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

THE STORYTELLER’S BIBLE

Script by Bob Allen

Arranged for four voices. 

Voice two should be female.  The other voices can be either male or female.

Scene changes are indicated by numbers and should be marked by a pause,

accompanied by a re-arrangement of the positions of the speakers.   Suggested staging and     

movements are included in the text. 

PART FIVE: THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS

Scene 1

4          3          2          1

VOICE ONE:             The year, according to our present calendar reckoning, was 4 B.C.                                    The nation, under Roman domination for more than thirty years,                                                needed a king.

VOICE TWO:              Oh, there was a king in Jerusalem, and he had the title King of the                                                              Jews.

VOICE THREE:        But he wasn’t a Jew at all, he was an Idumean.

VOICE FOUR:          And the Jews had not made him king, the Roman Emperor Caesar                                      had given him the title.

VOICE ONE:             Herod’s father Antipater was a Jew by religion, but an Arab by                                                                  race.  When Marc Antony invaded Egypt, Antipater and his son                                    Herod led a small army out to support the Romans.  For this they                                    were made Roman citizens. 

VOICE TWO:              Later Herod made a trip to Rome to request the title King of the                                                                 Jews.   His first official act as king was to kill one of the leading                                     priests named  Antigonus.  He also executed his own sons, as well                                     as their mother Mariamne, when he thought they were conspiring                                     against him.  In 4 B.C. Herod was almost at the end of his 

                                    reign.  An incurable disease raged through his body.  Assassination                                                           attempts multiplied and he never slept in the same bed two nights                                     in a row.

VOICE THREE:        The Jews desperately needed a king to keep Herod from dividing                                   the kingdom between his sons Archelaus and Herod Antipas.  They                                                               needed a king—

VOICE FOUR:          And God gave them a baby!

VOICE ONE:             In the year 4 B.C. Israel had been without a teaching prophet for                                   over four hundred years.  Malachi, a contemporary of Ezra and                                    Nehemiah, had passed off the scene about 444 B.C. and God had                                    not sent a prophet to take his place.

VOICE TWO:            Taking the place of the true prophets during those four hundred                                                               silent years were numerous false prophets.  The people had 

                                 no open vision from God.

VOICE THREE:        There were brave military leaders among the people, men like                                                                    Judas Maccabeaus who captured Jerusalem just five years after                                   Antiochus Ephiphanes profaned the temple by offering a pig on the                                   altar.  The Jewish “Festival of Lights” or Hannukah is still                                            

                                  celebrated today in memory of his cleansing of the temple.

VOICE FOUR:          But there was no prophet in Israel.  They needed an Elijah, an                                                                   Isaiah or a Malachi—a man to speak to them on behalf of God.                                    They needed a prophet—

VOICE ONE:             and God gave them a baby!

VOICE TWO:            In the year 4 B.C. the nation of Israel needed a godly priest,                                                                       someone in the tradition of Aaron or at least a scribe like Ezra.                                    They needed someone who could lead in temple worship with a                                    genuine approach to God.

VOICE THREE:        When Herod came to power he set up and deposed priests at his                                                               whim.  They were changed so frequently that it became almost an                                   annual appointment.  By some reckonings there were eighty                                       

                                  different high priests during that time.

VOICE FOUR:          It was generally thought that a man could not serve until he was                                                                thirty years of age.  But Aristobulus was only sixteen when he                                     

                                  became high priest.  He looked so beautiful in the robes that Herod                                   became jealous of his beauty and had him killed.

VOICE ONE:             The chief source of the wealth accumulated by the family of the                                     high priests came from the monopoly they maintained over the sale                                    of sheep, doves, wine and oil in the temple.  Since their sacrifices                                     were the only ones approved for use in the temple they could                                     charge exorbitant prices—which they did.

VOICE TWO:            Israel seriously needed a priest who was a holy leader—

VOICE THREE:        And God gave them a baby.

VOICE FOUR:          God, who is never pressed for time, gave them exactly what they                                                              needed.

VOICE ONE:             A baby who in God’s time would establish not an earthly kingdom,                                    but an eternal kingdom.

VOICE TWO:              A baby who would not just speak on behalf of God, but would                                                                   speak with the voice of God.

VOICE THREE:        A baby who would not just lead them back to the Law, but would                                                            fulfill the Law and bring them salvation.

VOICE FOUR:          What they really needed was exactly what God gave them—

ALL:                           (STAND)  God gave a baby!

                                    4          3          1                                              2

VOICE TWO:           And what did you say was the baby’s name?

VOICE THREE:        Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

VOICE FOUR:          Call his name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.

VOICE ONE:             Call his name Emmanuel, God with us.

VOICE TWO:            He demanded of them where Christ, the Messiah, should be born.

VOICE THREE:        He shall be called a Nazarene.

VOICE FOUR:          To the Jews living in the countryside around Jerusalem, the land                                    near the sea of Galilee was a despicable dwelling place.  That was                                    where the Gentiles had settled.  And of all the cities of the Galilee,                                    the one most wretched in the eyes of a dweller from Judea was                                    Nazareth.

VOICE ONE:             The other names encountered in the gospels are names of honor,                                                                 names of glory.  Christ.  The Messiah.  The Son of David.  Jesus                                     the Savior.  Nazarene is a name of reproach.  He would not be                                     called Jesus of Bethlehem with kingly, Davidic overtones.  He                                     would be called Jesus of Nazareth.  Hated Nazareth.  Despised                                     Nazareth.

VOICE TWO:              The prophets had said all through their writings that the Messiah                                                                 would be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and                                     acquainted with grief.  He would be despised and he would be                                     called despised, a Nazarene.

VOICE THREE:        Several of the prophets had also used another name for the                                                                        Messiah which suggested this word Nazareth.  They called him the                                   “netzer,” a word meaning branch or twig.  In Isaiah the branch was                                   described as coming from dry, parched ground—signifying a man                                   born in obscurity, growing from a soil that no one thought would                                      ever produce anything of value.

VOICE FOUR:          Can any good come out of Nazareth?

VOICE ONE:             It is not the most common name for the baby, but the idea behind                                    the word makes it one of the most common of all the names for                                    Christ.  Despised.  Rejected.

VOICE TWO:            Yet wise men still seek Him.

VOICE THREE:        (STAND)  Finding wise men in the Bible does not seem at all                                                                   unusual.  But call them by their ancient name—Magi—and                

                                 finding them is strange indeed.

VOICE FOUR:          (STAND)  From the time of Moses the people of God had been                                                               given specific instruction concerning men like the Magi.  Do not                                   

                                 practice divination or sorcery.  Do not turn to mediums or                                         

                                spiritists.

VOICE ONE:           (STAND)  The Magi were astrologers who predicted the future by                                                           reading the position of the stars, something the prophets had                                       

                                 continually reminded God’s people they should not do.  Isaiah                                     

                                 said, “Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who                                  

                                 make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is                                  coming upon you.  Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn                                                              them up.”

VOICE TWO:          Someone versed in the prophets who began reading the gospels                                                               would come to the names Herod and the Magi and say, “There’s                                                                  two of a kind.”

VOICE THREE:        But not so.  King Herod sought the Christ-child to kill Him.  The                                                             Magi traveled far to worship.

VOICE FOUR:          Seeking God placed the Magi in opposition to their cultural beliefs.                                   As astrologers they alleged a control by the stars over the destiny                                   of man.  As seekers of God they came to realize that the stars                                                                      themselves were created by and under the control of a sovereign                                   God who could accomplish miracles to achieve His purposes.

VOICE ONE:             As Gentiles from the east, the Magi had their own religion.                                                                         Matthew, the most Jewish of the four gospels, deliberately                                        

                                   introduces this account of Gentiles from a far country coming to                                    worship God while God’s people in His own land reject Him.

VOICE TWO:            Here at the beginning of the gospel, Matthew includes a story that                                                             foreshadows what will be his concluding thoughts.  Go into all the                                    world and preach the gospel to every creature.  Here people                                                                        who are totally alien from the life and culture and background of                                    the people of God come to worship Him, while those who have a                                       long history of communication from God through the prophets and                                    priests and kings, ignore the Christ child. 

VOICE THREE:        One of the saddest portions of this story involves a group of men                                   who were blinded to the very truth they had spent their lives                                                                         seeking.  The priests and teachers of the law consulted by Herod                                   took him directly to the prophet Micah and read a passage that                                                                    clearly identified the city of Bethlehem Judah as the birthplace of                                                the Messiah.

VOICE FOUR:          The Magi used that information to find the Christ-child.

VOICE ONE:             Herod used that information to seek the death of the Christ-child.

VOICE TWO:            The priests and teachers of the law who had given them the                                                                        information ignored their own interpretation of sacred Scripture.

VOICE THREE:        Wise men still seek Him in spite of what others around them are                                    not able to see.

VOICE FOUR:          Seeking God is not easy—but it is the right thing, the wise thing, to                                    do.

VOICE ONE:             Behold the lamb of God.