Prophecy

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Then
they sailed
to the
country
of the
Gadarenes,
which is
opposite
Galilee.
[Luke 8:26]
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(The warm afternoon
is waning, just
like the midday sun.
The boat, carrying
Jesus and His
disciples back to
Galilee, is just
coming into shore.
Their day has been
spent in the region
of Gadarenes: just
across from Galilee.)
___________________
[SIGH.]

"What IS it,
LORD? Are
You thinking
about what
HAPPENED...
TODAY?"

[SLOW NOD.]
[CONTEMPLATIVE FACE.]
"Yes,
My Peter.
There is going
to be 'hell to
pay'."
[SMILE!]

"WHAT?"
(Peter squints,
in confusion.)
What sort
of expression...
is THAT,
My Lord?"

[SMILE.]
"It's a saying
that.....comes
from a very
different
language,
than ours."
[CHUCKLE.]

"WHOSE,
Lord?
Certainly..
not the GREEKS?"

"No;
it's from ANOTHER
land....."
[POINT TO THE
WESTERN EDGE
OF THE SKY.]
"From....over,
THAT way."
[POINT.]

(John, in
the middle of
eating a chunk
of stale bread
he found in his
tunic pocket,
speaks up. His
mouth is full.)
"But.....there's
nothing OVER
THERE,
My Lord!"

(Peter,
remembering something,
suddenly laughs.)
"Ah! You TOLD
us about that
place, BEFORE!
Is this the
land of the ....
CHARIOTS-WITHOUT-
HORSES?"

[SMILING!]
"Yes."
[NOD.]
"Yes,
Peter;
that's RIGHT."

(John, biting
off another
chunk of stale
bread, shakes
his head.)
"I NEVER
HEARD of
such a PLACE!"

(Peter pokes
John in the arm.)
"Shhhhh!
The MASTER
is SPEAKING!"

(John tosses
a piece of stale
bread chunk
at his brother.)

"Alright,
My children...
behave."

(Peter picks
up the chunk
of food,
and tosses
it back at John's
head.)
"So.....
WHAT did You
MEAN by that,
Lord: 'paying
HELL'? What
does THAT MEAN?"

[PATIENT SIGH.]
"It means that.....
sometime,
in the distant
future...."
[SMILE.]
"...I will be
rebuked about
what HAPPENED,
today...."

(Peter stares,
open-mouthed.
John even stops
chewing, for
a moment. Peter
is the one who
speaks, though.)
"From WHO,
LORD? Who
would REBUKE
You?"

[CALM VOICE.]
"One of
My Own children:
an ISRAELITE."

"One of them,
who tries to
toss STONES,
at us,
LORD?"

"No;
this child
lives over THERE...."
[POINT UP AT
THE WESTERN
SKY.]
[SMILE!]
"Where,
they only
throw....
WORDS,
like stones."

(Peter and
John look
at each other:
squinting. Most
of the time,
they have no idea
what their Master
is talking about.
Peter speaks up.)
"Why would this
Israelite
throw WORDS,
at You....
My LORD?"

(John is now
biting into a
mushy piece
of fruit. His
mouth is full.)
"Yes.....and,
WHY would
she REBUKE
You,
My LORD?
I don't UNDERSTAND?"

[SMILE!]
"She is going to
be very upset....
about the PIGS."

"WHAT?"
(Peter grimmaces.)
"What PIGS:
the ones that
FELL off the
CLIFF,
today?
..And,
DROWNED?"

(John speaks,
through a mouth
full of mushy fruit.)
"Yes, Lord........
the ones,
that the DEMONS
went INTO?"

[NODDING.]
"Yes,
My children;
the very.. ONES."
[GAZE AT THE
WAVES OF THE
SEA, AS THEIR
BOAT GENTLY
ROCKS TO,
AND FRO.]

"Why would
she be bothered...
about those PIGS,
LORD? What
about the poor
fellow....that
You HEALED,
of the DEMONS?"

[PATIENT VOICE.]
"That will be of
very little INTEREST
to her,
My Peter."
[SHAKING HEAD
IN CONSTERNATION.]
"....Only, that the
two-thousand beasts
fell to their DEATHS...
over the CLIFFS."

"And,
she will REBUKE
You....for THIS,
LORD?"

[NODDING,
STILL GAZING
OUT, AT THE SEA.]
"YES;
I was the One,
Who allowed
the demons
to enter the
poor,
doomed creatures."

(John tosses
the well-chewed
seed, of the
eaten fruit,
out of the boat.
It bobs for a moment,
and then disappears,
into the green waves.)
"But.....Lord:
I don't UNDERSTAND?
If she lives in such
a foreign LAND...
how then,
does she HEAR of
this THING?"

(Peter pokes
John, again;
John's ribs are
hard to find,
though.)
"STUPID!
SOMEBODY
MUST HAVE
TOLD HER!"

(John makes
a face at his
brother in Christ,
and then turns
to his Lord,
once more.)
"Yes,
Lord!
But...
WHO?"

[CHUCKLING.]
[GENTLE SMILE!]
"Me."
********************
And
when He stepped
out on
the land,
there met
Him a certain
man
from the city
who had demons
for a long time....
Now a herd
of many swine
were feeding
there on the
mountain...
Then
the demons
went out
of the man
and
entered
the swine.
[Luke 8:27-33]

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