Stand In Wonder: Act I
Sunday Before Passover, Jerusalem
LENTEN SERIESPOEMS
The emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin
convened in the Upper Room
at the palace
of Caiaphas, the High Priest.
Twenty-two men,
an elite, handpicked subset,
shuffled in.
The gold threads in their garments glinted
in the dim, flickering light
of oil lamps in sconces
mounted on elegant, tapestried walls.
No one spoke just yet,
awaiting the opening statement
from Caiaphas explaining why he summoned us
under cover of darkness,
although the truth is
most of us knew
what we were about to discuss—
the time had come.
—
Seated in our assigned places
‘round the heavy, carved table
with its tiger-striped grain,
thick pedestal base,
and copper inlays,
Reuben nervously picked at a bowl of dates and nuts
while servants poured the finest spiced wine
into our hammered, two-handled bronze cups.
Light incense cleansed and sweetened
the cool night air wafting in
from open windows,
and for the moment,
the two oppositional factions of the Sanhedrin
were one.
—
When all had arrived,
Malchus, our secret policeman spy,
with broad chest
and pockmarked face and neck,
cleared his throat, and
in his resonant baritone, heavy yet quiet,
reported:
“He’s here.
“Arrived on a donkey a few hours ago
with his entourage, that illiterate mob,
laying down clothes,
laying down palms,
screaming
make straight the road
Son of David, Lord of hosts,
Hosanna in the highest.”
Caiaphas leaned in,
chin on fist, eyes unblinking.
“It’s as if they could even read
the scroll of Zechariah!”
exasperated Ezra chimed in.
More measured, Matthias said,
“He keeps pushing and pushing.
Each time a bit bolder—
daring us to intervene and cause a scene
so he can insult us once again.
“So far,
we’ve been able to ignore him,
dismiss him,
keep him on the margins
largely unseen by the Romans
or our people here in the city.”
Suddenly,
Tobias, the zealous Sadducee,
slapped his meaty hand on the table
causing the bowls of nuts and dates to jump—
“It’s one thing
running around the countryside
performing many signs,
expelling demons,
healing the blind.
“But last week—
Last week!—
just two miles from the city
he had the audacity
to make Lazarus—
whom we all knew,
and knew had died—
rise!
“He has been seen—
Alive!
“How long before we call this
blasphemy—
and sedition,
regardless of having no army??!!
“Agree! Agree!” voiced the other riled-up Sadducees.
“Resurrecting the dead—impossible, never!”
“It simply can’t be!”
—
We Pharisee members shifted uncomfortably.
The rumbling grew louder
and nearly turned to shouting.
Caiaphas rapped his ringed fist
on the table to restore order.
Cicadas in the night ceased their chorus.
The servants poured more spiced wine.
—
Seething, Annas,
low and gravelly, spat out:
“Our Sadducee brothers this time are right.
A story we can’t bury, explain, or deny
has captured the hearts and minds
of Jews here in the capital city—
it’s spread like wildfire
in just one week’s time.
That, my friends, we cannot abide.”
My friend Jonathan then added,
“We put up with his nonsense,
kept records and tried to suppress him,
and ran interference with the Romans.
Yet, his following
keeps growing.
Our inaction has gotten us nothing.
And now see how all of Judea is falling for him.”
Simon shrieked,
“Exactly! What are we accomplishing??”
Then solemnly:
“If we let him go on like this,
everyone will believe in him,
and then the Romans will step in
and take away both our temple
and our nation.
That will be the end
of Jerusalem.”
Then Azariah proclaimed it plainly:
“He’s become an irrefutable, irrepressible,
intractable political problem!”
“Amen! Amen!!”
—
“Silence!”
Caiaphas now on his feet.
“Enough of this.
You all know nothing at all!
It’s better that
one
man
die
than that the whole nation perish.”
The High Priest paced left, then right,
steepled fingers pressed against his lips.
“I’ve decided.”
Caiaphas turned and faced all twenty-two of us.
“The time has come.”
His cold, hard eyes found mine.
“Nicodemus’s sympathies aside,
we must act.
"This Jesus
must die.”
by Kim Skimmons, 3/29/2026
Stand in Wonder
The Passion Story in Six Acts
Act I: Sunday Before Passover, Jerusalem
“The Entry into Jerusalem” by the Italian painter Giotto di Bondone circa 1303-1305
Nicodemus: A Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin who secretly visited Jesus early in his ministry, at night so as not to be seen, to speak with him because he had so many sincere questions.
Nicodemus: The man to whom Jesus first explained the need for people to be born again, of the spirit, in order to see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus: The man who heard Jesus explain, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Nicodemus: The Pharisee who believed. And said nothing.
Afterword
“The Entry into Jerusalem” by the Italian painter Giotto di Bondone circa 1303-1305
Palm Sunday is a day of high emotions, teetering on the edge between happiness and heartbreak. Giotto’s Entry into Jerusalem from the Scrovegni Chapel invites us into a scene of celebration, and true to his form, Giotto draws us beyond the formality of the Byzantine style, and presents a true to life, vibrant scene.
It is a celebration, but one that we cannot give ourselves over to fully; it is a scene of contradictions. Indications of the celebration are set in a scene with an ultramarine blue sky, silver-green olive trees, and the gleaming white walls of the city that provide the backdrop to a brightly clad cavalcade of people who meet in the center of the scene.
A crowd processes out of Jerusalem to meet Christ and his disciples. Some people wave palm fronds, some climb trees to get a better view, and some are removing their garments to lay before the hooves of the donkey that carries Christ.
Yet, there is something foreboding about the faces of the crowd: intense, hungry expressions fixed on Christ.
On the periphery of our awareness hovers the line from the Psalm: “Many dogs surround me, a pack of evildoers closes in upon me.”
About the Art
