The Recovery (2011)

“An interesting take on the end of our Lord’s life. As a Christian, this book made me stretch my mind and think outside a Biblical view.”—Anonymous Amazon reviewer

“It’s a fascinating theory.”—Beverly Garside, author of I and You and Smile!

“Your books are the topic of many arguments with my Christian friends. Thank you.”
—Cyndi Bowdish Noyes

My Jesus play is not what you think.  I am not a Christian, and for years it was clear to me that mortal Yeshua (the man called “Jesus”) survived his crucifixion and the resulting religion (now claimed by over a billion adherents) was a big misunderstanding that Yeshua, a devout Jew, would never have approved.  At the same time, I did not consider my view important enough to write a play about, but after Mel Gibson released The Passion of the Christ, I felt that enough was enough.  I had heard the Christian point of view my entire life, and I said, “Now it’s my turn.”  I took over a year, from 2004 to 2005, to write what I thought the likeliest scenario, based on medicine, science, politics, and human nature.  In the process of researching the matter, I learned that “Jesus” wasn’t even Yeshua’s name.  How could Christians not even know their own god’s name, I wondered?  In 2011 I polished and released The Recovery, my first major work.

My play begins in the tomb, where Yeshua, unconscious and mistaken for dead, is placed and allowed to recover undisturbed.  (An unconscious man wakes and escapes–it’s a miracle!)  When he realizes what has happened and the danger in which he remains, he takes action, first visiting his love Maramene and his closest disciples.  Unfortunately, his appearance to reassure his friends he is alive has an unintended side effect.  (He came to tell us he’s still alive—it’s a miracle!)

From the back cover:

The World is slow to understand, and easily deceived. It thinks it sees things it does not, and it believes what it is told. Someone is telling them things that are not true.

Sometime about 30 AD, a charismatic leader in Judea named Yeshua was sentenced to death. He had threatened neither Rome nor the king in name only Herod. But he had trespassed on the area of the local religious authority, with greater effect than innumerable other street preachers. The Pharisees demanded his death. Herod did not want to get involved, but Rome was ever interested in stability and obliged to bring it about without emotion. The Pharisees were satisfied. But the plan went awry: Yeshua was not killed. This play is Robert Peate’s vision of what Yeshua did next, based on the latest medical and scientific data available. Christians: dare you test your faith?

“Great concept!”—Jay Sizemore

Can faith withstand the scrutiny, when faith meets science?

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