Act V - The Synoptic Gospels, Scene 10
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices
Scene10
VOICE THREE: Jesus tried to prepare His disciples to walk that road.
VOICE FOUR: That week would prove to be the greatest emotional roller coaster of their lives.
VOICE ONE: He told them plainly—I am going to die.
VOICE TWO: But they didn’t understand.
VOICE THREE: So once again He told them a story, a story to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
VOICE FOUR: The parable of the unjust judge belongs in the Passion Week. Jesus was teaching the twelve how to prepare for that emotional maelstrom into which they were about to descend. There were only two options.
VOICE ONE: By the end of the week, when they were faced with the reality of His death on the cross, when they were emotionally distraught to the place where they were hiding in fear for their own lives—they could persevere in prayer, or they could give up.
VOICE TWO: During His three days and nights in the tomb they had two options—they could persevere in prayer or they could give up.
VOICE THREE: They were to see God in this story, not by comparison, but by contrast. He was not like the unjust judge.
VOICE FOUR: They were to see themselves in the story either by comparison or by contrast. Would they persevere in prayer? Or would they simply give up?
VOICE ONE: The judge was unlike God in that he lacked the basic requirement for dispensing justice, he was unjust himself.
VOICE TWO: The judge was unlike God in that he could care less about the special care and protection offered to widows under the law of Moses.
VOICE THREE: Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless, or the widow.
VOICE FOUR: The judge was unlike God in that he could be annoyed into granting requests for his own convenience.
VOICE ONE: The widow was like
VOICE TWO: or unlike
VOICE ONE: us, because she never quit believing that the judge would eventually do what was right. God, the righteous judge, will always do what is just and righteous.
VOICE THREE: The widow was like
VOICE FOUR: or unlike
VOICE THREE: us, because she never gave up hope that the judge could be convinced to care about her plight. We will never be persistent in prayer until we become likewise convinced that God cares about our plight.
VOICE ONE: The widow was like
VOICE TWO: or unlike
VOICE ONE: us, because she never quit in spite of the long delay. God is not like the unjust judge whose only reason for delay involved his own self-centered comfort. We cannot annoy God into granting our requests, that is not the reason for persistence in prayer. Prayer isn’t a means of manipulating God into giving us health and wealth and prosperity.
VOICE TWO: We will persist in prayer only when we come to believe that God has a reason for everything He does, including a reason for delay. If we don’t accept that truth—we will give up.
VOICE THREE: Persistence in prayer will not change the length of the delay. The prayer lives of the disciples would not have shortened the passion week or raised Christ from the dead before Sunday. But it would have produced in them a trust even when they couldn’t figure out what He was doing.
VOICE FOUR: When he returned from the grave, did he find those who had persevered in prayer? Or those who had given up and gone back to fishing?
VOICE ONE: When the Son of Man comes again, will He find those who have persevered in prayer, or those who have given up?
VOICE TWO: When the Son of Man cometh, will He find faith on the earth?
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