Just Words?

Author Marcus Bach once interviewed Josef Meier, the actor who for many years played the part of Jesus in a highly successful “Passion Play.” Mr. Meier, who had enacted the role more than four thousand times, told Mr. Bach a secret. Here is how the author describes the interview:

Mr. Meier said there was a period in the early history of the play when it seemed that the performances would never “catch on.” There was something about the production and the organization that just “didn’t click.” Often, he would meet with the cast and they would discuss the option of just giving up and disbanding. What miracle occurred to turn the project from failure to phenomenal success? Here is how Mr. Meier explained it:

“One evening when I was playing the part of the Christus, as I had done many times before. There were very few people in the audience, and hope was running low. I came to the lines in the play…