Friday, November 20, 2009

Lost and Found, Part 58 of 78

Text: Luke 15:11-32

FORMAT: Part 2 of Ken Bailey’s “Two Sons Have I Not,” scene 4

Abu-Adam has finished discussing his problem with the Mayor and the Priest, and has determined that he must risk being beaten by his elder son by going out to him in the courtyard:

FATHER: My son, my son –

ADAM: What do you want?

FATHER: My son, why are you angry?

ADAM: I’m not angry.

FATHER: Come in to the banquet then. We have music and dancing. The mayor is here and Abuna, the priest. They ask for you. Obed, your brother, is here. He wants to see you.

ADAM: I won’t go in.

FATHER: Why, my son?

ADAM: I’m not getting my rights. I’m not being treated fairly.

FATHER: What do you mean, son?

ADAM: Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf He is worse than a dog.

FATHER: Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive; he was lost and is found.

ADAM: He is not my brother. He is a dirty beggar.

FATHER: I think if we heard that he was dead, you would rejoice.

ADAM: Yes, that would be better. Now I must share my portion with a beggar. You could have at least asked me about the calf.

FATHER: If I had beaten him, you would be happy.

ADAM: You just might have beaten some sense into him.

FATHER: [pleading] But he is your brother.

ADAM: I have no brother! [silence] What do you want me to do? Shall I go in and thank him for wasting our family money on harlots?

FATHER: [firmly] No, my son. I want you to go in and ask him to forgive you.

ADAM: [exploding] He forgive ME? What do you mean? He must come begging my forgiveness. He is a dirty beggar. I am respectable, obedient, and hard-working. I have always obeyed you.

FATHER: [kindly] No, my son. You must ask your brother to forgive you. You must ask me the same.

ADAM: What do you mean?

FATHER: You are part of the reason he left the house in the first place. then, when he ran out of money and was in desperate need, he was afraid to come home because of you.

ADAM: Well, he needs to be afraid of someone, doesn’t he?

FATHER: You have obeyed me, but you have never loved me. I don’t want obedience in resentment and jealousy. I want you to serve in your father’s house in love and great joy.

ADAM: How can you say this? How can you say this? Only I have labored. Only I have brought respect to my house. But what do I get? My brother wrongs me, and you blame me. You always blame me.

FATHER: Only when you are wrong.

ADAM: You love him, not me. Maybe if I ran away and spent the family’s money on prostitutes, then you would love me.

FATHER: STILL I would love you.

ADAM: Maybe then you would kill the fatted calf for me. Yes, I think that is about what you’d do.

FATHER: [interrupting] son, you don’t understand!!

ADAM: Oh yes, I understand everything. Only I have preserved the honor of our house. Only I have labored day after day in the fields. But what do I get? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

FATHER: Nothing but a father’s love and bounty.

ADAM: [with rising anger] Now I see what I must do. I must save the house from you also. You would destroy the honor of the house with all who are in it. You have disgraced our house before all the village. You who make sons out of filthy beggars. All dignity, honor and respect are gone.

FATHER: Is it, my son?

ADAM: And it’s your fault. Yet you blame ME! Now I must rule. If my sister brought shame on our heads, I would save the family honor by purifying the house with her blood. I would save the respect of the family. Now it is you who have shamed our house. There is only one thing left to do. I must do it. It isn’t myself I care about. It’s the family honor that must be saved. I must take charge! The family honor must be preserved. You are evil!! You are evil. You have destroyed our house! Yes, yes! You have destroyed the honor of our house!

[Adam strikes his father with his stick. the fat her falls. We hear the sound of a stick beating on a body. A crowd begins to gather out of sight behind the wall, some voices shouting in praise, others in blame; “Give it to him!” “Take it easy!” “Ha, ha, that it” “He’ll watch his tongue the next time," etc.]

MAYOR: Shaluk! Out there! Take care of Abu-Adam!

[The sound of the beating and shouting stops. Adam enters hurriedly]

MAYOR: Adam! Adam! What have you done?

ADAM: I have done my duty! It is expedient for us that one should die for the family.

MAYOR: But Adam - your father! This was your father!

ADAM: Pardon me, Mayor. It is well after sundown. The service has almost begun. I have yet to change. I never miss the evening synagogue meeting. [exits]

MAYOR: Yes! You must not be late to PRAY! [Shaluk enters] Is he alive?

SHALUK: He will live.

MAYOR: Did he say anything?

SHALUK: He said, “Never mind, son. You don’t understand.”

MAYOR: Very well! Go and care for him. Indeed. Indeed. We have never seen this in the village. The father should have beaten the boy for disobedience, but now the boy beats the father.

PRIEST: But you see, Mayor, why he did it? It was on purpose. He wanted to show what rebellion means. He did it to show his great love. Maybe this will bring the son to repent. Now a way of reconciliation is open.

MAYOR: I said there must be some punishment for disobedience. I said there must be discipline and order. Honor and respect must be preserved. The father has preserved these things, but he did it in a strange way.

PRIEST: But was not this the only way?

MAYOR: I am beginning to see that it was.

PRIEST: I told him he must show his love. He has shown supreme love. Now the son must decide what he will do. Surely he will accept the father’s forgiveness. What do you think will happen, Mayor?

MAYOR: I don’t know. What do you think?

PRIEST: I think he’ll repent. For the first time he’ll see that his pride really means he secretly wanted the death of his father. He will be shocked at what he has done, especially when he finds that his father came to him on purpose, knowing what would happen. In a flash it will come to him that the stick should have been in his father’s hand. He’ll see that there’s nothing he can do to make up for his actions. This will lead him to a broken-hearted repentance. Because of what his father has done, reconciliation is possible. Now he’ll see something of the depth of his father’s love. With rebellion burned out of him, he will confess his unworthiness and repent. Don’t you think so, Mayor?

MAYOR: I hope you’re right, but I’m afraid.

PRIEST: What are you afraid of, Mayor?

MAYOR: He’s very proud. I am afraid this great act of his father will harden him. I remember once I saw a mob beating an innocent man. They began to strike him. Their conscience within them told them he was innocent. In order to silence the voice of conscience, they began to beat him more. I am afraid this son will be hardened in his pride. If he does this, he will choose to be the enemy of his father, and so he will be indeed his father’s enemy. He will live outside the love of his father. His life will be a living hell, and his father will be his enemy. This will be his doing.

PRIEST: Then if he does this, the father will continue to suffer the agony of the one whose love is rejected.

MAYOR: I am afraid so! My friend, tonight we have seen a great work of reconciliation. We must think on these things . . .