Act VI - The Gospel of John
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices
Scene 5
VOICE TWO: The Death of Christ, according to John.
VOICE ONE: A portrait in black and gray.
VOICE FOUR: The story of a seeming tragedy.
VOICE THREE: A painting of dark and dismal disaster.
VOICE TWO: Yet John refuses to allow his story to remain dark. He refuses to dwell on the details of the death, simply saying, “They crucified Him.”
VOICE ONE: (CROSS DOWN RIGHT) Instead, he uses rays of brilliant light to show how God took the events of the worst day in history and transformed tragedy into triumph. He portrays Christ claiming victory in the face of seeming defeat. His is a stunning depiction of God in the business of miraculous transformation, crafting good from the worst that man could do.
VOICE FOUR: (CROSS DOWN LEFT) Pilate had been frustrated with the rulers of the Jews ever since they had first called him out of his judgment hall to meet with them on the steps of the Praetorium. He knew they hated him and simply wanted him to rubber stamp their previous decision to have Christ put to death. He had repeatedly tried to release Him, and yet each time he had backed down, cowed by the threats of the Jews to report him to Caesar.
VOICE THREE: In one futile gesture of defiance, Pilate chose the title King of the Jews as the official indictment to be hung over His head on the cross. He knew it would provoke the rulers, and it did.
VOICE TWO: Insult upon insult. If He thinks He’s a king, we’ll give Him a crown. We’ll give Him a robe. We’ll give Him a title. But the crown will bring pain, the robe will bring mocking and the title will bring shame. He will be crowned in weakness, robed in borrowed glory and proclaimed to his subjects with bitter irony, a king whose procession march leads to a cross.
VOICE ONE: Pilate wrote the sign so that all who read it would insult Christ along with him. But God transformed that insult into a title of glory. God changed Pilate’s sign into a proclamation of the fulfillment of His promise to give to King David a royal line that would never cease.
VOICE FOUR: Many Jews read the sign. They became witnesses of His death, but three days later they would become witnesses of His resurrection. And just fifty days later, on Pentecost, three thousand of those same Jews would receive that resurrected Messiah as their King of kings and Lord of lords.
VOICE THREE: Pilate crowned Him with thorns, but God crowned Him with glory.
VOICE TWO: (READER # 3 KNEELS AND PANTOMIMES DICING) At the foot of the cross, soldiers played a game of dice.
VOICE ONE: (CROSS TOWARD READER # 3 AND WATCH GAME) They had witnessed multiple executions, stood guard over many a body in order to keep distraught and even revengeful family members at a safe distance. They were inured to screams of agony and endless gasping for breath as the condemned slowly asphyxiated under the pressure of their own body weight against their lungs.
VOICE FOUR: (CROSS TOWARD READER # 3 AND WATCH) They were simply doing their duty.
VOICE THREE: What did concern them was making sure they got what was coming to them. Part of the reward for serving on the death squad was the privilege of dividing among them the possessions of the condemned.
VOICE TWO: Four soldiers—four shares. Robe. Belt. Sandals. Head covering.
VOICE ONE: That left His tunic, a seamless piece of cloth which would have been rendered worthless by cutting it into pieces. So they decided to gamble for it. There was nothing significant in their minds concerning that decision, it was all in a day’s work. A trivial matter. They were bored and anxious to head back to the barracks.
VOICE FOUR: (FACES AUDIENCE) Notice what God does with this insignificant, trivial act born out of indifference. The solder’s act is transformed by God into a testimony to the faithfulness of His Word. “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
VOICE THREE: What they do as a merciless bit of byplay, fulfills exactly this amazing prophecy concerning Christ.
VOICE TWO: (STAND AND CROSS DOWN CENTER READER #3 STANDS NEXT TO #2.)Standing at the foot of the cross but apart from the soldiers, John the Beloved gazed upon the events of a death scene he would later record. One arm encircled the shoulder of his mother’s sister Mary whom Jesus had just entrusted to his care. She wept and John wept with her. He grieved for the loss of One in whom he had invested all his hopes and dreams.
VOICE ONE: They would stand there for three hours. The sun would grow dark at noon as if nature itself were shielding her face from the sight of that broken body hanging on the tree. They would hear the mocking of the soldiers and witness the scornful attack and the humble pleading of the two thieves.
VOICE FOUR: But all that John would record when he wrote it all down would be the words “after this.”
VOICE THREE: After this! After three hours of agony. After three hours of pain and suffering, mockery and scorn. John was there. It was his job to comfort Mary as she watched the cruel death of her Son by crucifixion. He cringed at every cruel remark, shuddered at the sight of the blood dripping from the crown of thorns, and agonized with every gasp of breath taken by his Friend.
VOICE TWO: But John had a greater purpose in mind than simply describing for us a scene of death. This was not a mob scene gone terribly awry. This was not the manipulation of a weak-kneed despot by bitter subjects seeking their own political gain. This was not even an egocentric tyrant taking out his frustrations in spite of his personal conviction of innocence.
VOICE ONE: This was the death of the incarnate Son of God, deity who took upon Himself the form of man in order to become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
VOICE FOUR: (CROSS TO UP CENTER BEFORE SPEAKING) It is finished!
VOICE THREE: The plan that was completed that day on Mount Calvary was a plan to bring glory to God. It was not a tragedy precipitated by the sinfulness of mankind. It was an eternal plan, conceived by God and accomplished by Christ for the purpose of bringing eternal glory to Almighty God. God planned Christ’s death in order to bring many sons to glory—an eternal inheritance as children of God.
VOICE TWO: (SIT ON STOOL UP CENTER BEFORE SPEAKING) It is finished!
VOICE ONE: Everything concerning Christ, even to the minute details, was accomplished in accordance with the revelation God had given to men. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of all prophecy. He was the promised Messiah of the Pentateuch, the suffering Savior of Isaiah, the loving Shepherd of the Psalms and the coming King of Zechariah.
VOICE FOUR: God not only planned the death of Christ on the cross, He predicted the death and inspired prophecy so that all could see its fulfillment in Christ.
VOICE THREE: (CROSS LEFT TO POSITION BESIDE STOOL) It is finished!
VOICE TWO: The work of Christ was now complete. His death was the conclusion of the work He had come to accomplish. He yielded up Himself to death. The death of Christ was a chosen death. He gave up His own life as no other man had ever done.
VOICE ONE: (CROSS RIGHT TO POSITION BESIDE STOOL) It is finished!
(WHEN THE ABOVE MOVEMENTS ARE COMPLETE THE READERS WILL BE IN THIS POSITION.)
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VOICE FOUR: A cry of triumph.
VOICE THREE: An announcement of the greatest of all accomplishments, one that would bring glory to God for all eternity.
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