a school sketch for Easter
A junior News crew from Ded-C TV is in Jerusalem.
There’s Breaking News, 'live' and exclusive, from Jack the reporter in Jerusalem.
Sophie is in the studio.
Sophie: Now over to our reporter in Jerusalem. Jack, I hear there’s a lot of excitement.
Jack: Yes, Sophie, I’m standing at the gate of Jerusalem - and it’s all happening here today! Big crowds have gathered. There seems to be someone approaching the city, with loads of people following him.
Sophie: And what’s the atmosphere - excited, tense?
Jack: Oh, great excitement. The cheering’s getting louder as the man’s getting closer. It’s starting to get deafening - I can hardly hear myself! Can you hear me OK, Sophie?
Sophie: Yes, we can hear you, Jack. And who is this man, do you know?
Jack: I’ve been speaking to a number of people in the crowd and they say it’s someone called Jesus, from Nazareth. He’s a bit of a local celebrity, apparently. But hang on - things are happening right now - this is breaking news OK, live on Ded-C TV - where else! The man is climbing on something - and the something is moving - it’s a donkey, I think. Not very grand for a celebrity - you would expect at least a chariot! But apparently a prophet long ago said that one day a King would arrive on a donkey.
Sophie: A king, you say?! Does he have a crown?
Jack: No no, there’s no crown - he looks really ordinary - he hasn’t even dressed up for the occasion! But everyone’s started to sing - it’s all very happy here, Sophie! They’re singing a song about him being the King of Peace. Well it’s not very peaceful round here, I can tell you - quite a din!
Sophie: And what sort of people are in the crowd?
Jack: It’s a real family affair, Sophie. The happy crowd are starting to throw things on the road in front of him. The grown-ups are laying their coats on the road - like a sort of royal carpet. And children are climbing up the palm trees and pulling off branches (don’t do this at home, folks - your parents won’t be too pleased!), and throwing the palm branches on the road too.
Sophie: And what are the police doing?
Jack: I can see some religious police now. They look nervous - it is getting pretty chaotic… Yes, they’re now speaking to Jesus… looks like they’re asking him to send the crowds away. They look pretty angry with him. But Jesus is just carrying on. Everyone is having far too good a party!
Sophie: Well thanks, Jack. Our time’s out - we’ll have to stop there. But we’ll speak to you again as things develop in Jerusalem.
Jack: Thanks, Sophie. This is Jack, reporting from Jerusalem, exclusively for Ded-C TV News.
A few days later, on a Friday morning
Sophie: Jack, what’s been happening these last few days in Jerusalem? Is there still a party atmosphere?
Jack: Sophie, it couldn’t be more different. It’s early Friday morning in Jerusalem now. The crowds that gathered the other day eventually melted away. And since then the religious police have cracked down hard.
Sophie: So where is the man from Nazareth?
Jack: I’ve been talking to the locals. Just last night, I understand, one of his own friends got some money from the police for setting him up so they could arrest him. And the police got this huge media campaign going in Jerusalem to turn everybody against Jesus. And now loads of people are baying for his blood.
Sophie: What are the Roman soldiers doing? They have the real power, in Jerusalem, don’t they? - and they can be brutal.
Jack: The police got the Roman soldiers involved. And now it looks like the Romans have sentenced Jesus to death. And talking to people, it doesn’t seem like he’s done anything wrong. We could have a major miscarriage of justice happening, live here in Jerusalem, Sophie.
Sophie: So how will he be killed?
Jack: The Romans know how to make people suffer, alright. We’re family viewing, Sophie, so I can’t describe what they will do to him. But they call it ‘crucifixion’, and it is the worst imaginable way to die. It’ll be today - they don’t hang around. It’s no party anymore - there’s a dark mood in Jerusalem now.
Sophie: Well thank you, Jack. We really appreciate you managing to be in the right place at the time and covering such a difficult story. We’ll get another report later.
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That evening, Samuel, one of the TV camera men, records his own video diary
Samuel: I can film most stuff - I’m a pretty tough guy, you have to be if you want to be a TV camera man in the Roman Empire - but I had to switch off the camera today - I just couldn’t film it. I just sat there on the hill, watching. We all did. This man Jesus, on that wooden cross, he was obviously in incredible pain. Yet amazingly he also seemed to be at peace - with himself and with everyone else. As he hung there he was kind to people - like the man on the cross beside him, and a woman who must have been his mother. At one point I’m sure he even caught my eye, really kindly, as if to say ‘I’m doing this for you’. After a while it went all dark - weird, like an eclipse or something (I couldn’t have filmed then, anyway, I don’t have one of those clever night cameras). And you know what it felt like? - like all the darkness and evil in the world was being sucked into Jesus - that he was there to absorb it all. At that moment it felt like we were sitting at the centre of the universe, that this was the most important place ever, that this moment would change the world for all time. And there was me, a camera man, and I didn’t film it! But I don’t care, I was there…
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Sunday morning, and Amelia, one of the sound-crew, has been up since early morning. She is excitedly telling Lucy, one of the other crew, what she’s seen that morning
Amelia: Lucy, Lucy! Something weird’s happened this morning! I couldn’t sleep last night - I was itching to get going after the Sabbath - it is SO dull not being able to do anything! So I got up early and went for a walk in Jerusalem. Hardly anyone one around - just the stray dogs and chickens pecking around in the dust. Then I heard these excited women running down the street. You know that man Jesus? you know, the one who the men watched getting killed on Friday? (those boys gawping at that poor man’s suffering - how could they!). Anyway, these women were babbling about having just seen him - I’m not kidding you! You would think they would be miserable - their best friend had died, and they’d gone to the tomb out of respect, I think. But no, they were, like, the happiest people I’ve ever seen! As they rushed past me one of them shouted to me ‘He’s alive!!’, as if telling me was really important - perhaps she recognised me as being one of the TV team and wanted the news spread. One of the others looked pretty chuffed that Jesus had chosen the girls to see first - the boys always think they’re the special ones! I was just gob-smacked - it didn’t make any sense, of course - it still doesn’t - but it also seemed so real! I sat down on this wall to think. As I was sitting there, at that moment one of those chickens laid an egg, right beside me. And I thought, wow, yes, a new life! From nowhere a new life appears - miracles are all around us! Lucy, it’s got me thinking - maybe this Jesus is alive again. We should get the boys onto this. Come on, let’s go and get them!
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Alphaeus adds (for 21st century readers):For the authorised version of the story, see the Gospels
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