THE STORYTELLER'S BIBLE
Act V - The Synoptic Gospels, Scene 4
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices

Scene 4

4                    1

2                            3

VOICE THREE:        Jesus was going to preach!

VOICE FOUR:          The word had spread rapidly through the hill country of Judea.                                           The miracle worker was coming.

VOICE THREE:        Maybe He would heal another blind man!

VOICE TWO:                        Maybe He would feed everyone like He did on the shores of                                               Galilee!

VOICE ONE:             Maybe there would be another confrontation with a demon and                                          they would see an entire herd of pigs run down a hill and drown                                                 themselves in the sea.

VOICE FOUR:          Maybe the Pharisees and Sadducees would be there, and they                                                                   would get to hear Jesus put the pious hypocrites in their place for                                   stealing from widows and orphans when they were supposed to be                                   upholding the law.

VOICE THREE:        What would it have been like to hear Jesus Christ preach?

VOICE TWO:            In the synagogue in Nazareth He read from Isaiah and then sat                                                                  down and told stories.  He told them about the widow of Zarephath                                   in Sidon who provided for Elijah, and Naaman the leper who came                                   to Elijah to be healed.  They were familiar stories but he pointed                                   out a detail his listeners had previously missed.  There were many                                      widows in Israel during the days of Elijah, but only a Gentile                                                                    widow helped him.  There were many lepers in Israel, but only a                                   Gentile leper came to be healed.

VOICE ONE:             They were familiar stories, but the pointed application convicted                                                                those from Nazareth of their unbelief.  They grew so angry with                                    Christ over His unflattering comparison between them and                                        

                                   Gentiles that they drove Him out of the synagogue and tried to                                     throw him over the edge of a cliff.

VOICE FOUR:          In Galilee, He didn’t even wait for a synagogue service.  He                                                                      borrowed a boat from Simon Peter and sat down in the boat to                                                                  preach.  Later he preached a sermon in someone’s living room with                                   people sitting all over the furniture.  It was so crowded that some                                   late comers broke up the roof so they could find a place in the front                                   row for their friend.

VOICE THREE:        Sitting or standing, inside or outside, in the synagogue or at the                                                                 lake, Jesus was ready to preach any time there was a crowd.  What                                   mattered was not the place or even the manner of his  

                                  communication.  What mattered was His message, the content of                                   what He knew people needed to hear.

VOICE ONE:             Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another,                                                                         proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.

VOICE TWO:          Jesus was a herald, with a message from God, His Father.  That                                                                message was good news.  Men who had been in rebellion against                                  the rule of God could be forgiven and come into God’s kingdom.

VOICE FOUR:          He communicated this good news by means of story telling.                                                                       Parables.  Stories with a punch.   Simple stories, but those who                                    listened were expected to see themselves in the narrative

VOICE THREE:        (STAND)  A farmer went out into the field to plant his crop.  As he                                                          took the seed from the bag on his shoulder and scattered it, the                                    seed fell on four kinds of soil.  Some of it fell on the hard path                                                                       where he was walking and the birds gobbled it up.  Some of it fell                                    among the rocks.  Some of it fell on soil that looked good but was                                   full of thorn seeds which outgrew and choked the good seed.  And                                              some fell on good ground and produced the crop the farmer was                                                              seeking.  (SIT) 

VOICE ONE:             Those who listened were expected to see themselves in the story.

VOICE TWO:            Am I the sower?

VOICE FOUR:          Not in this story.  Jesus is the one preaching.  He is the sower.

VOICE THREE:        Am I the seed?

VOICE FOUR:          The disciples didn’t understand the parable and when they asked                                                               Jesus to explain it to them He said the seed was the Word of God.

VOICE TWO:          Am I the birds?

VOICE FOUR:          Let’s hope not.  Jesus said the birds were devils who try to steal the                                                         Word of God away from listeners.

VOICE ONE:             That leaves only one option.  To see ourselves in this parable we                                                                 must see ourselves as dirt.  Soil!  Into what kind of dirt do we                                     receive the Word of God when it is preached?  The condition of                                    our soil becomes the basis for the amount of fruit we bear in                                                                         response to God’s Word.

VOICE THREE:        Story telling.  And the people listened until it was too late to avoid                                   the punch line.