Our Blindness

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I recently read a book called “The Diary of Jesus Christ” by Bill Cain, who is an American playwright and Jesuit priest. It was a gift from a dear friend, so I felt some obligation to read it. As it turned out, I very much liked this fresh look at the gospel stories.

If you don’t like books that take liberties with the Scripture, you won’t like this one. You can tell it’s written by a playwright. Each chapter begins with a direct-quote story from the Gospels, then goes on to dramatize each story, imagining what it might have been like in Jesus' time, using language and ideas with which people today can easily identify.

One of my favorite chapters is the story of “The Beggar at the Gate.” The gospel of Luke describes the scene: A rich man feasted sumptuously every day, and a poor man, Lazarus, covered with sores, longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table….” You may recall the rest of the story. This is how Cain tells it.

Arms Crossed, Looking Skeptical

“Occasionally, my mother would come to hear one of my sermons," says Jesus. "She would stand at the back of the crowd with her arms crossed, looking skeptical.

“It’s hard to impress your mother,” he says.

Jesus’ mother didn’t like that Jesus’ audience would be able to identify the rich man, Hezekiah, and that he would be scorned by the townspeople. She suggests that Jesus invite Hezekiah and Lazarus to dinner.

(Cain invents the names of the rich man and the beggar. Even though the gospel identifies the beggar as “Lazarus,” Cain calls him “Marcus,” a Roman, and the rich man, “Hezekiah.”)

Tell Hezekiah, “There’s someone you want him to meet.”

Jesus brings Marcus home to his mother’s house an hour before the dinner, so she has time to “clean him up.” That helps make him unrecognizable to Hezekiah.

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During the dinner conversation, Hezekiah asks Marcus what he does for a living. Marcus answers “Not much.”

“You should,” replies Hezekiah, who goes on to describe how successful he’s been in business, saying he has a “killer instinct” when it comes to making money.

Marcus acknowledges that he has no family, and after Hezekiah says his family is the joy of his life, and that he does everything for them, working night and day, Marcus reveals what he’s seen at Hezekiah’s gate: Hezekiah’s son is out at all hours of the night, often staying out all night, and his daughter “receives callers at all hours.”

“None of this is true,” replies Hezekiah. “Why are you making this up? Are you a spy? Is this a trap? Who are you?”

And Jesus thinks, “Oh, my God, you really never have seen him, have you?”

Marcus says, “I am the beggar at your gate.”

Saw Him for the First Time

And Hezekiah saw him, actually saw him, for the first time, and offers him money and a job, both of which Marcus refuses.

“Well, then, what do you want?” asks Hezekiah.

“I want to be done and go to the hell that God has specially prepared for people like me, for people who have done what I have done.”

Hezekiah offers to feed him regularly “at the back door” and to ask him to look after his children. “And they saw one another clearly."