Cast:
· John the Baptist
· prison guard
Optional Scripture reading prior to the drama: Matthew 11:2-6
(John is sitting in prison reading. Guard enters with plate.)
G: (Gruffly.) Here’s your lunch, John.
J: What is it?
G: Moldy bread and cockroaches.
J: Again?
G: I thought you liked cockroaches. (Hands him plate.)
J: Locusts. I like locusts. Big difference. You don’t happen to have any honey I could drizzle on top?
G: No.
J: (Standing and shouting.) Well I’m not eating any more of this unclean food! I’m going on a hunger strike until this prison supplies me with food allowed by the laws of Moses! Tell that warden he’s in big trouble—and that comes straight from God!
G: Settle down, John, or you’re just going to get into bigger trouble.
J: Bigger trouble? How can I get into bigger trouble? I’m in King Herod’s prison. I assume he’s going to execute me any day now. How do I get into bigger trouble?
G: Well it’s your own fault, John. You should never publicly criticize the king. What kind of a fool does that? You told everybody that King Herod was committing adultery with his brother’s wife. You don’t say those kinds of things if you want to keep your head.
J: But it’s the truth. He took his brother’s wife. It’s adultery. I just tell the truth.
G: The truth is going to get you killed.
J: The truth is the only way to live.
G: No, the world can’t handle the truth. Not if it contradicts the king. We need to keep quiet. We need to keep our thoughts to ourselves. Wait till King Herod dies—then maybe you can tell the truth. But not now. Let me tell you something: King Herod is just a little bit in awe of you. He thinks you just might be a genuine prophet. So take advantage of that! Don’t keep criticizing him—tell him something he wants to hear. Make him want to protect you. Instead of getting your head chopped off, you could be out of here and on his payroll as a court prophet. You just have to play your cards right. Survive!
J: You poor man. You have lost your soul.
G: You don’t know me—you don’t know anything about me.
J: I see more than you think. I see you’re trying to drown the pain of life with a constant flow of wine. I see you here in prison guarding me—but you’re just as much stuck in this prison as I am.
G: That’s enough!
J: I see the bribes you take. I see your lack of self-respect. I see that nothing means anything to you anymore.
G: I said that’s enough!
J: (Approaches the guard, placing a hand on his shoulder.) Where’s the image of God that God put in you? Why are you fearing King Herod instead of fearing God? All Herod can do is kill you. But God is the one who owns your life forever!
G: (Pushes him away.) Why am I even listening to you? In a few days the ax is coming down on your neck and that’ll be it for you, and I’ll be laughing because I’m still alive!
J: Yes, the ax is coming. But not Herod’s ax—God’s ax. Even now it is laid at the root of the tree, about to cut it down. God’s judgment is coming on all evil and selfishness. Give God your loyalty before it’s too late! Don’t give your loyalty to this phony king.
G: Well he’s the only king I see around here.
J: No. King Herod will soon be no more. In fact this whole world is passing away. The truth is disintegrating it. The real world is on the way, along with the real king—the Messiah.
G: The Messiah isn’t coming. That’s a fairy tale.
J: He’s already here.
G: What do you mean he’s already here?
J: I’ve met him.
G: Where?
J: (Walks toward the audience.) In the wilderness, along the banks of the Jordan River. That’s where I was preaching. People came out by the thousands to hear the Word of the Lord. I told them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to run from the coming judgment? Bear fruit that proves your repentance! Don’t tell me you’re already God’s chosen people. God can turn these stones into God’s chosen people! You must confess your sins, be washed, and start as a new person, dedicated to God!” (Acting out a baptism as he speaks.) And then people came down into the water with me, and they confessed their sins, and I baptized them for the forgiveness of their sins. (Pointing and gesturing.) But one day I saw a man standing on the bank of the river, and I saw a dove come straight down out of the blue sky and land on his head—and it stayed there. No one else saw it. I think only I could see it. I could see that he was pure and sinless, like a lamb without any blemish. Then he stepped into the water and came up to me and said he wanted to be baptized. I said, “No, I should be baptized by you!” But he insisted I baptize him. So I did. And as I plunged him down into the water, I felt my own sin being washed away, and the sins of all the people all around being washed away. I said to myself, “This is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Long pause.)
G: Then what happened?
J: (Walking back toward the guard.) That was it. He walked away. I told some of my disciples they should follow him, and they did. I haven’t seen him since.
G: When did this happen?
J: About a year ago.
G: Do you know who he is?
J: Yes, his name is Jesus. He’s from Nazareth up in Galilee.
G: (Sneering.) So Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah?
J: Yes.
G: So how come I haven’t heard of him? If this happened a year ago, what’s he waiting for? Where’s his army? Where’s his victories against the Romans? What’s he doing?
J: He’s healing people.
G: He’s healing people?
J: Yes. I’ve heard that he drives demons out of people who are violent and uncontrollable, making them peaceful and happy. I heard he touched a leper and took his leprosy away. I heard he told a paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” and then he told him to get up and walk—and the man did. I heard he healed the servant of a Roman centurion without even going to his house; he just said, “He’s healed.” And the servant was.
G: The Romans are our enemies! What kind of Messiah helps them? I don’t believe it. And who cares if he heals a few sick people—that’s not freeing us from the Romans. Has this guy ever said he’s the Messiah?
J: Well . . . not that I know of.
G: You’re a fool, John! Jesus of Nazareth isn’t the Messiah. He doesn’t do any of the things the Messiah is supposed to do, and he doesn’t even claim to be the Messiah! You’re more deluded than I thought. You’re just desperate for anything to prove you’re not a failure.
J: Then let’s ask him.
G: What do you mean?
J: My disciples are coming to see me today. I’ll send them to Galilee to ask Jesus, “Are you the one we’re looking for or should we wait for another?”
G: Go ahead. Ask him. It’ll be amusing to hear what he has to say. And I’ll have the last laugh when you realize he’s a con man and you’re an idiot.
(Guard leaves, taking plate. John sits down to read. The audience sings two verses of “O Come, O Come, Immanuel” or other appropriate hymn to denote the passage of time. Guard re-enters with plate.)
G: Lunch, John.
J: What is it?
G: Moldy bread and . . .
J: Cockroaches.
G: No, locusts. Those are real, live locusts on there.
J: (Gets up and takes plate.) Thank you. I see genuine compassion growing in you.
G: Yeah, right.
J: I have news for you.
G: What news?
J: This morning my disciples returned with Jesus’ answer to my question, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
G: So what did he say?
J: He said to my disciples, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
G: That’s it?
J: That’s it.
G: So he didn’t answer the question. He’s a fraud.
J: I admit I was puzzled by his answer. But then I remembered this passage in the prophet Isaiah. (Returns to where he was sitting and picks up scroll to read Isaiah 35:3-7a). You see, he is answering the question. He is doing the signs that show that God’s new world is breaking into our world and taking over. He is the Messiah.
G: That’s not like any Messiah I ever heard of.
J: Me neither. I was expecting a holy war. I was expecting fire from heaven to come down and devour all sinners. Instead, God’s Messiah is a healer.
G: But nothing has changed! It’s still a messed up world with Pontius Pilate and Tiberius Caesar in charge!
J: The kingdom of God is coming in a way we didn’t expect. It’s coming with love, with healing, with forgiveness. Maybe it’s changing this world little by little.
G: I won’t believe it till I see those streams in the desert!
J: (Putting his hand on the guard.) You are the stream in the desert! Don’t you see? When we are transformed, the world is transformed. Confess your sins. God’s water can spring up inside of you; the desert inside of you can become a garden. You can be forgiven!
G: (Moves away.) I can’t be forgiven.
J: Yes you can. Just confess. Bring it to the light. Turn your life over to God. If you come to God in true humility, there is no sin God cannot forgive.
G: You’re not as good of a prophet as you think you are. If you were a true prophet you’d be able to see the sin in me that can never be taken away.
J: What sin? I’ve heard it all—believe me. What sin?
G: (Takes out his sword and looks at it.) I murdered the Messiah.
J: (Hesitant.) What do you mean you murdered the Messiah?
G: (Looking at the audience.) Thirty years ago, King Herod’s father, Herod the Great, received secret information from a group of astrologers from the east. They told him the Messiah had recently been born. Herod figured out the baby was somewhere in the village of Bethlehem. So he gave me and two other soldiers an order: Go into Bethlehem and kill every boy under the age of two. You know what Herod was like. He was ruthless. Any threat to his throne was always quickly eliminated. So we carried out his orders. In the middle of the night we kicked open the doors of every hut and house in Bethlehem, and if we found any boy babies inside, we killed them. I don’t know which one was supposed to be the Messiah, but we killed them all, so the Messiah must have been among them. (Looking at John.) I don’t believe in the Messiah. I can’t. Because if I did, then I murdered him.
J: (Long pause, pained expression.) You’re right. Your sin is terrible—the worst I have ever heard. (After another pause, he moves toward the guard.) But your sword cannot stop God. No evil that humanity commits can stop God. God finds a way. Your sin is now in the light. You have confessed it. Your healing can now begin.
(John places hands on guard’s shoulders. The guard kneels. John takes a cup filled with water and begins pouring it on the guard’s head.)
J: I baptize you for the forgiveness of your sins. (Guard stands.) You now belong to God, and to God’s Messiah. (They embrace.)