JAMES. Yes, your so-called ‘conversion’ was reported to us from Damascus.
PAUL. ‘So-called’?
A beat.
Why can’t we understand each other? Why aren’t we at one in His name?
JAMES. Fear of false teaching.
PAUL. Not from me.
JAMES. No?
A beat.
PAUL. Do you believe He is the Son of God?
JAMES. That is . . . beyond me.
PAUL. Do you believe he is the Messiah? You must, you’re His brother . . .
JAMES. That is . . . a mystery.
PAUL. Do you believe He rose from the dead to bring us eternal life?
JAMES. How dare you attempt to put me through some kind of crackpot catechism!
PAUL. ‘Crackpot’? But you let your followers believe He rose from the dead. The Damascus congregation, they believe it. And you don’t stop them! Ananias baptised me into a new life and the world to come! Did that mean nothing?
JAMES. Ananias baptised you.
PAUL. Yes.
JAMES. He had no authority from us to do that.
PAUL. The only authority is with the Lord.
JAMES. But through us in Jerusalem. We are the family, the first followers, we are the tradition!
PAUL. Of course I hold you in great esteem. I know I stand before true apostles. But I have to say this: the Gospel I am to preach is from me, told to me. I have not received it from any human being, I was not taught it, it came to me from a revelation on the road to Damascus. Direct from Jesus Christ.
JAMES. Jesus, Christ, Christos . . . What? Are we now to latinise and greekify my brother’s name?
PAUL. If His Gospel is to be understood by Gentiles: yes!
PETER. You want to preach to pagans, not to Jews? That’s what you’re saying?
PAUL looks at PETER for the first time.
PAUL. Forgive me . . .
PETER. I’m Cephas.
PAUL. Cephas. The man He called Peter, the fisherman?
PETER. You heard bad things of me?
PAUL. No, no, only good, in Damascus they said you were the first to join Him. The Lord depended upon you.
PETER. Did they tell you He called me His ‘rock’?
PAUL. Yes.
PETER. I wasn’t.
JAMES. Peter . . .
PETER. So you want to preach outside Judea?
PAUL. Yes. Take the Gospel to cities, ports, Roman and Greek, throughout the pagan world.
PETER. And you’re talking about what, starting new congregations, amongst Jews abroad?
PAUL. No no, I said, to the Gentiles!
PETER. So what, you’ll circumcise Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Africans?
PAUL. It doesn’t matter if they’re circumcised or not.
PETER. But they must be converted to Judaism. If they’re to follow Yeshua.
JAMES. That’s right. Yeshua spoke only to the Jews, for the Jews.
And PAUL snaps inside.
PAUL. Stupidity! Stupidity! Three years and what has happened? You’re behind locked doors, fearful, looking inward. In guarding a great truth you are letting it wither! The world is waiting, in darkness, for the good news of its Saviour.
PETER. Delivered by you, eh? Not by the people who loved Him, and suffered with Him and . . .
JAMES. Peter, no. We must talk. (To PAUL.) Forgive us. We who knew him and were with him at the end, we bear a heavy responsibility.
PAUL. Of course.
They go.
PAUL kneels and prays.
Jesus, hope of the world. I prayed so hard in the Temple before coming here. So hard I . . . almost saw you again. Tell me, am I right? Am I your apostle? Do I hear you?
He stops. YESHUA, ill, wrapped in blankets, shuffles through a side door into the room. He stands looking at PAUL.
YESHUA. Paul.
PAUL turns. There is a silence. Then he kneels.
PAUL. My Lord.
YESHUA. Paul, leave Jerusalem.
PAUL. Yes! To do your work . . .
YESHUA. There are people here who want to kill you. They won’t accept you.
PAUL. So it is your will.
YESHUA. Leave Jerusalem.
PAUL. I thought first to Syria . . .
YESHUA. Yes yes, but go.
PAUL. To preach your Gospel to the pagans.
YESHUA is distressed.
YESHUA. What have I done to you?
PAUL. You’ve given me life.
PAUL reaches out to him.
YESHUA holds out a hand in a blessing.
The high-pitched noise, a single note, heard in the Damascus road scene, begins again. It becomes very loud.
PAUL falls to the stage. As he does so, the lights go to blackout and the noise stops.
MARY. He’s fainted.
JAMES. Paul, Paul!
MARY. How long has he been lying there . . .?
JAMES. Paul!
Lights up.
PAUL is coming to. JAMES and MARY are helping him to his feet. YESHUA is not there.
Do you want to lie down or . . .
PAUL. No no. No.
JAMES. Some water . . .
PAUL. No no. Listen! The Lord has told me to do this work.
JAMES’s manner has changed. He treats PAUL condescendingly, as if he is talking to a madman – which JAMES thinks he is.
JAMES. I know he has. And we will help you.
PAUL. Yes?
JAMES. Are you sure you don’t want to rest . . .
PAUL. No, this is nothing. You will help me?
JAMES. You can preach your Gospel, your . . . good news . . . to the pagans. With our authority.
PAUL. The Lord has told me to go first to Syria, then to Galatia.
JAMES. Good.
PETER. Paul, you can stay at my house, while you prepare. For a week or two.
PAUL. Yes! You can tell me all you know about Him . . .
JAMES. But there is one condition.
PAUL. Yes yes, what . . .
JAMES. When you are on your ‘preaching tours’ . . .
PAUL. My ministry . . .
JAMES. . . . You collect money for us. Our people are poor.
A beat.
PAUL. Money? Yes. God loves a cheerful giver. Proverbs.
JAMES. To the needy he gave without stint, his uprightness stands firm forever. Ps . . .
PAUL. . . . Psalms.
JAMES. Yes.
PAUL. I will now take the gospel of the living Jesus to the world.
Interval
Scene Seven
Rome, AD 65. Prison. PAUL and PETER.
PETER. Paul . . . have you ever thought that you may be wrong?
PAUL is surprised. He has never thought such a thing.
PAUL. Wrong?
A beat.
About what?
PETER. About all you have done.
PAUL. Oh many, many times! I was wrong to fall out with Barnabas, that time in Corinth. I should never have let that happen. I should have convinced him I was right.
PETER. So you were wrong because you didn’t convince him you were right.
PAUL. I was deeply at fault.
PETER. But not wrong.
PAUL. Peter, what are you trying to . . .
PETER. Have you never had a flicker of doubt?
PAUL. Of my suitability of course, none of us are worthy to . . .
PETER. No no, I mean . . . flicker of doubt about the truth.
PAUL. You mean in the Hebrew sense? Truth meaning reliability, firmness? Oh many, many times, I’ve felt weak, uncertain what to do, incapable . . .
PETER. No no, Paul! How can I possibly explain to you . . .
PAUL. Oh you mean ‘truth’ in the Greek sense. Yes of course. The appearance of the world hides, smears, darkens the reality of Christ’s message. But we will see truth face to face, Jesus face to face. I will know Him as certainly as I know myself.
PETER. What if you are wrong? The mission is wrong, what you and I have give
n our lives to is wrong?
A beat.
PAUL. The truth has been revealed to us.
PETER. So what you know you know!
PAUL. The truth we preach can’t be wrong. It’s as it is in Jesus.
PETER. You tangle things up, so tightly!
PETER turns away, despairing.
PAUL. Peter, Peter, I nearly despaired in Corinth. The congregation were at each other’s throats. All the old problems were tearing us apart. And I thought, has Christ left me?
BARNABAS enters for the next scene. PAUL stands and walks into it.
Scene Eight
Corinth, AD 56. BARNABAS and PAUL. BARNABAS has a letter.
BARNABAS. James writes asking about when you will bring the money to Jerusalem.
PAUL is tired and bad tempered.
PAUL. Always the money. Are the leaders of the congregation here?
BARNABAS. Waiting for you.
PAUL. What’s their mood?
BARNABAS. Ugly. They’re split into factions, arguing all the time.
PAUL. Over what?
BARNABAS. The usual. Meat-eating and sex.
PAUL. And are there babblers?
BARNABAS. Yes, they speak in tongues.
PAUL is irritated.
PAUL. Why must they do that? It’s breaking out in every congregation.
BARNABAS. If you preach that the Spirit moves, they’ll babble.
PAUL. Yes but in moderation! Not for hours writhing on the floor. What else does James say?
BARNABAS. He asks if you are still baptising men who haven’t been circumcised.
PAUL. He’s not still going on about who’s gashed and who’s not?
BARNABAS. He’s concerned that if Gentiles are not circumcised, baptism means nothing.
PAUL. Write back that I am laying down a clear rule for the congregations. If a man who is called is circumcised, obviously he stays as he is. When an uncircumcised man is called, let him stay as he is. It doesn’t matter! If a slave is called to Christ, he is a freeman of the Lord. In the same way a free man who is called is a slave of Christ. Please, please can we stop arguing about this! Building a congregation is not a matter of piling up foreskins!
BARNABAS. James’s point is that if they are not circumcised they can never convert to Judaism. And I agree with him.
A beat.
PAUL. You what?
BARNABAS. Paul, I’m going back to Cyprus.
PAUL. You can’t. When we’ve finished here we’re going to Ephesus.
BARNABAS. I’m telling you that I’m leaving your mission.
PAUL. Why? Because we disagree about foreskins?
BARNABAS. I’m worn out. Tired men long to return to what they once were, Paul. And I was a conservative Jew, working for the Temple. You’ve invented too many new teachings.
PAUL. I have invented nothing! I pass on what I have received from the Lord.
BARNABAS. I’m going to Cyprus to rest.
PAUL. We can’t rest.
BARNABAS. You wear out the people around you. Or fall out with them. Apollos isn’t in Corinth anymore, why?
PAUL. Apollos was beginning to preach Greek philosophy that has nothing to do with the Lord’s message. No matter. The Lord brings me helpers.
BARNABAS. And you exhaust them.
PAUL. I must minister to the leaders of the congregation, they’re waiting.
BARNABAS. Oh yes, minister to them, the ‘flock’, but not to us, your helpers.
PAUL. We must be selfless in this work.
BARNABAS. Is that how you see yourself? As selfless?
PAUL. Others cannot be as I am, I know.
BARNABAS. No, they cannot. They want families. Comfort. At times to get drunk. To be confused. To be less than perfect. To have sex for pleasure. Pleasure, Paul! To have something else on their minds other than the end of the world!
PAUL. It is hard not to think of the end of the world. Why Cyprus?
BARNABAS. I need a holiday. And John Luke is there.
BARNABAS turns away.
PAUL. You’re going now? This moment?
BARNABAS. It’s best.
PAUL. Stay for the meeting.
BARNABAS. No. I’ve heard you preach, many times, Paul.
PAUL sweet-talks.
PAUL. I know I know, I’m not the greatest speaker. No eloquence, not like Apollos with his flowery, clever-clever rhetoric. Twirly Greek mannerisms? I’ll reconcile with him, you’re right about that. It was wrong, I was short-tempered.
He smiles.
Tired.
BARNABAS. You won’t talk me round.
PAUL. I have something new to say, I’d like you to hear it. Very well: desert me. Desert the work. Have your holiday.
He turns away. BARNABAS is shocked by the abruptness.
BARNABAS. I’ll stay, to sing the hymn.
PAUL. As you wish.
He walks into the meeting room. The LEADERS OF THE CONGREGATION at Corinth are played by members of the cast. PAUL is in the crossfire of their questions. There is no trace of his bad temper.
BARNABAS stands a distance away, watching PAUL.
Grace to you, brothers of Corinth, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
CORINTHIANS. Grace to you, Paul.
PAUL. Now. What is this about meat?
1ST CORINTHIAN. It’s when we eat with pagans.
2ND CORINTHIAN. The meat . . .
3RD CORINTHIAN. If the meat is from a sacrifice to a pagan god . . . should we eat it?
4TH CORINTHIAN. Meat from pagan sacrifice is defiled!
2ND CORINTHIAN. But most of the cooked meat in the shops is from sacrifices.
5TH CORINTHIAN. Revolting!
PAUL. Listen, listen to me. Eat anything from the butchers, it doesn’t matter. Psalms: ‘To the Lord belongs the earth and all it contains.’ And if you’re eating with pagans, eat what they eat, what does it matter? On the other hand if you’re with someone who is revolted by this . . . don’t eat it. What does that matter? Simply respect the conscience of others. Don’t be a cause of offence to Jews or Greeks, believers or pagans.
2ND CORINTHIAN. If a member of the congregation steals from me, should I take him to the pagan courts?
3RD CORINTHIAN. Yes, if one of us steals from another.
5TH CORINTHIAN. Or defrauds them.
PAUL. This has happened?
A beat.
4TH CORINTHIAN. Yes.
2ND CORINTHIAN. Yes.
PAUL. Then you should be ashamed.
3RD CORINTHIAN. But I want justice.
PAUL. It’s shameful. Unbelievers must not see us prosecuting each other in the courts whatever the crime.
3RD CORINTHIAN. But I was swindled, by a man who called himself my brother in Christ . . .
PAUL. Then prefer to be swindled. Do you not realise that people who do evil will never inherit the Kingdom of God? Make no mistake – the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, the self-indulgent, sodomites, thieves, misers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers, none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
1ST CORINTHIAN. You’re harsh.
5TH CORINTHIAN. Sexual morality, here it comes.
4TH CORINTHIAN. Paul. Immorality is rife amongst us.
5TH CORINTHIAN. There is nothing immoral about the human body!
1ST CORINTHIAN. Yes and Christ has made us free. So everything is permissible.
Agreement and disagreement.
PAUL. Maybe it is, but not everything does good. True, for me everything is permissible, but I am determined not to be dominated by anything. Keep away from sexual immorality.
2ND CORINTHIAN. Why so strong on that, Paul?
5TH CORINTHIAN. Always down on sex.
Amusement.
PAUL. Keep away from it because all other sins that someone may commit are done outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
5TH CORINTHIAN. But our bodies belong to us.
PAUL. No, they do
not. You are not your own property, you have been bought at a price. Don’t you realise that your bodies are members of Christ’s body? Do you think you can take parts of Christ’s body and join them to the body of a prostitute? Out of the question! So use your body for the glory of God.
1ST CORINTHIAN. That’s fine for you.
2ND CORINTHIAN. You’re a celibate.
3RD CORINTHIAN. You think it’s a good thing for a man not to touch a woman at all.
PAUL. Yes, to the unmarried and the widowers amongst you I’d say: it’s good for them to stay as they are, like me.
He smiles.
But if you must, better to marry than to burn.
Amusement.
Don’t torment yourselves, be free from worry about these matters. Think of what’s to come. Time is short. The world as we know it is passing away.
2ND CORINTHIAN. The world as we know it is passing away. Albra, casawa, iluthia halawah, locai!
4TH CORINTHIAN. Locai yereaway, hathacarata!
CORINTHIANS. Amen! Amen!
PAUL. Yes, speak in tongues but interpret.
3RD CORINTHIAN. Telark, forad, nanianth, heggar calish!
PAUL. Yes, brother, be moved by the Spirit but know what the Spirit is telling you.
1ST CORINTHIAN. We must all speak in tongues!
5TH CORINTHIAN. All must be prophets!
3RD CORINTHIAN. The Spirit is here! Now!
4TH CORINTHIAN. The language of angels!
CORINTHIANS. Garak fetidit, alla geranga, haradat regga . . .
And PAUL is clapping his hands and shouting.
PAUL. No! No! No!
A moment’s silence. PAUL is tense. He knows he has to deliver his message.
Set your minds on the higher gifts. Speaking in tongues is one of them. But I am going to put before you something better. For . . .
A beat.
Though I command languages both human and angelic – if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.
A beat.
And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains – if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
A beat.
Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and endure whatever comes. Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will fall silent; and if knowledge, it will be done away with. F . . .
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