Act V - The Synoptic Gospels, Scene 11
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices
Scene11
VOICE TWO: Standing still in the blackness beneath the olive trees crowding the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus and His disciples could clearly discern the trail of torches and lanterns that wended its way down into the valley from Jerusalem and back up the other side approaching their position in the garden.
VOICE THREE: It would have been easy to disappear under cover of darkness. One or two at a time they could have drifted off into the pitch black of the night and left the approaching soldiers a disappointingly empty garden. But Jesus stood quietly, watching their approach, and the disciples stayed as well.
VOICE FOUR: He stayed because He was the One in control. This was not a story of darkness that overcomes the light. This was not a tragedy at all. It was indeed the hour of darkness—but in the hour of darkness the Light still shined. Jesus was not the victim of random circumstance. He was the victor and everything done during those dark nights and days which followed was done according to His will and the will of the Father.
VOICE ONE: Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to Him because He had planned the future. He didn’t try to stop the soldiers from approaching because everything was going according to the plan He had laid out with His Father before eternity began. This was not just a control of knowing the future, it was a control over the future itself.
VOICE TWO: A detachment of Roman soldiers, elite troops from the army of the world super power. They carried the weapons, they represented the authority, seemingly the power resided with them.
VOICE THREE: Yet it is Jesus who takes control.
VOICE FOUR: The question was simple, “Whom seek ye?” The answer— obvious, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus, the man from a despised village. It was the same name they would use to identify Him on the cross.
VOICE ONE: But the response Jesus gave them, “I am he,” struck a vital chord in the minds of those who understood. “I AM” was the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush. It was the name used by God throughout the great prophecy of the end times in the book of Isaiah. Jesus was not just telling them he was Jesus of Nazareth. He was telling them He was God.
VOICE TWO: Hearing His answer, they responded instinctively with the fear accorded to a Holy God. For one, brief, shining moment their minds were opened to the truth and it was more than they could bear. They drew back and fell to the ground.
VOICE THREE: Jesus was in control. Just a word and the contingent was reduced to groveling in the dirt. The entire company of guards and soldiers came face to face with a powerful majesty beyond compare. They felt the force of tornado winds sweeping them off their feet and knocking them to the ground. Think of any force man could ever face in the natural world and multiply that ten thousand times. These men came in touch with the majesty of Almighty God, and they fell back in terror.
VOICE FOUR: And yet, like the person who battles to survive the tornado, they refused to recognize the powerful truth of the One who could control them simply by saying His name. With all their strength they resisted the truth, battled back against their last opportunity to believe, and resumed their chosen task of arresting the Son of God.
(READER # 3 CROSSES TO # 4 AND LEADS HIM ROUGHLY DOWN RIGHT DURING THE NEXT LINE.)
VOICE ONE: Then they led Him away and brought Him to the high priest’s house.
VOICE TWO: Jesus did the will of the Father so perfectly that even at the moment of His arrest, even in the events of His own death, He remained in complete control of everything happening to Him. It was the Father’s will.
No comments:
Post a Comment