The Blameless One

By Sharon-Kathleen Corner

 James, Miriam, Jude,

Mary, The Mother of Jesus

James, The brother of Jesus

Miriam, the sister of Jesus

Jude, much younger brother of Jesus

Mary is obviously cleaning and comes upon a bundle.  Frowning, she unwraps it and finds a broken vase or something.  She does what a typical mother does, holds it in both hands, then sighs and looks to the heavens. 

Mary:  James!   Jude!  Miriam!  Come over here now!

(Girl comes from off side of stage, boys come from back of the room running down the aisle, making as much noise as boys do.)

James:  Hi mom! 

Jude:   I did my homework mom! 

Miriam:  It’s too early to start dinner mom! 

Mary holds out bundle, kids all look at each other in alarm and step back.

Mary:  Does anyone want to explain this to me?

At the same time….

Jude:  Uh, well, you see, we didn’t –

Miriam:  Well, uh, you see, he didn’t –

James:  Now, then, you see, she didn’t –

Silence.

Mary (taps her foot, crossing her arms) Yes?  I am waiting?

Jude:  Well, there was this big-

Miriam:   This big blast of –

James:  Uh, this big blast of…of well

Jude:  well, there was this big blast of –

Miriam:  Well, you know, mum, this big big-

James:  Yeah, you know mum, this big, huge-

Miriam: Really, really big big sort of blast –

Jude:  Really, REALLY, REALLY big –

Mary:  I got it, a really big blast of absolutely nothing broke this?  Which one of you is going to tell me the truth?

All three are silent.

Mary:  (Louder) Who broke my vase?

All three take a step back.

Mary:  Do I need to call your father?

All three look at each other terrified.

Mary:  That’s it, I am calling your father.

Jude:  Jesus!

The older two look in absolute shock at Joseph, Mary looks at him in surprise.

Mary:  Who broke it?

Jude:  Jesus.  He broke it.

Mary (Goes right in front of Joseph)  Are you sure about that?

Jude:  Uh…..

Mary:  (Looks at the other two)  Is that true?

James and Miriam just look at each other and say nothing.

Mary:  (Stands up)  Right.  I’ll tell you what.  You are all grounded until you decide to tell me the truth.  (she puts the bundle in Miriams hands and walks off stage).

(As soon as she is off stage, James covers his face with hands, Miriam puts bundle down and shakes Jude)

Miriam:  Jesus?   Jesus!  Are you kidding me? 

James:  I can’t believe you tried to blame Jesus!

Jude:  What do you mean?

James:  Jude, haven’t you figured it out yet?
Jude:  Figured what out?
James:  Jesus never does anything wrong!

Jude:  What do you mean never does anything wrong, sure he does.

Miriam:  No, he doesn’t.  Never, ever.

Jude:  Sure he does.  He broke my toy.

James:   No that was me.

Jude:  You? But you said –

James:   Yeah, I know what I said, but it was me.

Jude:  He stole my candy.

James: That was me, too.

Jude:  And who tied my shoes together at the dinner table so I tripped?

James: (Raises hand) Guilty.

Jude:  (Hands on hips, mad now)  You told me Jesus did that!   I suppose you ate my snack after school last week, too!

Miriam:  Oh, no…uh, that was me.  (Jude turns on her) I was hungry!  Sorry! 

Jude:  I yelled at Jesus.  I blamed him.  And you know what, he took didn’t say a thing.  He didn’t he didn’t do it.

James:  That’s because he’s perfect.

Jude:   He’s what?

Miriam:  He’s perfect.  He’s perfectly perfect.  He never does anything wrong, haven’t you noticed?

Jude:  I have heard him say He is not of this world.

James:  Well that’s putting it mildly.

Jude:  Huh?

Miriam:  Look, it’s a long story.  But, in the meantime, we have go admit to mom that we broke the crockery because we were having a wet laundry fight.

James:  Come on, let’s go.

Jude:  Can I ask you something?

Miriam:  Sure what?

Jude:  How come Jesus never just answers my question?  He always has to tell me this story and I have to figure out what he is talking about.

James:  I don’t know, he has always done that.  

Miriam:  Aunt Elizabeth told me that we should treasure his words, that everything he says is like hearing the Word of God.

Jude:  You mean God talks in stories, too?

James:   (Looks at Elizabeth)  You don’t think that is what Aunt Elizabeth meant, do you?

Miriam:  (shrugs)  I hope I get to heaven one day to find out.   Come on, let’s go and confess to mom.