Justin-Miracle

Wide shot, exterior day. Reporter standing in open, rocky desert terrain with cave opening behind him to the right.
Reporter: Here in Bethany, just a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem, a man named Lazarus died after suffering from an illness for a couple of days. Not an unusual story. No, but here it gets strange; this cave, right behind me, was Lazarus’s tomb, yet here it stands; open, empty. I’m here in Bethany to try to find out what happened here; and to interview eye witnesses to this reported miracle.


Medium close up, exterior day. Reporter seated in a court yard, back to camera. Two women sit facing him.
Reporter: One month ago, your brother took ill.
Martha: Yes.
Reporter: What did you do?
Martha: Well, normally these things pass, but after a couple of days we saw he was getting worse…
Reporter: So, did you send for a physician?
Mary: A doctor had come early on and said all he could do was rest and pray. As he got worse, we sent for Jesus.


Wide shot, exterior day. Reporter slowly moving towards the cave entrance while talking
Reporter: Jesus of Nazareth has been called many things in this area. He is a wandering teacher who travels with a group of disciples and frequently attracts large audiences when he stops to speak. Not popular with religious leaders, yet many call him “Rabbi” some call him “Lord” and some claim an even higher title…


Medium close up, exterior day. Reporter seated in a court yard, back to camera. Two women sit facing him.
Reporter: Why send for a vagrant teacher?
Mary: He’s not just a teacher; He’s…the Christ the prophets spoke of.
Martha: He is the Son of God.
Reporter: That’s a big claim.
Martha: He’s done big things. He’s given sight to the blind. He’s fed thousands of people with just a few loaves and fish.
Reporter: Could he not just be a prophet, or someone else empowered by God?
Mary: No. He claims to be the Christ and God’s son. If he’s not, if he’s a liar, then how is my brother alive?


Wide shot, exterior day. Reporter crouching by the cave opening. Shot tightens as reporter speaks.
Reporter: That is a question I am not yet able to answer. Could he exaggerate his claims? Certainly previous prophets have used hyperbole in their pronouncements. Unfortunately, I was not able to get an interview with Jesus himself, but I was able to sit down with one of his disciples, Thomas.


Medium close up, exterior day. Reporter seated in a court yard, back to camera. A man sits facing him.
Reporter: Were you with Jesus when he received the message that Lazarus was sick?
Thomas: Yes, we had went across the Jordan because Jesus had upset the religious leaders and they wanted to arrest him; maybe stone him.
Reporter: So you all risked arrest to come back into the area?
Thomas: Yes...well, not right away. We stayed where we were for two more days preaching and baptizing.
Reporter: Two more days? Did he not understand how serious it was?
Thomas: He understood, I think, when he told us it was time to come, he said Lazarus had died. Actually no, he said he had fallen asleep and he was going to wake him, but we didn’t understand. Then he told us plainly, Lazarus had died.
Reporter: He could have saved him though, right? If he knew he was dying he could have went and saved him, right?
Thomas: Yes. He said something about it being better for our sake that he didn’t save him from dying; so that we could believe.


Medium close up, exterior day. Reporter seated in a court yard, back to camera. Two women sit facing him.
Reporter: How long did it take for Jesus to arrive?
Mary: I’m not sure, longer than it should have. Lazarus had been buried for four days by the time Jesus got here.
Reporter: What happened then?
Martha:  I heard he was nearing Bethany so I went out to meet him…
Mary: I was very upset. I stayed at home. I felt let down.
Martha: I told him I knew he could have saved Lazarus, but that I also knew that anything he asked from God would be given to him. He told me Lazarus would rise again and asked if I believed him. I told him I knew he was the Christ, God’s son. I believed. Then I went and got Mary.
Mary: When I got there I told him I knew if he had come earlier, Lazarus would be alive. Maybe I shouldn’t have laid that on him, but I was so upset. I could tell I upset him when I said it. He looked so sad. All he said was “Where have you laid him?”


Medium close up, exterior day. Reporter crouched by cave entrance.
Reporter: They brought Jesus here, to Lazarus’s tomb. Here is where the story takes an odd turn. Here, the man that they claim to be God’s son, did the most human thing.


Medium close up, exterior day. Reporter seated in a court yard, back to camera. A man sits facing him.
Thomas: He wept. He said he was coming to wake him up, to bring him back from the dead, and when the moment of truth came, when we were standing in front of the grave, he cried like he was uh.
Reporter: Human?
Thomas: Yeah, I guess.


Close up on Martha.
Martha: He told me he was going to bring him back, and then he stood there and wept. He asked me if I believed and then he cried. I was so confused. People were talking, friends that had come from Jerusalem to be with us. They were saying “Look how much he loved him,” and “If he healed the blind, couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Reporter: (off camera) But that’s not it is it?
Martha: No. When he finished he said to open the tomb.


Close up on Mary
Mary: Martha told him he’d been buried four days, that he would be starting to stink. He looked at him and asked her “Didn’t you say you believed?”


Medium close up, exterior day. Reporter seated in a court yard, back to camera. A man sits facing him.
Thomas: They opened the tomb. I was expecting a lightning flash or a big boom or that he’d go in and pray over the body. He just stood there and called him to come out. Like Lazarus was just in there sitting, waiting for him to call.

Close up on a man.
Lazarus: It was like I just woke up and heard Jesus calling for me to come out. So I did.
Reporter: (off camera You just got up and walked out?
Lazarus: (laughs) No, I was wrapped up for burial, I kind of hopped out.
Reporter: You could have called back for help.
Lazarus: I was dead and then I heard Jesus calling me. I didn’t need help; I needed to get up and go.
Reporter: What do you want to tell people about this?
Lazarus: I was dead, now I’m alive; what more is there to say?


Medium close up, exterior day. Reporter crouched by cave entrance.
Reporter: What more indeed. Jesus came saying he would raise the dead, and he did. But before, what I still can’t manage to grasp, knowing he could raise him, he wept. He mourned for a man he knew he would heal. Is he the Christ or a prophet? Is he God or is he a man? This reporter can’t make sense of this strange wandering rabbi, but maybe I don’t need to. A man was dead in this tomb a month ago, now he is at home with his sisters. Maybe that is all the answer we need.