Scene 4
(Nazareth. Joseph the carpenter is having a dream. Enter an angel.)ANGEL: Joseph, you are the most fortunate person on earth, Your wife Mary will soon have a child.
JOSEPH: Stop, Angel! What you say is absurd. First of all, I am not yet married to Mary. And if it is true that she is with child, in spite of my deepest love for her I am not going to brave the waves of merciless public criticism by marrying her. After all, who wants to submit himself to wild scandals?
ANGEL: Mary’s child will be a divine child. You must marry her. Since he is the Lord’s beloved son, his divinity can easily set aside all human laws and principles. I warn you, Joseph, do not act like a rank fool. Accept Mary. Marry her. Claim her as your very own. Your son’s name will be Jesus. That means salvation. Her son, who is equally your son, shall be the King of Israel. He shall illumine the entire world.
JOSEPH: I bow to your deep wisdom, Angel. Mary and I shall become one and inseparable. But, you know, I am just a simple man, a sincere man and a humble man.
ANGEL: Joseph, I like your simplicity, I love your sincerity, I adore your humility.
JOSEPH: Angel, I wish to ask you something. Please give me a sincere answer. How often do you see God?
ANGEL: I see God on rare occasions.
JOSEPH: I was under the impression that you saw God daily.
ANGEL: Oh, no. We angels are not so lucky as the cosmic gods. They see God daily.
JOSEPH: What do you and your angel comrades actually do?
ANGEL: We do quite a few things both for God and man. We bring down God’s messages from the cosmic gods and offer them to aspiring human beings. We inspire human beings secretly with deep inspiration and kindle the flame of aspiration in them.
JOSEPH: Tell me clearly, if possible, what you angels actually are.
ANGEL: We are of God’s strong Love and we are for man’s high promise.
JOSEPH: How great you are!
ANGEL: You are wrong, Joseph. Just say how fortunate we are. God consciously appoints us to serve Him in man. Man unconsciously invokes us to show him the way to God’s Transcendental Abode.
JOSEPH: Sorry to change the subject.
ANGEL: That’s perfectly all right.
JOSEPH: Do you really think and feel that my son Jesus will be the King of Israel?
ANGEL: No thinking, no feeling! I clearly see that your son Jesus will be the King of Israel. Something more. He will be the divine Emperor of the whole world. And he will forever rule the earth-consciousness with his love-power. (Joseph folds his hands and bows to the angel. The angel blesses him.) May God, the author of all good, bless your devoted heart.
