AN EASTER PLAY

SCENE 3: (Light full onstage R couch)

BOY (to Dad and Girl): I knew you two had great imaginations. Wasn’t that fun?

GIRL (shakes head as Dad nods): Fun for you, maybe. I just got yelled at. What happened next, Grandpa?

GRANDPA (reads Mark 14:12): Well, the next day was “the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover’?”

BOY: What’s the Passover?

GRANDPA: The Passover, along with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is something the people of Israel still observe to mark the night in history when God freed them from slavery in Egypt. It took a lot of persuading to make Pharaoh let them go, though.

BOY: What kind of persuading?

GRANDPA: Ten plagues: of blood, frogs, gnats, flies, disease on livestock, boils on man and beast, hail, locusts, darkness . . . and death.

BOY: Wow! That was a lot of persuading.

GRANDPA (paraphrases Exodus 12:12): The plagues were judgments on the Egyptians as well as on their gods. God told His people ahead of time what would happen, and He spared them, especially from the last and worst plague of death, passing over the houses of those who obeyed Him. 

GIRL: Passing over? Is that where the word “Passover” comes from?

GRANDPA (smiles): Yes, good listening! 

BOY: What did the people have to do so God would . . . pass over?

GRANDPA (paraphrases Exodus 12:3-6): On the tenth of that month, each household was to take a lamb, or share one with his neighbor: an unblemished male sheep or goat a year old. They were to keep the lamb until the fourteenth, when the people were to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel was to kill the lamb at twilight, take some of the blood, and put in on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they ate. 

GIRL: Yuck!

GRANDPA: It’s not a pleasant thing, I agree. Can you imagine your family taking in a lamb, caring for it four days, then having to kill it?

GIRL: I could never do that!

GRANDPA (paraphrases Exodus 12:23): Well, that’s what God did for us and far more, giving up His own beloved Son. That first Passover, everyone who didn’t come under the covering of the blood of the lamb was exposed to the destroyer. 

BOY: What happened?

GRANDPA (paraphrases Exodus 11:5, 12:29): At midnight, all the first-born in the land of Egypt died, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, even to the first-born of the slave girl behind the millstones; all the first-born of the cattle as well.

BOY: (solemnly): Wow.

GRANDPA (paraphrases Exodus 11:6): God warned Pharaoh that there would “be a great cry in all the land of Egypt” such as there had not been before and never would be again.  

DAD: Sounds pretty harsh.

GRANDPA: Yes it was, to anyone who didn’t obey God. Sin kills. But Jesus saves, and all this was a picture of how Jesus, the ultimate Lamb of God, would be our sin covering, so God would pass over our sins and we wouldn’t be destroyed. 

BOY: Hey, didn’t John say something like that, when He saw Jesus right before he baptized Him?

GRANDPA (smiles and says John 1:29): Yes: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

DAD: So Jesus was the Passover Lamb.

GRANDPA (nods): In fact, the moment people all over Israel were celebrating the Passover, Jesus instituted the first Lord’s Supper, offering His body and blood to the disciples—after He dismissed Judas.

GIRL: Jesus, uh, offered them His body and blood?

GRANDPA: It was the first Communion. Here, let me read it to you. (Says Mark 14:22-25): “While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is My body’. And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’”

DAD: So Jesus knew He would die.

GRANDPA: Yes, and soon. But the disciples didn’t understand, even though He told them about His death many times during the few years they were together. He tried telling them again that night after the Passover meal, as they walked to the Mount of Olives. (Reads Mark 14:27-28) “And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away, because it is written, “I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee’.” 

DAD: Jesus knew He would live again, too.

GRANDPA: Yes. (Reads Mark 14:29-30): “But Peter said to Him, ‘Even though all may fall away, yet I will not’.  And Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times’.”

BOY: Before a cock crows? What’s all that about?

GRANDPA: I think Jesus was saying that Peter’s denials would happen before dawn. Cocks are roosters, and generally crow when the sun rises or a bit earlier. But before the sun rose again on Jesus and His disciples, they would have to get through one very long and dark night. 

BOY (interested): What happened? 

GRANDPA: Apart from the cross, it was probably Jesus’ most difficult time on earth: in the garden of Gethsemane—where He was betrayed. 

BOY: Betrayed: In some dark garden on a mountain. Scary.

GRANDPA (nods): Especially after Judas arrived to arrest Jesus with a mob of chief priests and elders, and a Roman cohort, which was a group of about 300-600 soldiers. Yes, that night the garden of Gethsemane was a very scary place, I imagine.

BOY: Me, too. Please tell us all about it, Grandpa.

GRANDPA: I’ll try.

(Light begins to fade, in darkness Boy and Dad exit stage L, ready to enter stage L scene from side room with Jesus and disciples; later Judas and Mob extras enter stage R)

GRANDPA (read/memorize): Judas knew the place, since Jesus had often met there with His disciples. That night Jesus led his remaining eleven faithful followers there one last time but took Peter, James and John farther, leaving even them as He went on about a stone’s throw to pray. The Bible says in Luke 22:44, “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” That’s a rare medical condition, only occurring during the deepest moments of stress. . . .

SCENE 4: (Dim light on stage L “Gethsemane.” Jesus leads the way, entering stage L, with the two sons of Zebedee, James (Dad) and John (Mom). Peter (Boy) follows behind them. They all stop at the far left edge of stage L, just as they enter the light)

JESUS (says Matthew 26:38): “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

(They stay; Jesus goes farther toward center stage, falls on His face and prays slowly and in agony) 

JESUS (says Matthew 26:39): “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

GRANDPA (in darkness reads/memorizes Matthew 26:40): And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter (Boy), 

JESUS (acts part then says Matthew 26:40-41): “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

(Mob enters stage R, Judas in the lead)

GRANDPA (in darkness reads/memorizes John 18:3-4): “Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them,”  

JESUS (John 18:4): “Whom do you seek?” 

GRANDPA (John 18:5): “They answered Him,”

MOB (demands arrogantly [John 18:5]): “Jesus the Nazarene.”

GRANDPA (John 18:5): “He said to them,”

JESUS (John 18:5): “I am He.”

(Mob draws back, falling to the ground) 

GRANDPA (John 18:6-7): “So when He said to them, ‘I am He’, they drew back and fell to the ground.  Therefore He again asked them,” 

JESUS (John 18:7): “Whom do you seek?”

GRANDPA (John 18:7): “And they said,”

MOB (looks up timidly from ground [John 18:7]): “Jesus the Nazarene.”

GRANDPA (John 18:8): “Jesus answered,”

JESUS (John 18:8): “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” (Indicates disciples behind him who stand, frozen with fear)

GRANDPA (reads/memorizes Matthew 26:48-9): “Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, ‘Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him’.  Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said,”

JUDAS (stands; Mob watches him and rises timidly [Matthew 26:49]): “Hail, Rabbi!” (Kisses Jesus—a cheek brush to the side the congregation can’t see is fine)

JESUS (Matthew 26:50): “Friend, do what you have come for.”

GRANDPA (reads/memorizes Matthew 26:50-52 : “Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.  And behold, one of those who were with Jesus (Boy does this as Grandpa reads) reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.”  Then Jesus said to Peter,

JESUS (says Matthew 26:52-54 to Peter [Boy]): “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”

GRANDPA (paraphrases Luke 22:51 reads/memorizes Matthew 26:55): Jesus touched the slave’s ear and healed him. “At that time Jesus said to the crowds,”

JESUS (says Matthew 26:55-56):  “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me. But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.”

GRANDPA (reads/memorizes Matthew 26:56): “Then all the disciples left Him and fled.” 

(Other disciple (Mom) flees stage L; Dad and Boy flee stage R. Light out; stage clears and “Tomb” sign is hung. Boy, Dad take places on stage R couch; Light slowly comes up on couch scene stage R)

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org