Third Voice In The Courtyard
Stories
Scenes of Glory
Subplots of God's Long Story
Object:
Emphasis or special occasion: Maundy (Holy) Thursday or Good Friday
Chapter 18
Third Voice In The Courtyard
Luke 22:54-66
The day is so pleasant: warm with a gentle breeze rippling the grass nearby. Why is Nehorai, the steward, yelling loudly to Yodan? This garden's spreading trees offer shade and ripe fruit. Yodan is most pleased to lie beside the trickling stream that feeds the glassy pool. Why is Nehorai so frenzied, calling to Yodan even louder? Yodan relaxes while all his fellow slaves line up to serve him. Now Nehorai screeches not only to Yodan but to each slave by name.
Yodan opened his eyes. Nehorai shook him violently and screamed in his face, "Wake up, you stupid slave, and make the courtyard ready for the council."
As Yodan sat up, his cloak fell to the ground and he felt the cold. Nehorai pulled the other slaves by the hair or kicked them from their coverings. Yodan stood up, stretching with a great yawn. "It's the middle of the night." He stared at the steward as though he were moonstruck. "What do you mean, 'prepare for the council'?"
Nehorai charged at him, aiming his fist toward Yodan's face. "No questions, imbecile. They're bringing a prisoner for interrogation. This courtyard's a mess."
Yodan looked upon the courtyard and he almost leaped out of his clothes. Last night he left the other slaves and trusted them to clean up after the late Passover celebration. They hadn't. Dirty dishes, cushions, and baskets laid around the courtyard and, nearest to Caiaphas' quarters, he could make out in the moon's dim light a couple large pottery jars broken into pieces.
Yodan heard voices, people coming down the street. He saw the glow of their torches over the courtyard wall. He grasped his cloak, ran, and threw it on the ground beside the broken pottery. In the moonlight's shadows his hands were a gray blur of movement, tossing shards onto the cloak. Both hands, scooping and picking up. He was barely aware of his fellow slaves also scrambling to straighten up the courtyard. He worked so fast in the darkness that almost every movement cut his hands. Finally, as swiftly as he could, he slid his hands, palms flat, back and forth over the flagstones like two fast, giant spiders, trying methodically to feel the ground for even the smallest piece. He quickly wrapped the cloak around the shards and was running across the courtyard as the crowd plunged loudly through the gateway.
The mob rushed in from Yodan's left. Caiaphas and his attendants entered from his right. Yodan ducked as he ran between them, wishing he were invisible. Halfway across the courtyard he saw other slaves dashing out of the way.
As the crowd entered with their torches, and as slaves set large-wicked lamps onto stands in the courtyard, Yodan looked around to see if any evidence remained of his negligence. Nehorai, the steward, had granted him the privilege of celebrating the Passover in the courtyard with his fellow slaves. They could do so only after Caiaphas and his family retired for the night. It was a special privilege granted to the high priest's slaves. Yodan had promised, "to leave the area as though it had never been used." He stayed awake too late, became too tired, and he was a fool to trust the two slaves who swore they'd clean up. They were from Damascus. He shouldn't have trusted Syrian slaves.
"Uh oh," Semqah said, quietly. Yodan was so absorbed in the courtyard's happenings he hadn't noticed Semqah beside him. "You know who that is?" Semqah whispered, pointing to the soldiers and their prisoner.
"Well, isn't it...?" Yodan squinted in the dark as he wiped his bleeding hands on his cloak. "Yes, the Galilean. He didn't last long did he?"
"King-for-a-week Jesus," Semqah whispered. "I knew, with people tossing branches and cloaks and shouting 'king,' it wouldn't take long before old Joseph Caiaphas got him."
Yodan and Semqah watched one group of soldiers hold torches, while another group kicked and pushed the prisoner.
"Fine way to celebrate Passover's freedom," Semqah whispered. "Makes all the high-sounding ceremony last night seem pointless."
"Bring the prisoner," Caiaphas shouted, summoning the group past the low wall and toward his quarters. Jesus was shoved toward Caiaphas and the other council members, as slaves brought stubby braziers to their sides to warm them. Nehorai spoke to each cluster of slaves that squatted in the dark at the edges of the courtyard, telling them to stay quiet, awake, and out of the way. No one knew how long this interrogation would last, but everyone must remain alert until it was finished. After a while one slave brought burning sticks to the center of the courtyard and others carried dry wood. Soon a good fire was burning. Semqah and Yodan began to move toward the fire when Semqah nudged Yodan, "Look who's here."
Yodan followed Semqah's gaze to the courtyard entrance. A man stood in the shadows for a moment, speaking to the doorkeeper who nodded and waved him in. The man seemed to creep in, glancing around apprehensively.
"That's their second in command," Semqah said, his hand concealing his lips. "Name's Peter."
Yodan and Semqah moved slowly toward the fire. Neither wanted to draw attention to himself. Yodan was still scrutinizing the courtyard to make sure all was clean. He was gaping over the low partition at the backs of those who surrounded Jesus. As he walked, he gazed at the ground beside Caiaphas. For a moment, as he extended his neck to the left, he thought he saw through the legs of soldiers something lying near the high priest's feet. He slowed but continued to shuffle toward the fire, trying from twenty paces away to inspect the flagstones beneath Caiaphas' feet.
With the slaves mumbling near the fire, it was hard to hear what the priests, soldiers, and prisoner were saying. Someone beside Jesus yelled, "Liar!" The slaves at the fire turned to see what was going on, but nothing much could be seen. Yodan used the distraction to look more carefully, trying to peer over the partition to determine if any sign of his irresponsibility laid near the chief priest's feet.
"I don't see why they're making such a pretense of justice," Semqah said, speaking quietly out the side of his mouth. "They're just keeping us all awake. They're going to kill him."
Yodan was almost standing on tiptoes as he stretched his neck, first leaning right then left, yet trying to appear casual. One of the women slaves had been staring at Peter. She pointed to him. "This man also was with him."
Peter, holding out his hand shushed her, "Woman, I do not know him."
Yodan looked at the council members around Jesus. A couple of them turned to see what the commotion was with the slaves.
"Quiet," Yodan said. "We'll all get flogged."
He stepped a pace to the side and with that movement in the light of the lamps, torches, and braziers, he saw a large shard of a jar right beside Caiaphas' sandal. He gasped so hard he almost swallowed his tongue. He felt the skin tighten all over his body. If Caiaphas found out about the late celebration in the courtyard, it made no difference if it were Passover, Yodan would be pulling an oar on a Roman grain ship until he died.
Priests clustered around the prisoner. For a minute Caiaphas' face was obscured by the back of Jesus' head. Yodan watched intently, wondering how he could keep Caiaphas from noticing the shard or how he could retrieve it without being detected. Just then, one of the other slaves at the fire said to Peter, "You also are one of them."
In a loud voice Peter said, "Man, I am not!"
At that, the discussion among the council members halted for a moment, as they looked toward the slaves warming themselves at the fire. Caiaphas frowned, turned to Nehorai, and sent him over with a shake of his head.
Nehorai charged the group and they all quickly stood. Nehorai hesitated, sucking in his breath, frightening them all the more by the pause before speaking. "You mindless fools." He spoke quietly and rhythmically through his clenched teeth, "The next idiot to disturb these proceedings will be whipped. Male or female," he said.
When Nehorai left, Peter abandoned the fire and for about an hour he leaned against one of the courtyard's outer pillars, speaking to no one. Yodan also remained standing. He could tell they were finishing with Jesus and were about to send him away, kill him somehow. The moon was setting. The eastern sky began to show the faintest pink.
Peter had just returned to the circle around the fire, when Yodan saw Caiaphas kick something with his foot and look down to see what it was. Immediately Yodan pointed across the fire to Peter and yelled as loudly as he could, "Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean."
Peter looked at him with surprise and fear, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about!"
When the priests and soldiers turned to see who had been accused and who was denying it so loudly, Yodan shouted again, "Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean." At that moment a rooster crowed. Jesus for the first time turned toward the courtyard and looked directly at his companion by the fire, who appeared dazed and guilt-stricken. Three soldiers started for him, but he dashed from the courtyard. He began weeping as he left and his bitter cries echoed down the street as he fled. The slaves were puzzled. One shrugged and sniggered. But they were too tired to guess what Peter's leaving might mean.
The remaining soldiers seemed to leap at once upon Jesus. They blindfolded him, beat, and mocked him. In the uproar, Yodan slipped along the side of the courtyard to where Caiaphas had stood. Caiaphas was only a few paces away, being turned toward the battering and mocking of the blindfolded prisoner. He commanded Jesus to prophesy and tell who had hit him. Council members were milling around, taunting him. Yodan spied the shard, took two paces behind Caiaphas, stooped, and grabbed it. No sooner had he stuffed it under his cloak than Caiaphas spun toward him. For three fast heartbeats Caiaphas looked at Yodan. Caiaphas had huge, shaggy eyebrows that made his eyes seem to recede into caves. He peered at the fresh blood on Yodan's cloak. Whenever before Caiaphas had stared at Yodan, Yodan always ended up being punished. Caiaphas looked down and seemed to search for something. Yodan did his best to appear innocent.
At daybreak, they took Jesus away. The slaves sought places to lie down and sleep. Even the gatekeeper was asleep, sitting back against the door. Yodan stood momentarily at the burned-out fire and looked around. He was exhausted. His hands were aching with cuts. Blood stained his palms, but he was exultant. There aren't many times you can escape so completely and somebody else takes the blame.
Yodan laid down next to a wall in the sun; but instead of sleeping, when he closed his eyes he saw Peter's expression when accused of being Jesus' follower. He heard a noise and opened his eyes. Caiaphas stood where he'd been during the interrogation. He was searching the courtyard floor. He looked at Yodan. For an instant their eyes met. Caiaphas' deep eyes seemed to peer out of holes in a ragged cliff. He frowned angrily, pulled his cloak around himself, and departed toward his quarters. Suddenly, Yodan knew that somehow, for something, he would be punished. He wished he could get someone else punished for this too, but he had no idea how.
Discussion Questions
1. What immediate responses do you have to the story?
2. Do you identify with a character in the story? If yes, how and why do you identify with the person? If no, why don't you identify with anyone in the story?
3. Would you like to have a conversation with a character in the story? What would you say, ask, or suggest to the person? Why?
4. How does the story bring the biblical text into a clearer focus for you?
5. How would you improve or modify the story? Why?
6. Can you picture in your mind the events of Jesus' trial? What do you think about it and how do you feel when you imagine it?
7. Can you also imagine what went on around Jesus' trial with other people? Which can you imagine better and which makes more of an impact upon you: What occurred in Jesus trial or what occurred around Jesus' trial?
8. How does watching the event of Jesus' interrogation through the "camera" of Yodan's point of view help you understand Jesus' sufferings and Peter's denial? How does it help you reflect upon your own lapses in faith and obedience?
9. What further depths of meaning, symbols, connections with, or applications of the biblical faith do you find in the story?
10. Since Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and is alive among us through his Holy Spirit, what of this story would you like Christ to activate in your life?
Chapter 18
Third Voice In The Courtyard
Luke 22:54-66
The day is so pleasant: warm with a gentle breeze rippling the grass nearby. Why is Nehorai, the steward, yelling loudly to Yodan? This garden's spreading trees offer shade and ripe fruit. Yodan is most pleased to lie beside the trickling stream that feeds the glassy pool. Why is Nehorai so frenzied, calling to Yodan even louder? Yodan relaxes while all his fellow slaves line up to serve him. Now Nehorai screeches not only to Yodan but to each slave by name.
Yodan opened his eyes. Nehorai shook him violently and screamed in his face, "Wake up, you stupid slave, and make the courtyard ready for the council."
As Yodan sat up, his cloak fell to the ground and he felt the cold. Nehorai pulled the other slaves by the hair or kicked them from their coverings. Yodan stood up, stretching with a great yawn. "It's the middle of the night." He stared at the steward as though he were moonstruck. "What do you mean, 'prepare for the council'?"
Nehorai charged at him, aiming his fist toward Yodan's face. "No questions, imbecile. They're bringing a prisoner for interrogation. This courtyard's a mess."
Yodan looked upon the courtyard and he almost leaped out of his clothes. Last night he left the other slaves and trusted them to clean up after the late Passover celebration. They hadn't. Dirty dishes, cushions, and baskets laid around the courtyard and, nearest to Caiaphas' quarters, he could make out in the moon's dim light a couple large pottery jars broken into pieces.
Yodan heard voices, people coming down the street. He saw the glow of their torches over the courtyard wall. He grasped his cloak, ran, and threw it on the ground beside the broken pottery. In the moonlight's shadows his hands were a gray blur of movement, tossing shards onto the cloak. Both hands, scooping and picking up. He was barely aware of his fellow slaves also scrambling to straighten up the courtyard. He worked so fast in the darkness that almost every movement cut his hands. Finally, as swiftly as he could, he slid his hands, palms flat, back and forth over the flagstones like two fast, giant spiders, trying methodically to feel the ground for even the smallest piece. He quickly wrapped the cloak around the shards and was running across the courtyard as the crowd plunged loudly through the gateway.
The mob rushed in from Yodan's left. Caiaphas and his attendants entered from his right. Yodan ducked as he ran between them, wishing he were invisible. Halfway across the courtyard he saw other slaves dashing out of the way.
As the crowd entered with their torches, and as slaves set large-wicked lamps onto stands in the courtyard, Yodan looked around to see if any evidence remained of his negligence. Nehorai, the steward, had granted him the privilege of celebrating the Passover in the courtyard with his fellow slaves. They could do so only after Caiaphas and his family retired for the night. It was a special privilege granted to the high priest's slaves. Yodan had promised, "to leave the area as though it had never been used." He stayed awake too late, became too tired, and he was a fool to trust the two slaves who swore they'd clean up. They were from Damascus. He shouldn't have trusted Syrian slaves.
"Uh oh," Semqah said, quietly. Yodan was so absorbed in the courtyard's happenings he hadn't noticed Semqah beside him. "You know who that is?" Semqah whispered, pointing to the soldiers and their prisoner.
"Well, isn't it...?" Yodan squinted in the dark as he wiped his bleeding hands on his cloak. "Yes, the Galilean. He didn't last long did he?"
"King-for-a-week Jesus," Semqah whispered. "I knew, with people tossing branches and cloaks and shouting 'king,' it wouldn't take long before old Joseph Caiaphas got him."
Yodan and Semqah watched one group of soldiers hold torches, while another group kicked and pushed the prisoner.
"Fine way to celebrate Passover's freedom," Semqah whispered. "Makes all the high-sounding ceremony last night seem pointless."
"Bring the prisoner," Caiaphas shouted, summoning the group past the low wall and toward his quarters. Jesus was shoved toward Caiaphas and the other council members, as slaves brought stubby braziers to their sides to warm them. Nehorai spoke to each cluster of slaves that squatted in the dark at the edges of the courtyard, telling them to stay quiet, awake, and out of the way. No one knew how long this interrogation would last, but everyone must remain alert until it was finished. After a while one slave brought burning sticks to the center of the courtyard and others carried dry wood. Soon a good fire was burning. Semqah and Yodan began to move toward the fire when Semqah nudged Yodan, "Look who's here."
Yodan followed Semqah's gaze to the courtyard entrance. A man stood in the shadows for a moment, speaking to the doorkeeper who nodded and waved him in. The man seemed to creep in, glancing around apprehensively.
"That's their second in command," Semqah said, his hand concealing his lips. "Name's Peter."
Yodan and Semqah moved slowly toward the fire. Neither wanted to draw attention to himself. Yodan was still scrutinizing the courtyard to make sure all was clean. He was gaping over the low partition at the backs of those who surrounded Jesus. As he walked, he gazed at the ground beside Caiaphas. For a moment, as he extended his neck to the left, he thought he saw through the legs of soldiers something lying near the high priest's feet. He slowed but continued to shuffle toward the fire, trying from twenty paces away to inspect the flagstones beneath Caiaphas' feet.
With the slaves mumbling near the fire, it was hard to hear what the priests, soldiers, and prisoner were saying. Someone beside Jesus yelled, "Liar!" The slaves at the fire turned to see what was going on, but nothing much could be seen. Yodan used the distraction to look more carefully, trying to peer over the partition to determine if any sign of his irresponsibility laid near the chief priest's feet.
"I don't see why they're making such a pretense of justice," Semqah said, speaking quietly out the side of his mouth. "They're just keeping us all awake. They're going to kill him."
Yodan was almost standing on tiptoes as he stretched his neck, first leaning right then left, yet trying to appear casual. One of the women slaves had been staring at Peter. She pointed to him. "This man also was with him."
Peter, holding out his hand shushed her, "Woman, I do not know him."
Yodan looked at the council members around Jesus. A couple of them turned to see what the commotion was with the slaves.
"Quiet," Yodan said. "We'll all get flogged."
He stepped a pace to the side and with that movement in the light of the lamps, torches, and braziers, he saw a large shard of a jar right beside Caiaphas' sandal. He gasped so hard he almost swallowed his tongue. He felt the skin tighten all over his body. If Caiaphas found out about the late celebration in the courtyard, it made no difference if it were Passover, Yodan would be pulling an oar on a Roman grain ship until he died.
Priests clustered around the prisoner. For a minute Caiaphas' face was obscured by the back of Jesus' head. Yodan watched intently, wondering how he could keep Caiaphas from noticing the shard or how he could retrieve it without being detected. Just then, one of the other slaves at the fire said to Peter, "You also are one of them."
In a loud voice Peter said, "Man, I am not!"
At that, the discussion among the council members halted for a moment, as they looked toward the slaves warming themselves at the fire. Caiaphas frowned, turned to Nehorai, and sent him over with a shake of his head.
Nehorai charged the group and they all quickly stood. Nehorai hesitated, sucking in his breath, frightening them all the more by the pause before speaking. "You mindless fools." He spoke quietly and rhythmically through his clenched teeth, "The next idiot to disturb these proceedings will be whipped. Male or female," he said.
When Nehorai left, Peter abandoned the fire and for about an hour he leaned against one of the courtyard's outer pillars, speaking to no one. Yodan also remained standing. He could tell they were finishing with Jesus and were about to send him away, kill him somehow. The moon was setting. The eastern sky began to show the faintest pink.
Peter had just returned to the circle around the fire, when Yodan saw Caiaphas kick something with his foot and look down to see what it was. Immediately Yodan pointed across the fire to Peter and yelled as loudly as he could, "Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean."
Peter looked at him with surprise and fear, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about!"
When the priests and soldiers turned to see who had been accused and who was denying it so loudly, Yodan shouted again, "Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean." At that moment a rooster crowed. Jesus for the first time turned toward the courtyard and looked directly at his companion by the fire, who appeared dazed and guilt-stricken. Three soldiers started for him, but he dashed from the courtyard. He began weeping as he left and his bitter cries echoed down the street as he fled. The slaves were puzzled. One shrugged and sniggered. But they were too tired to guess what Peter's leaving might mean.
The remaining soldiers seemed to leap at once upon Jesus. They blindfolded him, beat, and mocked him. In the uproar, Yodan slipped along the side of the courtyard to where Caiaphas had stood. Caiaphas was only a few paces away, being turned toward the battering and mocking of the blindfolded prisoner. He commanded Jesus to prophesy and tell who had hit him. Council members were milling around, taunting him. Yodan spied the shard, took two paces behind Caiaphas, stooped, and grabbed it. No sooner had he stuffed it under his cloak than Caiaphas spun toward him. For three fast heartbeats Caiaphas looked at Yodan. Caiaphas had huge, shaggy eyebrows that made his eyes seem to recede into caves. He peered at the fresh blood on Yodan's cloak. Whenever before Caiaphas had stared at Yodan, Yodan always ended up being punished. Caiaphas looked down and seemed to search for something. Yodan did his best to appear innocent.
At daybreak, they took Jesus away. The slaves sought places to lie down and sleep. Even the gatekeeper was asleep, sitting back against the door. Yodan stood momentarily at the burned-out fire and looked around. He was exhausted. His hands were aching with cuts. Blood stained his palms, but he was exultant. There aren't many times you can escape so completely and somebody else takes the blame.
Yodan laid down next to a wall in the sun; but instead of sleeping, when he closed his eyes he saw Peter's expression when accused of being Jesus' follower. He heard a noise and opened his eyes. Caiaphas stood where he'd been during the interrogation. He was searching the courtyard floor. He looked at Yodan. For an instant their eyes met. Caiaphas' deep eyes seemed to peer out of holes in a ragged cliff. He frowned angrily, pulled his cloak around himself, and departed toward his quarters. Suddenly, Yodan knew that somehow, for something, he would be punished. He wished he could get someone else punished for this too, but he had no idea how.
Discussion Questions
1. What immediate responses do you have to the story?
2. Do you identify with a character in the story? If yes, how and why do you identify with the person? If no, why don't you identify with anyone in the story?
3. Would you like to have a conversation with a character in the story? What would you say, ask, or suggest to the person? Why?
4. How does the story bring the biblical text into a clearer focus for you?
5. How would you improve or modify the story? Why?
6. Can you picture in your mind the events of Jesus' trial? What do you think about it and how do you feel when you imagine it?
7. Can you also imagine what went on around Jesus' trial with other people? Which can you imagine better and which makes more of an impact upon you: What occurred in Jesus trial or what occurred around Jesus' trial?
8. How does watching the event of Jesus' interrogation through the "camera" of Yodan's point of view help you understand Jesus' sufferings and Peter's denial? How does it help you reflect upon your own lapses in faith and obedience?
9. What further depths of meaning, symbols, connections with, or applications of the biblical faith do you find in the story?
10. Since Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and is alive among us through his Holy Spirit, what of this story would you like Christ to activate in your life?
