Summary: Two friends mull over the significance of Christmas.
Style: Dramatic. Duration: 6min
Actors: 2M/F
Characters: Two friends
Script
A: You know what I think?
B: [disinterestedly, absently, looking in the other direction]
No. What do you think?
A: It’s too long ago!
B: You don’t say!
A: Yeah, I do. Way too long ago.
B: You think?
A: [nodding her head] Yeah. Just too long ago.
B: Okay. If you say so.
A: Yeah. I do, I guess.
B: Right.
A: Yeah, glad you agree.
[long silence]
B: Umm...dude?
A: Yeah dude?
B: WHAT’s too long ago?
A: I thought you agreed with me?
B: About what?
A: About the birth of Jesus being too long ago for people to believe in it anymore.
B: Hold on....I don’t think I agreed with THAT.
A: But you DID!
B: What?
A: Agree that it was too long ago.
B: I DID?
A: Yeah.
B: When’d I do that?
A: Just now.
B: I can’t believe I agreed that the birth of Jesus was too long ago for people to believe in any more. [shaking her/his head] No way.
A: Sure you did. Just now.
B: So YOU say. But what proof have you got that I said it?
A: Well...I heard you.
B: Says who?
A: Says ME. I heard you. And I’m saying you agreed with me – just a minute ago.
B: [shaking her head] Sorry, but you’re gonna have to do better than that. It’s your word
against mine. Nobody heard me agree with you. Not very impressive in a court of law, now, is it?
A: I...you....well! .... Ha! That proves my point actually!
B: No it doesn’t!
A: Yes it does. [nodding her head] Listen. If we had a conversation a mere 2 minutes ago in which you made a statement which you now deny making, and there’s nobody else around to prove that it actually happened – that proves my point – the tale about Jesus being born in Bethlehem and a virgin and angels and shepherds and kings and stuff allegedly happened much more than 2 minutes ago.
B: So?
A: So, my forgetful friend, if an intelligent individual like YOU can’t accept what I swear on a Bible happened just 2 minutes ago, then how can any rational being believe in a wild story that supposedly happened 2000 years ago?
B: That’s not the same thing.
A: Yes it is.
B: No it’s not. Now YOU listen. First of all, when Jesus was born there weren’t just two friends sitting around talking about it – all sorts of people knew about it. You can’t make up a story when there’s hundreds of witnesses, can you?
A: Where do you get hundreds? As far as I can tell there was just Mom, Dad, and the kid. Could just be a pack of lies.
B: Not with shepherds running into town and angels in the night sky and a big flaming comet followed by the Central Committee of the Royal Astronomical Society riding camels – makes a bit of a ruckus, that kind of thing. Not to mention the court of King Herod and his storm-troopers all getting in on the act!
A: Yeah, but they could’ve made that all up.
B: Made up a comet?
A: No...I suppose that everybody must’ve known about that...but the virgin birth and the angels singing and the dreams Joseph and Mary had – none of that’s able to be checked.
B: Sure it is.
A: Okay, tell me how?
B: Simple. Ask the witnesses.
A: What witnesses?
B: All those shepherds and innkeepers and the royal court and the army and the family of the accused.
A: What’ve THEY got to do with it?
B: Well, duh... When the story about the marvelous birth of Jesus was first talked about, anybody like you who couldn’t believe it could jump on a mule and trudge off to Bethlehem – just a hop skip and a jump from the capital, and simply CHECK with any adult, and they’d immediately find out whether there was any truth in it. But nobody DID.
A: Did what?
B: Back then when the Christmas story started going viral, nobody tried to prove it was a fake.
A: So what does that prove?
B: Seems to me it proves that even the people who would’ve liked to prove it was all lies, even they knew there was no point. Too many witnesses knew it was true.
A: You figure?
B: [nodding her head] Yeah, I do.
A: You studied this thing then?
B: Nah. Just read it in the Bible. The story’s got a ring of truth. Too amazing for anybody to make up and get away with if it was lies.
A: I guess.
B: Yeah.
[long silence]
A: Kinda makes a difference then.
B: Jesus?
A: Yeah. If he WAS born like that, and it ISN’T just a legend, then maybe I’d better think about what he said back then.
B: Maybe so.
A: Yeah.
[long silence]
B: Huh. Well... Thanks dude.
A: Huh? For what?
B: For reminding me what Christmas is really about.
[WANDERS OFF]
A: [calling after B:] Wait! When’d I do that? [EXIT]
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© Copyright Peter Minson 1999, revised Scott Kindig 2014. All rights reserved. This play may be performed free of charge, on condition that copies are not sold for profit in any medium, nor any entrance fee charged. In exchange for free performance, the author would appreciate being notified of when and for what purpose the play is performed. Contact at: