“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had…”

I am proud to announce I have finished a new play – entitled “The Beggar of Bethesda.” The play is a retelling of the story in the Bible when Jesus healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5: 1-15). This Biblical story is one of the more interesting ones to me, both because it is told with the informative ambiguity that makes the Bible so fascinating and also because it embraces very forcefully the Christian concept of man’s relationship with God.

In my play, the story of the same man – the beggar of Bethesda – is re-told with a different lens, detailing the experience of the beggar before and after the miracle that made him walk. The beggar is not only lame, but cynical and spends his days conning passersby out of money in the great Temple of Jerusalem – until, that is, he meets this strange man who bids him to rise and walk. The news, however, is not as welcome as expected – not to the temple authorities, not even to the man himself – and so he is banished from the city and forced to wander aimlessly. Then, suddenly, a second chance at living comes the beggar’s way – perhaps the only chance he will ever have – but is he faithful enough to take it?

You can find more information about the play here!