(SONG by Tommy Walker)

JACOB: (after a moment) Give it. MOTHER: JACOB! Come back here . . . Jacob. I told you to leave this nice man alone. JACOB: He's new. I’ll bet it’s him. MOTHER: (to PILATE) I'm sorry. PILATE: It's all right. Here's your ball . . .

Jacob. JACOB: Do you like it? 

PILATE: It's the best ball I've ever seen. JACOB: The most fun? PILATE: (smiling) Ever. MOTHER: Tell the man thank you. JACOB: Who are you? MOTHER: (scolding him.) Jacob.PILATE: No, no—it's really fine. My name is . . . Pontius.

Pontius Pilate. 

JACOB: (to his mother) I told you.

 

MOTHER: (dumb-founded) Pontius Pilate. The stories . . . are true, then.

 PILATE: I am sorry you know the name. JACOB: You killed that man.

What was his name? MOTHER: I'm sorry. Life is dull on this small island.

Celebrities are few. We are not in Rome.

 PILATE: I need not be reminded of that. JACOB: You don't seem crazy.

PILATE: Is that what you've heard? JACOB: Oh, yes. That you are quite mad,

most like to kill yourself any day. PILATE: Well, I am neither mad nor ready to

die, so perhaps we will see each other again.

 MOTHER: Jacob. Come. JACOB: Will you tell me about it someday, if I

visit you?

PILATE: Tell you about it? JACOB: Killing a god. It must have been

themost amazing thing.

 MOTHER: I am sorry he is young. (MOTHER and JACOB leave)

GAIUS: It must have been the most AMAZING THING!" AH, PONTIUS PILATE! Pilate, you rogue of a man! The boy has you pegged.

 PILATE: Perhaps I am mad after all. GAIUS: Welcome back to Rome. Come and

greet your most kindly emperor Gaius Caesar, Caligula himself. I’ve been hearing the most amazing things about you. I fear your hand was not firm enough in Judea. But…the pressure must have been enormous. All those beards crying “Crucify, crucify!” Why, it must have rivaled the Coliseum. I wish I had been there.

PILATE: Will you haunt me alone tonight, or will there be others?

 GAIUS: I’d like to honor you, good

Pilate...perhaps a reappointment, but there is a problem.

 PILATE’S WIFE: (with great urgency) Pilate?

Pilate, there’s something wrong.

PILATE’S WIFE: Husband, what’s wrong? It’s a terrible thing, horrible.

 

PILATE’S WIFE: How could you sleep last night? Let him go. You must let him go, or give him to Herod or something. Wash your

hands of it, of the whole thing. You have to listen to me, husband, get him off your hands.

 PILATE: How did she know? PILATE’S WIFE: A dream, husband, the most horrific

dream. It was a warning. I’m sure of it, I know it— GAIUS: Pontius! It is whispered in the halls of Rome

that in Pilate's Jerusalem, the name of Rome is mocked!

CAIAPHAS: PONTIUS PILATE! I am Caiaphas, high priest of God— wake up, man, and be the voice of law and of Rome!

 CAIAPHAS: Come out, Governor, and honor our

Passover, our festival. GAIUS: You see, Pontius, we are an empire— CAIAPHAS: We condemn all blasphemers against

the one God, and rebels against the peace of Rome. You must rule before Passover begins.

GAIUS: And empires do not deal lightly with rival lords.

 

 PILATE’S WIFE: Come away from the window.

The mob will disperse. They’ll forget, and we’ll just go on. Come away from the window!

 PILATE: Hush, woman. CAIAPHAS: You have been sent to govern in the just

causes of Rome. Your power must decide the fate of this man who dares to call himself King of the Jews.

 PILATE: What has he done? 

CAIAPHAS: He makes himself equal to God! GAIUS: Peace is an iron fist, and I fear yours was not fist

enough. And now we have what? A roaring in the streets—uprising, insurrection.

 PILATE’S WIFE: We’ve got to get out of this forsaken place

—we must remove ourselves. Pilate—take me back to Rome! PILATE: I will not return in disgrace.

CAIAPHAS: He makes himself equal to God! PILATE: I find nothing wrong in him.  

GAIUS: By the gods man if Rome is going to kill a man…

PILATE: I saw him laid in the tomb, I posted guards.

PILATE’S WIFE: You must release him! Let him go!

CAIAPHAS: We must have a ruling, and we must have it now. Jesus of Nazareth must die before the Sabbath.

GAIUS: He must stay dead!

PILATE: CAN YOU NOT BE SILENT!

Psalm 22 Psalm 22 (My God You Are)(My God You Are)

(song by Out of the Grey)

JACOB: Are you angry, Mr. Pilate? JACOB: I can't make the waves be quiet, either.

PILATE: It’s a problem.

JACOB: Frustrating.

PILATE: Yes.

JACOB: Is that why you were shouting?

PILATE: (noticing basket) No I was shouting… because I was hungry.

 JACOB: That’s not why you were shouting.

PILATE: Yes it was.

JACOB: Mr Pilate I think you are a very sneaky man…. Do you like cheese?

PILATE: Yes. Very much.

JACOB: (gives basket) What do you say?

PILATE: Thank you.

JACOB: I have to go now.

PILATE: Tell your mother thanks you.

JACOB: Mr Pilate?

PILATE: Yes?

JACOB: I might be glad you are here.

PILATE: Goodnight Jacob.

JACOB: Oh where will you sleep?

PILATE: Good night Jacob.

MOTHER: Excuse me.

PILATE: Oh… hello.

MOTHER: I’m sorry.

PILATE: No no. No need for that. But it’s very late.

MOTHER: Yes it is… (pause)

PILATE: Can I offer you something? Fate delivered a very generous basket this evening, and I would be glad to share.

MOTHER: I would not call it fate.

PILATE: What would you call it?

MOTHER: Kindness. Grace. The love of God perhaps.

PILATE: Are you his messenger? What do you want?

MOTHER: I wondered… Do you have a place to stay?

PILATE: I will stay here.

MOTHER: How do you sleep?

PILATE: I don’t.

MOTHER: You don’t?

PILATE: Not anymore.

MOTHER: I am sorry.

PILATE: You seem to be sorry for many things. You should not be.

MOTHER: Aren’t you? What do you mean, you don’t sleep?

PILATE: I don’t sleep. Sometimes 2or 3 days at a stretch. And then, an hour or two, perhaps, and back to waking.

 MOTHER: There are medicines for such things. PILATE: There are none for me. PILATE: Save that one day, I will walk into the sea,

close my eyes, and that will be medicine enough. MOTHER: Is there to be no rest until then?

PILATE: A man must be left alone to rest. MOTHER: Loneliness can be a hard bed.

Sometimes . . . rest comes . . . when a listener, a . . . friend, is found.

 PILATE: Good woman, for your kindness and

your gifts, I thank you. Truly.

But I have been exiled by Rome to this island, to spend my days here rotting, in full sight of the sun and my deeds, until at last I will be drawn into the tides, and will drift there, and be forgotten. Spend your kindness on your son, and do not come again.

MOTHER: But sir— PILATE: You have made your mark. I have . . .  business to attend to. Leave me. (turns to Jesus) I don’t have to talk to you. I’m done with you. JESUS: It is as you say. PILATE: (still to Jesus) Be silent. Be silent! CAIAPHAS: PONTIUS PILATE! I am Caiaphas, high priest

of God—wake up, man, and be the voice of law and of Rome!

PILATE: Come into my world, Caiaphas, if you would speak to me. CAIAPHAS: I will not be defiled— PILATE: You are defiled already. Come in.

What accusation do you bring against this man?

 CAIAPHAS: He mocks our laws, and the rabble call

him Messiah. PILATE: He is not the first. 

CAIAPHAS: Pilate, you must give us justice! The festival is exploding, and soon there will be bedlam in the streets.

An uprising that will catch the eye of Rome, and bring down the legions on both of us. PILATE: What accusation do you bring against this man? CAIAPHAS: Crucify him, you coward—

He must be crucified!  

GAIUS: The hourglass was turning, wasn’t it Governor? Oh, I know. The Jewish Festival, the Sabbath, the holy rabble, the great

ecstasy of blood—all of them crying out. Choose, Pilate, choose. PILATE: There was no choice.

GAIUS: If Pilate releases the man, Pilate is weak, a pawn of lesser men. And Rome does not deal with lesser men, nor their pawns.

So Pilate nails him to a cross. But all is not well, because now, with the man screaming on the tree, Pilate can’t sleep. Pilate can’t face himself.

  

PILATE: They brought no evidence.

GAIUS: Precisely. I know your kind, Pontius Pilate. You favor innocence.

Oh, I've struck it, haven't I… oh, yes, you knew. 

You hoped to save yourself, and your place in Rome, and in so doing, you revealed your very heart, and I call that heart weak and petty.

 GAIUS: Pontius Pilate, you will govern no more.

 

PILATE: I don’t have to talk to you. JESUS: It is as— PILATE: (suddenly furious) Shut up, man—do

you not realize I have power to put you on a cross? 

MOTHER: It’s cold. PILATE: I told you to leave me. MOTHER: But you’re suffering. PILATE: It is my fate, and I will shoulder it. Go

away from me. MOTHER: Who were you talking to? 

PILATE: Where is your husband? MOTHER: He is at sea. PILATE: When will he return? MOTHER: I don’t know. Perhaps before winter. PILATE: You have heard my story? MOTHER: My husband brings news. PILATE: What do they say, these stories?  

MOTHER: They say…this Jesus of Nazareth…was a prophet…some say a rebel, others—a God. Did you know him well?

 PILATE: No. (Pause.) MOTHER: Anything you could tell me . . .

I’d be grateful. PILATE: Are you a disciple of his? MOTHER: I . . . I don’t know.

His story…calls to me. 

PILATE: I have met many men. I have watched them war and die, watched them bear suffering, some with honor, some with shame. And then…there are those like the titans of theGreeks, who walk the earth like gods, so strong are their hearts.

 MOTHER: They say Pilate is such a titan. PILATE: (ignoring her) But no—listen to me—…this

man. This man. One hour he stood before me, and in that hour, in those eyes, I saw a thing I have never seen…in no eyes have I seen it…not in the eyes of kings, nor of Caesars’, nor of petty titans.

MOTHER: They say he was not afraid. PILATE: What is fear when you have pierced the

curtain of life and death, and walked among the stars? MOTHER: I don’t understand. PILATE: Neither did I. MOTHER: What did you do with him? PILATE: Nothing. Nothing at all. 

MOTHER: But…there is no peace for you. PILATE: I am tired. MOTHER: May I return tomorrow? PILATE: As you wish. MOTHER: Goodnight, then.

 

PILATE: They want me to crucify you. But you’re not that kind of man, are you? The kind I crucify.

 Answer me this—are you a king?

JESUS: Do you want to know for yourself? PILATE: It is a simple question.

 

 JESUS: Others have told you, haven’t they? PILATE: I am not a Jew. Your own have

condemned you. What have you done? JESUS: Have my disciples begun to war?

Have they attacked you?  My kingdom is not of that kind.

 PILATE: So you are a king.

JESUS: It is you who say it. Yes, I am a king. 

GAIUS: I would’ve killed him on the spot. Or released him.

The mob would’ve done it for you, you know.

PILATE’S WIFE: Fool! His followers will gather an army, and Tiberius * will have to send for us. He will exile us for this stupidity.

  CAIAPHAS: The feasters will tear the temple apart!

We are on the verge of riot, Pilate, and you are the law.

 

GAIUS: I would’ve killed him on the spot. Or released him. * The mob would’ve done it for you, you know. Are you such a weak man that you could not stand the simple cackles of a

Jewish mob? Good gods man, you are Rome! PILATE’S WIFE: Fool! His followers will gather an

army, and Tiberius * will have to send for us. He will exile us for this stupidity. Will you never listen to me?!

 CAIAPHAS: The feasters will tear the temple apart! We

are on the verge of riot, Pilate, and you are the law. Blasphemy must be punished!

 

PILATE: (to JESUS) Caesar doesn’t like kings. JESUS: My kingdom is not of this world. PILATE: No? What world is your kingdom of? JESUS: I have come to bear witness to the truth. PILATE: The truth. JESUS: All those who stand on the side of truth listen

to my voice. 

GAIUS: Caesar is Lord, and give my judgment of Pontius Pilate. A man who might have been great in the holy empire of Rome.

Wealth beyond dreams, fame beyond history, but Pilate was an idiot, and all great ones cannot abide the company of fools.

Be gone, man. Pontius Pilate is no citizen or friend of Rome, and I am Caesar, the Lord!

 PILATE’S WIFE: You lost it all for us! I won’t, I tell you

Not to some rock where they send the insane, the criminal—I won’t, I will slit your throat, and mine right after.

Why did you not listen to me. The gods are killing us—well, let them send you there, and let that eagle eat your insides every day. May you live in hell, as I do!

 

CAIAPHAS: King of the Jews? You wrote in your own hand, King of the Jews? He was no king—that is why we killed him.

God only is king, there is none other, but now, you have

done a worse thing.

You have made a martyr; his disciples will rise and steal his body, and say he’s come back from the dead.

Don’t you understand? Don’t you understand what you have done?

 

 

PILATE: He has done no wrong! I can find no reason to condemn him. He is an innocent man. I find no wrong in him. He has done nothing. I will release to you Barrabas…

 I will give you Barrabas! Barrabas! Take him. Take

him !

I wash my hands of this man. I wash my hands of this man’s blood—

Busted Heart (Hold On To Me)

(song by For King And Country)

JACOB: Are you alright Mr Pilate?

PILATE: Yes… no, I’m not sure.

MOTHER: Can you tell us?

PILATE: I tried to give them someone else. It was their custom to release one man.

MOTHER: He was innocent then?

 

PILATE: Did I not say as much? Such a man as I have never known.Such eyes… such eyes, as I will never escape.And I gave him over to them.I handed him to them.

MOTHER: And what did they do?

PILATE: Have you ever seen a man killed in that way?

MOTHER: No, but I have heard of the cross.

 

JACOB: Tell me what was it like?

MOTHER: Jacob, no.

PILATE: If I told you dear boy, your heart would cease its work, for it is a death to sear and destroy the minds even of the pure.

I will never again say such words againcrucify…. crucify…. crucify.

MOTHER: What did you do then?

 

PILATE: I will not be responsible for this man’s blood. I was my hands of him. I wash myhands of all of you. Kill him yourself if you would court destiny.

I wash my hands. And his blood will not… will not stain me.

But…. look at them. They are red withhis blood. They are a testament against me…. always. Always, always, always.

MOTHER: Pilate. Pilate. That’s not the end of it.They say that is not the end of it. They something more came to pass.

 

PILATE: His spirit is ever close to me. MOTHER: Tell me. PILATE: Close.

MOTHER: Please. PILATE: Ever close, ever close…. Forgive me.

MOTHER: Sir… I am suddenly…. afraid.

PILATE: Yes. So am I…. Please go.

 

MOTHER: Will you come to dinner tonight?At our house?

JACOB: The law allows it, Mother said so.

PILATE: Perhaps..

MOTHER: You could come with us now.

PILATE: Perhaps tomorrow. Come tomorrow andif you find me here, I will come to youhouse and we will talk more.

MOTHER: If we find you here?

 

PILATE: Yes if you find me here. Until then.

MOTHER: Yes until then. Come Jacob.

JACOB: Where would you go Mr Pilate?

PILATE: Jacob.. You are a very brave boy.

MOTHER: Sir…

PILATE: You have been so kind to me.

JACOB: Mother.

 

MOTHER: May I…if you don't mind…His spirit… PILATE: "Ever close, ever close…" MOTHER: Is it a welcome thing? PILATE: I don’t know. MOTHER: Who was he? This man …

What does he want from you? from me? Is it possible…perhaps he knew…

 PILATE: Or knows…

 

MOTHER: Or knows…how prisoners can be… MOTHER/PILATE: …released? MOTHER: Yes. PILATE: They can’t. Not in Rome.

The condemned stay as they are.

MOTHER: We are not in Rome. Perhaps….we are in a different kingdom. 

 PILATE: Perhaps.

 

MOTHER: Tomorrow, then? JACOB: Keep it. Just ‘til tomorrow. (JACOB turns and runs off. THE MOTHER walks off following JACOB.) (PILATE stands there, holding the ball. GAIUS, CAIAPHUS and PILATE’S WIFE step into scene. PILATE: What do you want of me… 

 

  

 

Redeemed(song by Big Daddy Weave)

  

GAIUS: By the gods man, if Rome is going to kill a man— PILATE: I saw him laid in the tomb. I posted guards.

  

GAIUS: By the gods man, if Rome is going to kill a man— PILATE: I saw him laid in the tomb. I posted guards.