I am not a Theologian nor am I learned in the ways of religion and scripture.
Why?
Because I am an actor and a writer who has been greatly blessed to portray the most beloved man of all time,.Jesus…Jesus of Nazareth for over twenty years. I have lived the role of Jesus more than three hundred times, while appearing in my one-man play, ROAD TO BETHANY.
During these portrayals I have rubbed elbows with Jesus, worn his clothing and walked in his sandals. At all times before the presentations and during I call upon the Spirit of Jesus Christ to come to me and He has graciously answered my call. There have been times during performances where thoughts emotions and actions have taken place that did not feel as though they were mine.
For example, once, prior to exiting the stage, I felt this electricity surge through me. Not a great electrical shock, a subdued one, nonetheless evident…a tingling sensation. I realized that I was being shown, physically to a small degree, the feeling that Jesus experienced, and how he would notice the draining of “power” in his body when the woman touched his garment (Luke 8:43-46)
…LUKE 8:43-46…And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him, and touched the fringe of His cloak; and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched me?”…”Peter said, “Master, the multitudes are crowding and pressing uponYou.” But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.”
The play, ROAD TO BETHANY, is rather straightforward in its presentation, with some exceptions. But it is these exceptions that make the play memorable.
The audience meets Jesus outside Jericho on the road to Bethany on his final journey to Jerusalem and subsequent trials. The introduction to the play allows the audience to go back into the past and join a large “unseen” audience, so that everything that takes place occurs at that moment…”real time”. The audience experiences the presence of Jesus in characteristic action for over thirty minutes.
In his conversation with both the seen and “unseen” audience the entire life of Jesus is revealed, from birth through the resurrection. That makes the play interesting and enlightening, but the drama comes when he receives revelations of what is to occur in the coming trial. When that happens he goes into a trance-like state and does and says what is revealed to him. He actually ascends the cross in view of the audience.
I wrote this play to bring to the people of today a small idea, dramatically, of what Jesus experienced at his crucifixion. I believe the live presentation is more intense and personal than one performed on the screen.
It is taking a lot upon myself to say I wrote the play. Let us say, rather, that I was the playwright that compiled the words from scripture. The idea of how to portray the crucifixion was revealed to me.
Without my director there would be no play. It was my good friend and skilled director, D.V. Gokhale (Gokul) who coaxed and bullied a performance from me, that brings to the stage a man who is not Robert Macklin acting as Jesus, but rather a man that could be Jesus. His walk is not mine nor is his manner of speech. His emotions, gestures, his every action do not resemble those of mine.
I also wrote and perform in three other one-man plays on the lives of: Paul, Jacob and Moses…Over 1500 performances to date.
What has all this to do with this book?
While researching, writing and performing I have become immersed in the life of Jesus, especially the latter part of his life. So much so that I started wondering why he did certain things and why he went certain places. I wondered what he was feeling at that time. What his relationship was like with those around him and with the Father, during those intense and horrific times.
In concentrating on that single year…His last, I was able to focus more attentively on the bible verses involved, and in so doing, discovered answers to questions that have plagued me for years. Sometimes it required using other meanings of words, to bring answers to light. At times the answers were always there, I just had to dig harder, and in so doing, I discovered the key to understanding one of the “codes” of Da Vinci. You won’t find it in the chapter on the Passover Feast (The Last Supper)…read on.
Aside from the many books I read, my research took me to Israel in the summer of 1991, following the first war with Iraq and the United States-led Allied Forces. I went there to experience being on the ground so to speak, to aid me in sense-memory. So that when I refer to certain places in my play, pictures come to mind.
During my stay I spent nine days behind the walled city of old Jerusalem, residing in the Ecce Homo Convent…a hospice for pilgrims. You will read of the Ecce Homo in my story, and find out how it ties in with Jesus’ last days.
A kindly priest took me on a walk of the Stations of the Cross ( a walk in old Jerusalem following the route Jesus is presumed to have taken, with “stations” marked indicating what occurred at each one, from his trial to his crucifixion, death, and burial). Currently there are fourteen “stations”, but the numbers and locations have varied throughout the centuries…I wore the sandals that I use in my play, starting on the Via Dolorosa…the Way of Tears. I could say that I walked in his footsteps on that fateful day…Of course the actual physical characteristics have changed, but the topography of the route remains essentially the same.
I climbed the Mount of Olives…It’s not very high, but it’s almost straight up. I climbed it twice; and twice I had to sit down and rest half-way up, but so did this young man with me from Canada. Jesus must have had the legs of a mountain goat to climb that hill so many times during his last days. I visited many places purported to be the sites of great significance in his final days…Bethany, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Upper Room, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Garden Tomb, the hill of Golgotha, the Kidron Valley, Galilee, Nazareth.
By the Sea of Galilee I ate what is called Saint Peter’s fish…delicious. In Tiberias I resided by the Sea. At dawn I watched the sun rise and took a picture of the lake/sea and a lone fishing boat crossing the still waters. Dawn is the best time to see the lake, before the power boats and water skiers pollute the waters.
My efforts to walk around the lake were thwarted by the fences that make the entrance to the sea private. But I did put my feet in the waters of Galilee one night, sitting on a rock watching the waves lap upon the shore, while watching a crowd of noisy teenagers board a cruise ship for their seagoing adventure; and I’ll always remember that lone boat sailing in from a night of fishing.
I visited near the springs of Mt. Hermon, which have special significance in my story. I drank from the stream that comes from one of the springs. Should I have my final wish fulfilled, I will spend some months in the area just “being there” near the fount of life, at the Mt. Hermon Springs, communing with nature and the Father.
At this writing I still experience great joy in portraying Jesus in my play, just as I derive great satisfaction in writing this book, my personal reflection on His last days on earth, with the hope that it will make Him as real to you as He is to me.
ROBERT MACKLIN Los Angeles, CA
2005
1) Palestine
2) Galilee
3) Jerusalem