By Peter Minson
This 2-voice skit is based on Luke 6:46 and some of the images in Matthew 7:13-27. It's inspired by Chapter 8 of Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy. It begins with Peter [the author, not the saint!] and Jesus in opposite corners of the acting area - or Jesus on the platform and Peter in the congregation - both wired for sound, 'talking to themselves'. But gradually they move together and speak face to face until they leave together - most appropriately right through the congregation. [The actor {P here} should use his/her own name and insert local situations where appropriate]
Jesus
Peter
J: Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and yet you won't do what I tell you?
P: Well, ah, Lord, … it's like this.
J: Yes, I'm listening.
P: You see, Jesus, … Well… let me put it like this. I DO know what you tell us - the way you've told us to live and all that - the 10 commandments and the greatest commandment to love …. So… I KNOW that stuff.
J: So it's not foreign to you?
P: No - it makes sense. It's good. It's right. But…
J: It makes sense, but what?
P: But the things that I end up doing - the behaviour that misses your bull's eye - that way of living just seems so much easier…
J: Easier?
P: No, 'easier' isn't quite right either. I know it's not easier. I know that because I know sin has bad fallout in my life and the lives of others around me.
J: Me too.
P: You too?
J: Mmm … the Kingdom of heaven suffers too.
P: Ah yes. I prefer not to think about that. My trouble is that I so often fall short of what you say and advise … because it's too hard to pull myself up to your standards.
J: Who said anything about pulling yourself up to my standards? That sounds like a politician attacking society's weaker members. Have I ever talked to you that way?
P: No … no, you haven't.
J: OK - so following in my footsteps isn't about pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. So we return to the question - why do you call me Lord - in other words you ARE one of my followers…and yet you end up doing things you and I both know are going to hurt you and others - and as you know, they hurt me too?
P: Can I put it another way then?
J: Take your time - we've got all the time in the world!
P: Hah! Put it this way then - there are things inside me that prefer to disobey your ways. It's like they pull me away from your footprints and I find myself going off on a tangent.
J; Ah. Do you imagine you're the only person who's ever felt that way?
P: No, of course I'm not. It's just that - sometimes I wonder if I'm a sub-normal Christian, and my bad habits that come from my hang-ups that come from my family background, I suppose - that they make me incapable of regular obedience to your ways.
J: So you're saying your genes make you do it? Make you choose not to obey me?
P: Something like that.
J: Well - [laughing] that's a remarkable thing! A pretty common argument, I might say. But it seems to me that your genes can make you tall or thin or black or prone to some illnesses, but I'd think it's impossible for anybody's genes to MAKE them choose to sin. Choice, surely, is a moral matter, not a genetic one?
P: Ok Ok. A weak argument on my part. You tricked me into that one.
J: No, I didn't. I just quoted what your media keep saying all day every day… just to show you who you're letting form your opinions. And that's part of the problem, you know?
P: What? Who I'm listening to?
J: Exactly. If you dwell on what the surrounding world says about itself, let yourself believe what the media says about you, and about me, and about behaviour, and THAT'S your teacher … then it's natural that you'll tend to slip easily into living the way the world, the flesh, and the devil say people ought to live.
P: What's so wrong with the way most people live?
J: Look at the outcomes … how good is the fruit from their tree? …
SILENCE [10 seconds - if you dare, look out across the congregation!]
P: Ah…I see what you mean. You can't pick good fruit from a diseased tree, as you said once, I seem to remember. So what's the alternative? We're stuck here in the same world as everybody else, walking among the same diseased trees? No! Stop, Lord. I actually already know what you're about to say.
J: Yes, you do - see what's happening? You're thinking differently. Go on.
P: You're going to say something like "… if you give priority to … and seek first the Kingdom of God, and strive for God's way of living, then everything will fall into place."
J: Haven't I heard that somewhere before?
P: Yes. You said it. Sermon on the Mount. But it's not that simple. Ever tried seeking first the Kingdom of God in a queue at Countdown or stuck in the traffic on the Harbour Bridge? It's not straightforward being spiritual.
J: It is and it isn't. But if you DO immerse yourself regularly in a bath of my words and my ways, it WILL make a difference to the ways you find yourself choosing. It'll seep into every part of your life, your job, your education, your family, your home, your state of mind, your health, your future … the way you cope with life's normal tragedies.
P: You're saying that daily prayer and reading the Bible can change the world?
J: Not necessarily. A lot of the time, when people pray or read the Scriptures, you are simply turning on the shower and watching how the water flows down, but you never get in.
P: Immersion's better, then?
J: Hah! But yes, we're talking about baptism in the ways of the Father…a baptism that goes on and on and on.
P: So … letting the drama touch your soul instead of just listening to the words?
J: Eating the meal instead of gnawing at the menu.
P: Singing the song - no matter how badly - rather than criticising the band? [or " living out the sermon instead of criticising the preacher" etc]
J: Ah - I think I hear a music director's [or "pastor's"] slant on this thing there! [they begin to walk off]
P: Speaking of that, Jesus…
J: Yes, [name] ?
P: Will it help at Judgment Day that I've worked wonders - in your name - with HT's music? [or churchname's small groups / youth group/ evangelism / drama department etc]
J: Yes and no, Peter, yes and no. [they leave, talking]
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© 2005 Peter Minson, all rights reserved.
This script may be used without payment, provided no charge is made for entrance
to the performance. In return for free use, the author would like to be told
of any performance. He may be contacted at peter@holytrinity.org.nz