"The overture opens on a typical street scene in Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago.   Shepherds are with their sheep, women are washing clothes, merchants are selling their wares, Lazarus, Mary and Martha are working in their garden.   James and John sail on the Sea of Galilee and are greeted by their families.   Scribes, Pharisees and members of the Sanhedrin are administering their duties in the temple and Matthew is collecting taxes."

     (One notes that J. T. Adams in writing this play has taken certain liberties with the actual geography of the Holy Land --- for example: the Sea of Galilee IS NOT in plain sight of the temple but scores of miles away, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha live in Bethany, not Jerusalem, and John the Baptist made his appearance by the Dead Sea, at least 14 miles distant from Jerusalem --- but such is SHOW BIZ!)