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CHRISTUS, reading in the Synagogue. THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me. | |
| He hath anointed me to preach good tidings | |
| Unto the poor; to heal the broken-hearted; | |
| To comfort those that mourn, and to throw open | |
| The prison doors of captives, and proclaim | 5 |
| The Year Acceptable of the Lord, our God! He closes the book and sits down. | |
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A PHARISEE. Who is this youth? He hath taken the Teacher’s seat! | |
Will he instruct the Elders?
A PRIEST. Fifty years | |
| Have I been Priest here in the Synagogue, | |
| And never have I seen so young a man | 10 |
Sit in the Teacher’s seat!
CHRISTUS. Behold, to-day | |
| This scripture is fulfilled. One is appointed | |
| And hath been sent to them that mourn in Zion, | |
| To give them beauty for ashes, and the oil | |
| Of joy for mourning! They shall build again | 15 |
| The old waste-places; and again raise up | |
| The former desolations, and repair | |
| The cities that are wasted! As a bride-groom | |
| Decketh himself with ornaments; as a bride | |
| Adorneth herself with jewels, so the Lord | 20 |
| Hath clothed me with the robe of righteousness! | |
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A PRIEST. He speaks the Prophet’s words; but with an air | |
| As if himself had been foreshadowed in them! | |
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CHRISTUS. For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, | |
| And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest | 25 |
| Until its righteousness be as a brightness, | |
| And its salvation as a lamp that burneth! | |
| Thou Shalt be called no longer the Forsaken, | |
| Nor any more thy land the Desolate. | |
| The Lord hath sworn, by his right hand hath sworn, | 30 |
| And by his arm of strength: I will no more | |
| Give to thine enemies thy corn as meat; | |
| The sons of strangers shall not drink thy wine. | |
| Go through, go through the gates! Prepare a way | |
| Unto the people! Gather out the stones! | 35 |
Lift up a standard for the people!
A PRIEST. Ah! | |
These are seditious words!
CHRISTUS. And they shall call them | |
| The holy people; the redeemed of God! | |
| And thou, Jerusalem, shalt be called Sought out, | |
A city not forsaken!
A PHARISEE. Is not this | 40 |
| The carpenter Joseph’s son? Is not his mother | |
| Called Mary? and his brethren and his sisters | |
| Are they not with us? Doth he make himself | |
To be a Prophet?
CHRISTUS. No man is a Prophet | |
| In his own country, and among his kin. | 45 |
| In his own house no Prophet is accepted. | |
| I say to you, in the land of Israel | |
| Were many widows in Elijah’s day, | |
| When for three years and more the heavens were shut, | |
| And a great famine was throughout the land; | 50 |
| But unto no one was Elijah sent | |
| Save to Sarepta, to a city of Sidon, | |
| And to a woman there that was a widow. | |
| And many lepers were there in the land | |
| Of Israel, in the time of Eliseus | 55 |
| The Prophet, and yet none of them was cleansed, | |
Save Naaman the Syrian!
A PRIEST. Say no more! | |
| Thou comest here into our Synagogue | |
| And speakest to the Elders and the Priests, | |
| As if the very mantle of Elijah | 60 |
| Had fallen upon thee! Art thou not ashamed? | |
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A PHARISEE. We want no Prophets here! Let him be driven | |
| From Synagogue and city! Let him go | |
| And prophesy to the Samaritans! | |
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AN ELDER. The world is changed. We Elders are as nothing! | 65 |
| We are but yesterdays, that have no part | |
| Or portion in to-day! Dry leaves that rustle, | |
| That make a little sound, and then are dust! | |
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A PHARISEE. A carpenter’s apprentice! a mechanic, | |
| Whom we have seen at work here in the town | 70 |
| Day after day; a stripling without learning, | |
| Shall he pretend to unfold the Word of God | |
| To men grown old in study of the Law? CHRISTUS is thrust out. | |
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