander.
You'd see some of that profit you're supposed to get.
No no no, no cost to you.
We'll provide everything.
Who's we?
Well that's...
That's to say some friends of mine on the mainland.
Never mind if they're Christians
or what they are, Commander.
You just get us a Roman quartermaster seal.
We'll stamp every shipment with it,
the minute it gets to the pier
in Ephesus, right aboard with no difficulty.
Keep your secret?
Commander, keep our secret.
If this thing is ever discovered
all you'd get is a mild reprimand.
I get the slow boil in oil.
(laughter)
You know the Lord Jesus delivered
me from that once, Commander.
I know, I know I've told you about that,
but I just want you to know
I don't want to tempt Him again.
(laughter)
Profit?
Profit?
How much of your profit do I want?
You pagans are all alike.
You cannot believe that anybody would want to do
something for somebody else simply because it's...
All right, I will say it!
Because it's the Christian thing to do!
(laughter)
You and your cynical Roman disregard
for the value of human life.
I tell you Commander, if I did not have
perfect control of my temper I...
(laughter)
I...
I beg your pardon.
I beg your forgiveness.
This infernal temper.
It has been my lifelong curse.
But I will discipline it if it is
the last thing I do in this life.
Next time it may be?
(laughter)
I see.
All right Commander, you've heard
my proposal on the prisoners.
I don't want a widow's mite of your money,
but I do wanna help those men
down there in that quarry.
Now you want promotion and gold.
Do yourself a favor.
Say yes.
Good.
Good.
You may be closer to the Kingdom than you know.
Oh yes yes, we'll keep you completely informed, Commander.
Yes, Timothy will be in touch with you.
Scroll?
What scroll?
(laughter)
Oh, oh that scroll.
Well it's just something I was reading, why?
Yes yes yes, it's Christian,
it's Christian, how can I deny it?
A friend of mine named Luke.
Commander, now you're not going
to confiscate this one too?
You have my copies of Matthew and Mark
and you never return anything.
(laughter)
All right.
All right, all right, what can I do
but go mad in this cave with nothing to read.
Yes yes, take it, take it if you must.
Yes, good day, good day, good day to you too.
(sighs)
Is he gone?
(laughter)
(laughs) There's more than one way
to get a pagan to read the word!
(laughter and applause)
He doesn't know it yet, but next
he's gonna confiscate Paul's epistles!
(laughter)
He's such a hard head.
Wouldn't surprise me if even Paul can't reach him.
Beloved, I do pray for that man, I do pray.
I do pray for him every day, I...
I'm afraid I'm not much an example of the Lord to you.
That bothers me.
My brother James had a temper too.
He was worse than I was.
Am.
I beg your pardon?
When did I what?
Oh, when did I first see the Lord?
Well beloved, I'll never forget that day.
You see, Andrew and I had to deliver
my father's salt-preserved fish
to his customers in Jerusalem.
On this one journey we kept hearing
about a new prophet called John the Baptist.
Found him at the Jordan River.
He was a brawny, wild-haired giant.
Clothed in animal skins.
Physically strong, spiritually intense.
And when he baptized me, he taught me
how to pray at the same time.
Held me under so long I came up sputtering
the sincerest prayer of my life.
(laughter)
Oh what a voice the baptist had.
He could out-bellow a camel.
And he often had to.
But you couldn't fail to hear his message.
"Repent!
I baptize you with water to prepare you
"for the one who is coming!
"He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy Spirit!"
The one who's coming.
I first saw Jesus on a beautiful
spring day on the Jordan River.
Crossing called Bethabara.
Andrew and I were helping the baptist
baptize there in the sunny cool current.
Suddenly I sensed a strange quiet.
I looked up to see the baptist gazing at the far shore.
There was a solitary stranger, stepped into
the water, came, stood before the baptist.
The baptist was usually fiery,
he was subdued that day, and he said
"Do you come to me when it is
"I who should be baptized by you?"
And the stranger said "Let it be so now.
"We must fulfill all things righteously."
Well the baptist baptizes him there.
And as the stranger leaves us, the baptist
turns to Andrew and me and says "Do you see?
"Do you see the Holy Spirit descend
"on Him like a dove out of Heaven?
"This is He.
"This is He for whom the world has been waiting.
"Now follow Him."
Well we followed him.
When we caught up with Jesus, I didn't know
what to say, I just said Rabbi!
Rabbi, where are you staying?
(laughter)
Jesus turned and said "Come and see."
Well beloved, we spent all that day with Him.
Talking about everything in the world.
And then around the fireside at night.
The next morning, Jesus asked Andrew and me
to go north into Galilee with Him.
And on that six day journey I observed Jesus very closely.
I sensed in Him things that I'd
never seen in anyone before or since.
He was intelligent and warm and loving, good.
Goes without saying.
But in Him these were not aspirations.
They were accomplishments.
All made solid by a total command of mind and body.
Scriptural scholarship vast.
Yet He enjoyed good company, everyday conversation.
But when He spoke with someone,
when He talk with you, beloved, Jesus knew.
Your needs, your heartaches, and your dearest dreams.
And from that day forward you were never the same.
And He invited Andrew and me to follow Him.
I still don't understand it, beloved.
I'm sincere about that, I really don't.
The only thing that gave me the courage
was from the first moment
I saw Him I said He needs a friend.
And this may sound strange to you,
but I felt that I could be that friend.
And that's exactly the way it turned out.
When Andrew and I got to Capernaum,
I ran to get my brother James and he hurried
to get his brother, Simon Peter.
Now Simon Peter was already know all around
the Sea of Galilee for his stormy, emotional nature.
And then we got Phillip and Nathaniel too
because we wanted them all to meet Jesus.
Beloved, you must understand something.
We were very ordinary men.
We had no education but our trade
and what we heard growing up in the synagogue.
But Jesus spoke to us in ways we could understand.
"I will make you fishers of men."
Be a long time before we even began
to realize what He had in mind.
I remember.
I remember our first lesson.
Our first shock!
Came when Jesus gave us His view of the Messiah.
Now we and all Jews were looking for another Joshua.
Another King David who would drive out
the Roman parasites forever.
But Jesus proved to us from scripture that not just Israel,
but all of the gentile world was to be saved.
The gentiles.
And He also showed us that the Messiah was not only
a Lord of battle, but a Prince of peace.
And that His Kingdom would last longer
and be greater than the Romans!
Because it would be where they or any
like them could never invade or conquer it!
It would be in the hearts of good people.
Who love God and treasure peace.
That's you, beloved.
A Kingdom of God, I didn't understand it for a long time.
But I understand it better now
every time I look into your faces.
Miracles?
Did I see miracles?
Oh yes beloved, I saw many miracles.
Some before great numbers of astonished people.
Like when Jesus changed water into
fine table wine at the wedding in Cana.
You know, it was in that same city,
yes, that a nobleman came to him.
He was seeking healing for his sick boy
who was in far away Capernaum, yes.
And as that grief-stricken father found out
when he got home, his boy had been healed
even as he had talked with Jesus.
Oh Jesus cured so many.
There was the blind man, the man born blind.
The lame man at the pool of Siloam.
My favorite?
My favorite miracle?
I would have to say the feeding of the thousands.
Yes, yes, possibly because
it meant so much to me personally.
You see beloved, Jesus' miracles had more
than one purpose, they were probably proof
that He was who He said He was, but they were
also private signs to us, His disciples.
And when we got through feeding
5,000 hungry men, and their families,
with what that little boy had in his basket,
five small barley loaves if you saw a fish.
I began to understand.
Little could be much in Jesus' hands.
And He could take the little that I was and make me
into something useful for His great purpose.
Do the same for you.
I decided right then that if Jesus
were willing to attempt the impossible,
the least I could do was cooperate.
(laughter)
After that the crowds grew.
I don't blame them!
Best bread I ever tasted!
(laughter)
We took up 12 baskets of leftovers,
had them for supper that night.
Hate Jesus?
Hate Jesus?
Speak up young man, speak up.
Oh yes, if the people loved Jesus
why did the temple authorities hate Him?
They...
They preferred their kingdom to God's.
The temple spies began to follow us everywhere.
Then Herod arrested John the Baptist, had him beheaded.
Everything Jesus did took on a new urgency.
He chose six more of us to become
His 12 messengers, apostles.
There was Matthew, the ex-tax collector
and his brother James.
There's Jude Thaddeus, my nephew,
Thomas the twin.
Simon the former Zealot,
and Judas from the town of Kerioth.
He spoke to us that day in unmistakable terms.
He said that He needed a small group of men.
But men who knew precisely what they believed and why.
We were not to judge people.
We were not to judge people!
We were to...
Show them how to be released from the sin enslaving them!
How to be forgiving and to be forgiven!
How to find new life transforming
relationship with the Father!
We were to proclaim the Kingdom of God on Earth.
It was the day to choose and we pledged ourselves to Him.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave.
The fame of it flew before us and struck
deeply into the hearts of the priests.
What people wouldn't want a king who could raise the dead?
Could all the legions of Rome defeat
an Israel led by such a power?
This was what the priests were afraid
the people were thinking, and they were right.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, thousands greeted Him,
waving palm branches, putting down
their clothes for a pathway
for the colt that he was riding on.
And they shouted the traditional greeting
for a victorious king of Israel.
♪ Hosanna ♪
♪ Hosanna to the son of David ♪
- And the priests trembled.
It was obvious to all who had eyes.
If Jesus wanted the people to make Him
king all He had to do was say so.
And right then, they decided to kill Him.
That night at Lazarus house in Bethany,
when Peter demanded that Jesus save Himself,
he got the most terrible rebuke.
"Get thee behind me, Satan.
"You're thinking as men think, Peter.
"See these things as God does."
From that hour, Peter carried a hidden sword.
Few nights later on the eve of Passover
we had our last supper together.
In the upper room of the house owned by Mark's parents.
I believe most of what Jesus said that night
you know from Matthew, Mark, and Luke's gospel,
but I have a few remembrances of my own.
I remember, after supper,
Judas got up and went out on an errand.
Wasn't supposed to do that, the Passover.
We all felt a tremendous heaviness come over us.
Jesus knew, but He didn't spare our feelings.
It was as if He was saying "Now you're no longer disciples.
"Now you're ministers.
"Now you must stand.
"Love one another.
"If you love one another, the world will know your mind.
"The hour is coming when all of you
"will run away and leave me.
"But I'll not be alone.
"Because the Father's always with me."
At that point, Peter leaps to his feet and says "Master!
"Master, I will never leave you.
"I'd lay down my life for you."
"Would you Peter?
"Peter, before the rooster crows, you'll have
"denied three times you even know me.
"When I say I go to my Father,
"your hearts are filled with sorrow
"and yet I go that you might receive
"the comfort of the Holy Spirit,
"your understanding and your power.
"Without Him you'll accomplish nothing.
"But if I go, I'll come to you again.
"And then nothing will ever take away your joy.
"Don't be afraid of what the world will do to us now.
"I've overcome the world."
And then Jesus prayed that none of us
be lost in what was coming.
We followed him out into the clear starry night.
Up the dark ravine of Kidron.
Along the temple walls.
Their drains gushing the blood
of thousands of Passover lambs
now being slaughtered on the altars within.
I'll never forget the feeling that came over me
when I watched Jesus step across
the coursing scarlet flood.
Before long, we'd come to our
favorite garden spot, Gethsemane.
He asked Peter and James and me
to stay near Him while He prayed.
In the moonlight we saw Him cast Himself to the ground.
Stricken of soul.
We wanted to go to Him and give Him
what comfort we could, but we never
interfered with His times of prayer.
I sat down against an olive tree.
What seemed like only a moment, I let my eyes close.
The next thing I knew, Jesus' hand was on my shoulder.
On his face.
Dark sweat.
Like drops of blood.
And oh the sadness in his voice.
"John, could you no watch with me this little while?"
My best friend, my Lord, had been in the lake of fire.
I'd been asleep.
Peter cries out a warning.
Yes Peter.
Yes, I see them, helms and spears,
torches coming up from Kidron!
Master, we must leave here!
But Master, Master they're coming to arrest us!
But...
Peter, he...
Look.
Leading them.
Judas.
Judas!
The soldiers sweep in through the gate.
Jesus steps forward and confronts the captain.
"Who do you seek?"
"Jesus of Nazareth!"
"I am He."
The soldiers fall backward to the ground.
Such was Jesus' power over them had He chosen to use it.
Again Jesus commands the captain.
"It is I you want.
"Let these go."
The captain hesitates, bewildered by his own weakened will.
Then motions to his men.
Peter leaps forward, sword in hand, and cuts off
the ear of Malcus, the high priest's servant.
Jesus intervenes.
"Peter!
"Put away that sword.
"Shall I not drink this cup that the Father has given me?"
With that I panicked.
Ran into the olive grove.
Coward that I was.
I hid myself among the trees.
Somehow in the moon shadows Peter finds me.
He wants to follow the retreating line
of torches and I say no, Peter.
No, they let us go once, they won't again, Peter.
Why should we risk that?
Because we love Him?
But Peter...
Yes.
Because we love Him.
We caught up with the temple guards
as they entered the courtyard
of the house of Annas, the ex-high priest.
Next to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate,
the most powerful man in Jerusalem.
There was a servant girl keeping the door
and somehow she remembered me as
the fishmonger boy from Galilee, but not Peter.
"Aren't you one those Jesus followers?"
"No.
"Certainly not."
She believes him and lets him in.
Inside the guards had started a fire, and as we
warm ourselves, another one notices Peter.
"You!
"You look like one of this Nazarene's men."
"No, I wouldn't know the man if I saw Him!"
Inside the house there's a commotion.
Jesus is led into the courtyard, there's a bruise
on His cheek, on His lip a trace of blood.
He looks toward us.
But for our sake He gave no sign He knows us.
Another guard confronts Peter.
"Here!
"You!
"You were in Gethsemane tonight!"
"I was not in Gethsemane tonight!"
"You were the one with the sword!"
"Sword?
"I'm a fisherman, I wouldn't know
"what to do with a sword."
"You were the one who protected Him!"
"Why I would protect a man I don't even..."
Know.
A rooster crowed.
And in Jesus' eyes I saw a haunting
sadness as they led Him away.
Outside the compound Peter weeps.
The stones of the alleyway grind his knees,
his hands, even his face, and he howls
to the night sky "Lord God!
"Have mercy on me and Judas Iscariot!"
But I felt no pity for Peter.
Does that surprise you?
I didn't deny the master.
But then...
Jesus' words returned from the dark garden.
"John.
"John.
"Could you not watch with me this little while?"
And I see my own sin against Him.
Outside the city walls.
The sunlight warns us as we follow to the place
where the Romans like to kill our people.
A little hill called Golgotha.
Shaped like a human skull.
Peter and I hide in the mob, afraid of arrest.
And with Jesus are two thieves.
The Romans crucify them first.
There is a screaming, struggling, like mutilated animals.
And then.
Then on the ground between them.
Jesus lays Himself on His cross.
He offers His hands and His feet.
And I remember His words,
"No man takes my life, I lay it down of myself."
Iron spikes, falling hammers!
Blood spurting up from wrists and ankles, oh God!
(weeping)
They raised the cross and the full weight
of his body fall to His flowing wounds.
Still He does not cry out.
A Roman soldier raises a ladder.
Tacks a sign above Jesus' head.
Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews!
The Roman governor has made a joke.
Angry, Pharisees pushed past us.
"Take down that sign!
"He is not our king!"
Roman spears push them back!
We have our orders!
It stays!
And so.
In mockery and jest, He's first proclaimed to the nations.
Jesus speaks.
(heavy breathing)
"Father.
"Forgive them.
"For.
"They.
"Know not.
"What they do."
Even now.
He prays.
For the soldiers at the foot
of His cross gambling for His clothes.
And I realize something.
They crucified him on orders and pagan ignorance.
And these Pharisees looking on so self-righteously,
they condemned Him thinking they were serving God.
But what of us?
What of us, His 12, for three years we followed Him.
We saw His signs and wonders, we learned
the secret of who He really was and still
we betrayed Him, we denied Him, we deserted Him!
And I see the damning difference!
We knew what we did.
Four women approached the cross.
Brave women weeping.
Jesus' mother and her sister.
The mother of Matthew and James and Mary Magdalene.
Jesus' mother looks at me, terrible pain in her eyes.
Peter, I'm going to her.
I don't care about the risk!
My life means nothing to me now.
Why should I be afraid?
Oh my God.
My heart breaks.
Where the cross is planted, Jesus' blood
and the earth make dark red mud.
Swelling ankles disjointed by the iron spike.
Lacerated knees, cramping thighs,
modesty outraged, his whip-torn
chest and arms, heaving for breath.
(sobs) Beneath the blood-dripping thorns, his eyes find me.
He's always known my thoughts.
Can He read them now?
Does He know my grief, my pain, my sorrow?
His eyes move between me...
And His mother.
She comes to my arm.
He rises up on the nails.
"Woman.
"Behold.
"Your Son.
"Son.
"Behold your mother."
Yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord.
Jesus stares at the horizon, his eyes
dancing madly, as if seeing horrors even He
who cast out demons cannot bear to look on.
He rises up on the nails.
"My God!
"My God!
"Why have You forsaken me?"
(heavy breathing)
(screams)
"I thirst."
"It.
"Is.
"Finished.
"Father, into Thy hands.
"I command.
"My.
"Spirit."
(heavy breathing)
(death rattle)
The spear point rises.
Gores into Jesus' side.
Blood and water gush into the dusty earth.
Blood and water.
The certain mark of death.
Now come Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
They dared to go to Pontius Pilate
and beg for Jesus' body.
While He lived, the discipleship
was compromised by fear, hesitation,
and prudent concealment, yet now no sooner
is He dead than by their presence
here they openly declare for Him.
And Peter too, standing with me for all the world to see.
I think of Jesus' words.
"When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to me."
Even now it's working.
The strangely compelling power of the cross.
We raise a ladder.
Extract the stubborn nails.
And take our murdered master down.
He ends His life as it began.
Cradled in His mother's arms.
We follow Joseph down the hill.
To his private garden and a new cut tomb.
Peter and I carried Jesus' body inside.
And with Nicodemus' hundred weight of myrrh
and aloes, we give Jesus what burial we can.
There's a silken napkin for his head.
A body shroud of finest woven linen,
long to cover front and back.
I carefully arrange it around
His shoulders and His arms.
As if it would warm Him
in the chill and dampness of the tomb.
Then.
Then something evil.
Hovering, craving entrance to the tomb or into us.
Peter, do you hear it?
Whispering, mocking.
"I will sift you now.
"Like wheat.
"You who also
Are forsaken!"
A day, a night, another day and night,
in fearful anguish and despair Peter and I hide,
thinking on all we'd seen and lost!
Over and over in my mind go Jesus' words from the cross.
"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
"My God, my God, why have You..."
There was no doubting what it seemed to mean,
and yet there was something more,
there was something familiar.
(speaks in foreign language)
I knew...
My childhood.
My childhood from the synagogue.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me
was the first line of a Psalm of David.
Was Jesus, in His deepest agony, praying David's prophecy?
Or was he just despairing?
(speaks in foreign language)
♪ My God, my God ♪
♪ Why have You forsaken me ♪
♪ Why are You so far from helping me ♪
♪ And from the words that I cry ♪
(speaks in foreign language)
♪ I am poured out like water ♪
♪ I number all my bones ♪
♪ They pierced my hands and my feet ♪
(speaks in foreign language)
♪ They part my garments among them ♪
♪ And cast lots for my clothes ♪
♪ All they that see me, laugh me to scorn ♪
♪ They shoot out the lip ♪
♪ They shake their heads saying ♪
♪ He trusted in the Lord ♪
♪ He trusted in the Lord ♪
♪ He trusted ♪
(weeping)
(applause)
(applause)
Some people don't like these.
But I acquired a taste for them from John the Baptist.
(laughter)
That's right, locusts and wild honey.
Care for some?
(laughter)
Anyone?
All the more for me.
(chuckles)
I was just thinking.
Jesus had a wondrous singing voice.
How many of you knew that?
He did.
In fact all the disciples loved to sing.
All except Judas.
Judas never sang with us, I don't know why.
He had a fine speaking voice too.
But we used to love to sing with Jesus
as we walked along the high roads.
We were sharp, flat.
Peter just loud.
(laughter)
But...
Would you like to sing one of Peter's favorite songs?
Would you?
Good, good, good.
It's a very easy one.
Andrew wrote the words to this
and I made up the music myself.
It goes like this, you'll get it very quickly.
♪ Lord God almighty ♪
♪ Thou art holy ♪
♪ Maker of the sea and land ♪
♪ The universe and skies ♪
♪ Lord God almighty ♪
♪ Thou art holy ♪
♪ Dwell within my heart and mind ♪
♪ My fingers and my eyes ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ La-la-la-la-Lei ♪
(rhythmic clapping)
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ La-la-la-la-Lei ♪
♪ Lord God almighty ♪
♪ Thou art holy ♪
♪ Maker of the sea and land ♪
♪ The universe and skies ♪
♪ Lord God almighty ♪
♪ Thou art holy ♪
♪ Dwell within my heart and mind ♪
♪ Fingers and my eyes ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ La-la-la-la-Lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ Lei, lei lei lei ♪
♪ La-la-la-la-Lei ♪
(laughs)
(heavy breathing)
- I was thinking as I was singing there
the time that Peter was walking along
and he was really into the spirit of that song.
He had his eyes raised to Heaven,
his hands lifted in praise, and he fell
right into an irrigation ditch.
(laughter)
Oh how we laughed.
Andrew and I tried to help him out,
but he shrugged us off and wouldn't allow us to.
It was only a mile or two before he was
his normal outgoing self again.
(laughter)
I suppose I shouldn't be so blatant
about it, but Peter was my favorite.
You just couldn't help liking the man.
He was a walking bundle of outrageous extremes.
(laughter)
No one praised and encouraged Jesus as much as Peter did.
Or interrupted and interfered with Him as much as Peter.
(laughter)
But I'll tell you something, beloved.
Peter was never the same after
the Lord let him walk on water.
(laughter)
It's true, it's true.
Walking on water's a heavy thing, beloved.
It'd changed you too.
(laughter)
Oh, but he was so courageous after that.
It was just a few steps, but it gave him.
(coughs)
Excuse me.
These little legs get in your teeth.
(laughter)
I just, I'll never forget Peter.
He couldn't seem to get over the fact
that he felt Jesus wouldn't forgive him.
That was his problem.
But no sooner had Mary Madeline come
and claimed that the tomb was opened
and the body gone then Peter was up
and dragging me out the door.
Oh beloved, how he ran through
the streets of Jerusalem that morning.
Only this time, this time I arrived first.
I...
I saw the soldier's watch fires, but no one was around.
The tomb was opened and the stone rolled away,
but I'm afraid to go in.
Peter comes running up, takes one look,
and goes directly into the tomb.
I follow him.
(laughter)
The body's gone.
Peter.
But look.
Look, the linens.
The linens, if someone stole the body
would they strip it first?
There'd be no need to.
Peter.
These, these grave clothes have not been moved.
Look.
Look here, the shoulders, you see these folds?
The arms.
I arranged these folds myself.
I...
Am the resurrection and the life.
Do you remember Peter?
At Lazarus' tomb, "I am the resurrection and the life?"
(choir sings Hallelujah)
I believe.
I believe, Peter, that something
wonderful has happened here!
Yes!
Yes, He's raised our temple up again!
Jesus is alive and He's coming to it!
Peter, we must tell the others!
Andrew, James!
Jesus has risen!
He's alive!
Phillip!
Phillip, Nathaniel!
Jesus has risen!
He's alive!
♪ King of kings and Lord of Lords ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ And He shall reign ♪
♪ Forever and ever ♪
♪ King of Kings ♪
♪ Forever and ever ♪
♪ And Lord of Lords ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ And He shall reign forever and ever ♪
♪ King of Kings and Lord of Lords ♪
♪ King of Kings and Lord of Lords ♪
♪ And He shall reign forever and ever ♪
♪ Forever and ever ♪
♪ Forever and ever ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ Halle ♪
♪ Lujah ♪
- By the evening of that day,
Peter and I had found all the 12.
Except Judas, and Thomas, who believed
his doubts and left Jerusalem.
We met again in the other room.
This time Peter had difficult news.
"Brethren.
"I hate to tell you this, but Judas is dead.
"Ashamed of what he did, he hanged himself."
There's vengeful approval in the room.
And Peter rebukes it.
"Are any of us without blame?
"Can we not follow the Master's commandment
"just once and not judge Judas?
"Let us pray for ourselves that we
"fall not into a worse temptation."
And then Mary Magdalene spoke.
"I have seen the Lord.
"This morning, outside the tomb."
Seen the Lord?
Well Mary, I was in the garden this morning, so was Peter.
We didn't see Him.
Why should He appear only to you?
"Why shouldn't He appear to me?
"Because I'm a woman?
"Maybe the Lord's trying to tell you men something."
(laughter)
There was no doubting her sincerity, but I doubted.
(laughter)
And just then, there was a sound in the shadows by the door.
Into the light stepped Jesus.
His arms open in greeting, His face was smiling.
And He said.
"Shalom.
"Peace be to you."
We were petrified.
(laughter)
I hesitate to tell you that, beloved,
but we didn't wanna come near Him.
And He said "Don't be afraid.
"It's me.
"John.
"Come here."
Well I had no choice but...
But to take His hand.
It was warm.
Real.
The nail wounds were almost healed.
He showed us His side, the imprint
of the spear was closed and fading.
And we begin to realize Jesus had returned to us.
Not as a spirit or vision, but He Himself
in the flesh like He said He would.
From the cross and the tomb,
death itself could not hold Him.
Oh beloved how we praised God that day.
He stayed all that night with us.
And then just before He left He...
He breathed on us.
And said "Receive.
"Receive, receive.
"The Holy Spirit."
And then, just as quietly as He left, He was gone,
down the wooden steps and out.
I could see Him there in the cold windy night.
Jesus appeared again to us in Jerusalem,
and this time Thomas was with us.
Now Thomas had said "Unless I put
"my finger in the nail wound.
(laughter)
"And my hand into His side, I will never believe."
Thomas, Thomas was a strong man,
and he desperately wanted to be sure.
Well Jesus knew Thomas' boast,
and He made him carry it out.
Thomas fell to his knees.
"My Lord and my God."
Jesus looked at Thomas, then at all of us, and said.
"Have you believed only because you've seen?
"Blessed are they that will never see, yet will believe."
He was speaking of a faith far greater
than we, his 12, would ever have, beloved.
He was speaking of a faith like yours.
Then Jesus told us to go home.
Home!
Galilee, and home we went!
We worked on my father's neglected boats,
we scrapped and painted hulls, repaired rigging.
Frustration, fear, because no word,
He said He'd come to us.
We fixed sails and mended nets.
Still nothing.
Suspicion, doubt.
Had we really seen what we thought we had seen?
And now Thomas is emphatic.
He said "He is coming to us, why do you doubt?"
(laughter)
The next morning Peter leaps to his feet
and says "I'm going fishing!"
We said we're coming with you!
Fished all night.
Caught nothing.
The sun came overhead on the water,
I knew it was going to be a hot day.
And as we pulled closer to the shore
I noticed a solitary man standing on the beach.
He called out to us.
"Lads!
"Have you any fish?"
No!
We've caught nothing, try the next landing!
(laughter)
"Cast to the right and you'll find."
Well instantly Peter and I lock eyes.
This preposterous proposition we'd heard once before.
(laughter)
We cast the nets to starboard,
and suddenly they're full of fish.
Fat, choice, hundreds of them.
Peter, it's the Lord.
Peter immediately dives overboard and swims to shore.
(laughter)
And then we follow along in the boat,
pulling this enormous catch of fish.
And there on the beach is Peter and Jesus.
They've started a fire of coal, they're baking bread.
They're ready for the fish.
Then Jesus said "Come, eat with me."
Oh beloved.
Beloved, it was like old times.
Good fellowship by the lake.
Hot food.
And oh the life in Him.
The life in Him, beloved.
I can still see those eyes.
That I closed with coins in the tomb.
Those eyes so vibrant and alive.
Well the stories I could tell you, beloved.
Jesus returning to the Father.
The Holy Spirit descending on us at Pentecost.
And we did preach fearlessly,
we gained power beloved, believe me.
We preached in the streets, in the temple itself.
And thousands believed.
The Jewish church took root.
But it was in our first gentile mission
when we began to evangelize the gentiles
that the Romans, our most dedicated enemies,
in scorn gave us the name that has blessed us.
Christians.
Then tragedy.
Tragedy sowed the gospel to the
farthest reaches of the Roman Empire.
The Jewish zealots threw the Roman
garrison out of Jerusalem.
The Romans returned with a legion and laid siege.
They took no prisoners.
A forest of crosses began to grow around the holy city.
It was only by a miracle leading that
Jesus' mother and I escaped to Ephesus
where Timothy's church took us in.
Soon after that the Romans broke into the inner city.
And Jesus' tearful prophecy came to pass,
there was no one stone left standing upon another.
Over one million Jews were exterminated.
Beloved.
Beloved, be wary.
That the world never see such a thing again.
I beg your pardon?
Excuse me?
Would...
Would I write a gospel?
Oh beloved.
Beloved, I...
Copying as we do here is one thing, but writing?
That's another thing completely.
You see, Matthew and Luke,
and Mark, setting down Peter's words,
wrote primarily from the Jewish point of view.
They explained Jesus' life and ministry
as the long awaited Messiah of Jewish scripture,
and that He was in the light of the prophets.
But to the Greek and the Roman mind, this means
very little in terms of their tradition.
You see, what they need is a...
A different but faithful approach.
I can only pray.
Seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I'm considering telling you something, beloved.
I hesitate not because I don't love you
or trust you, but only because I don't know
that I have it clear enough in
my own mind to make it understandable.
The commander not long ago began to allow me
a walk each day out there, on the sea cliffs.
And it was there, on the Lord's day,
that I came into the spirit.
I heard...
A voice.
Behind me.
It was like a trumpet in the sunny air,
"I am alpha and omega, the first and the last!"
I turned and saw seven golden candle stands.
And walking among them, one like the son of man,
His hair glistening snow, His eyes fire,
His face the sun in all its power.
And He spoke again, this time like mighty falling waters.
"Write this revelation in the book
"And send it to the churches!"
It seemed the heavens opened.
I flew above a sea of crystal.
To the rainbow throne of God.
A book.
The prophecy of the Lamb's ultimate
triumph sealed with seven seals.
The Lamb of God breaks the seals
and tribulation dawns war and pestilence,
famine and death, ride across the earth!
The powerful and the rich, the weak and the poor,
the famous and the obscure, all hide themselves
in mountains and caves, God's wrath has come, who can stand?
And then from out of the sky there came a fiery...
Star!
It falls into the sea and there's a mountain of fire!
The cities of the nations are burned to dust,
in an hour they all perish.
Millions, millions and millions die.
The rest pray to die, but death
eludes to 'til its own good time.
And now no lamplight shines.
No working men, no careful wives,
no children play, the voice of the bride
and the bride groom heard no more.
And then, when I thought it had ended,
from Heaven there comes a golden city.
From all of time, from all the world, the raptured
faithful gather at the gates and they open.
Angels.
The heavenly hosts and Jesus.
He said.
"Come in.
"Come in.
"This is the place I've prepared for you.
"The Father awaits us."
Oh beloved.
It was a miracle that my mind contained.
All that the glorified Christ had revealed to me.
Poor Papias, he'd heard speaking
in tongues, but nothing like this.
(laughter)
The thing that went over and over in my mind
was the Lord's words "write this revelation".
So.
I.
I must write.
But...
Alpha and omega.
The ministry of Jesus.
Might best be understood by the gentile world as...
The Logos.
The word.
The wisdom, the order, the logic of God.
Come to Earth.
The mind of God made man, yes!
Yes, they understand that.
This has been from the beginning.
Jesus' sinless life and self-sacrifice
on the cross, a perfect demonstration
of the Father's eternal love for mankind.
Yes yes, alpha.
And even then Jesus was there with the Father,
and will be there, omega, until the end when all
of the revelation that I have seen comes to pass.
Yes.
It's as Paul taught me so many years ago.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Timothy!
Oh Timothy come in, come in my son.
I'm sure you know most of my guests.
Well no no, I'm certain they won't mind, but...
Beloved, Timothy, he seems to have something to say to me.
Would you excuse us?
Beloved.
We have just learned...
That the Romans, in...
The Greek city of Achala, where He was preaching...
The Romans have crucified Luke.
(weeping)
Oh Luke.
Beloved physician.
Well.
They have stilled his mortal voice.
But the God-whispered words he gave us.
They will never stop them now!
Jesus said that His church would be a costly bride.
And as always, His prophecy is true.
Her price has proven to be
unspeakable terror and rivers of blood.
♪ Glory, glory ♪
♪ Glory unto our God ♪
♪ Glory ♪
- It began with Steven.
When Paul, not yet one of us, had him
stoned in the streets of Jerusalem.
♪ Glory ♪
- My brother James was next.
Beheaded for preaching the risen Christ in the temple.
♪ Glory ♪
- Matthias tied to a cross.
Draped with carrion, eaten by vultures!
♪ Glory ♪
- Jude Thaddeus, crucified and shot to death with arrows!
♪ Glory ♪
- Nathaniel was skinned alive
and crucified in double agony!
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
- Phillip was hanged from the column of a Greek temple.
Andrew crucified in Egypt.
Matthew beheaded at Alexandria.
Mark dragged to death behind a chariot!
James Alpheus thrown from Herod's temple roof!
Thomas speared by a mob!
Simon the Zealot sawed to pieces alive!
♪ Glory glory, glory glory ♪
♪ Glory, glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
- Peter and Paul were taken in Rome.
While thousands of believers gorged
Nero's lions in the Colosseum.
Paul beheaded on the Appian Way.
♪ Glory, glory, glory to God ♪
♪ Glory to thee, oh God ♪
- Peter was forced to watch his beloved wife
crucified on Vatican Hill!
And all through her agony he cried out to her
"Oh thou beloved, remember Christ!
"Remember Christ!"
♪ Glory to God ♪
- Peter felt unworthy to die as Jesus had.
So he asked to be, and was, crucified head downward.
Beloved.
If someone comes to you and says I will believe
your gospel if you can give me one proof, tell them!
Tell them of these ordinary men
who overturned the world and proclaimed
to the very end, some from their own crosses,
the life-giving truth of the triumphant risen Christ!
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
(heavy breathing)
- What's that, Papias?
A message?
From the commander, let me see.
God forbid that he's changed his mind
about helping the prisoners.
Timothy.
Emperor Domitianus is dead.
The Senate has declared an amnesty.
The Christian persecution is over.
Oh my God.
Oh Lord God, King of the universe, you have
delivered us out of the hands of our adversary!
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
Oh think of it.
Think of it, Timothy.
Thousands have died yes, but thousands more will live!
And Papias, the churches will worship openly again.
We'll visit them all together,
oh how they'll welcome us, Papias.
And my school.
My school, yes yes.
Oh there'll be so much to do.
Commander!
Commander come in, come in,
thank you for the good news sir.
When can we leave?
Today, splendid, splendid!
You say what?
Now I'll give up helping the prisoners?
Oh Commander, you are a...
You are a trial to me, Commander.
(laughter)
Why did you think, because I am free in Ephesus,
I would give up helping those men?
In Ephesus, Commander, I can help them even more.
Yes yes yes yes, what new condition?
Christian instruction for who?
For you?
(laughter)
If this is sort of trick Commander, I...
Well no no.
Of course I believe you.
Yes yes yes, I praise God.
Praise God, you see there?
(laughter)
It just took me unaware, that's all, I...
Only if I instruct you?
But that would mean that I would
have to stay here possibly for months.
You certainly can't believe that the Lord...
God's ways are not our ways?
(laughter)
Where did you hear that?
(laughter)
A footnote in that Gospel of Luke I gave him.
Oh Lord, why do you answer my dearest
prayers at the worst possible time?
(laughter)
What's that, Papias?
You'll stay if I will?
Well Timothy, I'm surrounded.
But would I have time to write in Ephesus?
I can't defy the Lord's command.
A revelation, possibly a gospel, I...
Yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord.
All right, Papias.
You go with Timothy to the pier.
Tell the pilot the boat for Ephesus
will have to leave without me, but you be aboard.
Be back here within 48 hours with
a barrel of ink, a a bale of papyrus,
and five flocks of geese' worth of quill pens.
And you, Commander!
So you want to learn about Jesus do you?
Well you're going to.
As I dictate to Papias here, right here.
Yes yes Commander, right here in this cave.
You've made it home to me now.
(laughter)
No no, we cannot begin immediately.
Go, go Commander, you'll need your strength.
But be back here sunrise after tomorrow!
And don't keep the Holy Spirit waiting!
(laughter)
And God bless you too, brother.
(laughter and applause)
Wonder of wonders.
Well beloved.
We've had good fellowship together.
I've walked and talked with Jesus again,
and as usual I love Him more.
And I see what He has in mind for what remains of my life.
A witness that will endure.
So if the Father will spare me the days
and the Holy Spirit will lead, I will
give the churches what they've asked for.
A gospel for the Greeks and the Romans,
and this will be His message.
God so loved us.
He so loved the world!
That He gave us His only Son.
That whosoever believes in Him need never die.
But have everlasting life.
Life, beloved.
That's what He's offered us.
Life has come, death is conquered!
Hell itself can never prevail in your life again!
This is why, this is why I declare these things to you,
what my eyes have seen and my hands have touched,
that you might have victory in fellowship with us.
Because truly our fellowship is with the Father and the Son.
Oh beloved, when fear enters your mind,
disease your body, death or enslavement your spirit,
speak the name of the Prince of Life!
Speak the name of Jesus and Hell itself
will be put under your feet!
We're not born of blood.
We're not born of the will of the flesh
or the will of men, we are sons and daughters of God.
And it does not yet appear what we shall be.
But we know this.
That when He comes again, and He will,
let no man take that from you,
when He comes again we shall see Him
as He is, and we shall be like Him.
Oh be like Him now, beloved.
Love one another.
If you love one another, the world will know you're His.
Oh little children.
Love one another.
(uplifting synthesizer music)
♪ Glory, glory, glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
(applause)
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
♪ Glory ♪
(church organ music) (applause)