GOOD
FRIDAY DRAMA 2000
First
Act Drama Group of First Lutheran Church
---------------------Revised
3-19-00
The Good Friday Drama will portray the Arrest, Trial,
Crucifixion, and Burial of Jesus according to the Gospel of
John. There are three readers:
Narrator:
The narrator tells the biblical story, sometimes quoting
John, sometimes summarizing the unfolding events.
Archaeologist:
The archaeologist tells of the places, people, and
events of the time and explains some of the specific
details in the passion narrative.
Physician:
The physician gives a medical description of what Jesus
experienced in his passion and death.
All other
members of First Act dramatize the action
described by the Narrator. Action only occurs during the
narration; when the archaeologist and physician speak, the
actors "freeze" in place.
SCENE
1: THE ARREST OF JESUS John 18: 1 -11
Narrator: After Jesus had eaten the Last Supper with
his disciples, he went with them from Jerusalem, across the
Kidron valley, to a place where there was a garden. Because
Jesus often met there with his disciples, Judas also knew of
the garden and brought a detachment of soldiers, along with
police from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They
carried lanterns and torches and weapons.
Jesus knew what was about to happen. He stepped forward and
asked, "Whom are you looking for?" and they answered, "Jesus
of Nazareth." Jesus replied, I am he." They stepped back and
fell to the ground,
Again Jesus asked them, "Whom are you looking for?" And they
said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus answered, I told you I am
he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go."
Then Simon Peter drew his sword and cut off the fight ear of
Malchus, the slave of the high priest. Jesus said to Peter,
"Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the
cup that the Father has given me?" Actors freeze while
the archaeologist speaks...
Archaeologist: My Name is Dr. Yikzhak Feldman. I am a
professor of archaeology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Allow me to describe what happened to Jesus.
The Gospel of John says that Jesus and his disciples walked
from the city, across the Kidron valley, to a garden. That
means Jesus headed east out of Jerusalem, went down a steep
slope, and crossed a creek that was at he bottom of a wide
ravine known as Kidron. Although John does not mention the
name of the garden, the other Gospel writers do-they say
that the garden was called Gethsemane, located on the Mount
of Olives. This so called mount, was the hill on the
opposite side of the ravine; the slopes were filled with
groves of olive trees. The distance Jesus traveled from the
city, down into the valley, and up the other side, was
likely no further than one mile.
While at the garden, Judas-the betrayer, arrived with
three groups of men:
- A few Roman
soldiers who were probably there to keep the peace in
case a riot ensued;
- the police
of the Chief Priests who were there to arrest Jesus
because he claimed to be the Son of God;
- and the
Pharisees, a few members of the religious party who
studied and interpreted the law-the law Jesus regularly
violated.
It was not often that Roman soldiers would be part of the
same action as the police of the chief priests, but in this
case, the police wanted to make an arrest, and the Romans
who came along were afraid that the arrest would cause a
fight which would need to be contained. Apparently the
disciples were prepared to fight, for Peter sliced off the
ear of a chief priest's slave before Jesus was taken
away.
SCENE
2 THE TRIAL OF JESUS (Jesus Before Annas) John 18:13-14,
19-24
Narrator: So, Jesus was arrested by the soldiers and
the Jewish police. They bound him and brought him first to
Annas, who was the father-in-law of the high priest,
Caiaphas.
Annas questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his
teachings. Jesus said, "I have spoken openly to the world; I
have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple,
where all the Jews come together. I have said nothing
secretly. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me,
what I said to them, they know what I said."
When Jesus finished speaking, one of the police standing
nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, "Is that how you
answer the high priest?"
Jesus answered, "If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the
wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?"
Then Annas kept Jesus bound and sent him to Caiaphas the
high priest, Actors freeze...
Archaeologist: Annas was appointed high priest by
Quirinius, the governor of Syria. Annas served in that
important position as the leader of the Sanhedrin for nine
years. Five of Annas' sons, as well as one grandson,
succeeded him as high priest, and at the time of the arrest
of Jesus, Annas' son-in-law, Caiaphas was high priest, but
Annas also carried the title in an honorary manner. Clearly,
Annas was one of the most influential religious leaders of
the day, both by way of influence and family connections. It
was to him that Jesus was brought and interrogated.
In John's Gospel, we have no record of Caiaphas questioning
Jesus, only that Annas sent him to his son-in-law. The other
Gospels tell of Jesus before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin the
priestly body that condemned Jesus to death. Caiaphas was
high priest for 18 years. Two years ago, while building a
highway, bulldozers in Jerusalem uncovered a tomb. The
inscription on the ossuary, the stone crypt, indicates that
it is the tomb for the family of Caiaphas; it even has bones
inside.
SCENE
3 THE TRIAL OF JESUS (Jesus Before Pilate)
(18:28-38a)
Narrator: Then they took Jesus to Pilate's
headquarters early in the morning. Because they did not wish
to become ritually defiled, the religious leaders did not
enter the headquarters themselves.
So Pilate went out to them and asked, "What accusation do
you bring against this man?" They answered, "If this man
were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to
you." Pilate replied, "Take him yourselves and judge him
according to your law." The Jews replied, "We are not
permitted to put anyone to death."
Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and
asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered,
"Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about
me? Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation
and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have
you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this
world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers
would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the
Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here. "
Pilate asked him, "So, you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You
say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I
came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who
belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Pilate asked him,
"What is truth?" Actors freeze...
Archaeologist: The headquarters of Pilate is
often referred to as the praetorium. Because it was the
Passover and they wished to remain ritually clean, the
religious leaders did not enter the Roman headquarters.
Pilate was the Roman procurator of Judea for 10 years. He
was often a hard, mean- spirited man who despised his Jewish
subjects. His interest in Jesus was only that of political
expediency.
Part of the story deals with who had jurisdiction over the
death of Jesus. Pilate tried to get the religious leaders to
take care of the matter themselves. But because there was a
Roman ruling that said only Roman authority had jurisdiction
over capital cases, the chief priests sought favor with the
Romans and deferred to their authority to put Jesus to
death.
Therefore, Jesus was condemned to die, not by the Jewish
method of stoning, but by the Roman method of
crucifixion.
SCENE
4 THE TRIAL OF JESUS (Barabbas is Released)
(18:38b-40)
Narrator: After Pilate completed his interrogation
of Jesus, he went outside to the Jews and
said, I find no case against him. But you have a custom that
I release someone for you at the
Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the
Jews?" They shouted in reply,
"Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a bandit.
Actors freeze...
Archaeologist: We have no evidence outside of all
four Gospels of a Passover tradition in which a criminal was
released. But this custom is likely because it would have
made political points with people Pilate did not like. The
ridicule and disdain could be heard in Pilate's voice when
he referred to Jesus as their King.
Barabbas is said to have been a "bandit. " Other written
sources of the time use the Greek word for "bandit" to
describe political criminals. The description of Barabbas in
the other Gospels seems to support this view. Therefore, it
is likely that Barabbas was a Jewish zealot who sought the
overthrow of Roman rule. How ironic, that a real political
criminal would be released over Jesus, whom the religious
leaders had portrayed as a political criminal against Rome,
even though Pilate said they didn't have a case.
SCENE
5 THE TRIAL OF JESUS (Pilate Orders that Jesus be
Flogged) (19:1-16)
Narrator: Then Pilate had Jesus flogged. The
soldiers wove together a crown of thorns and put it on his
head. Then they dressed him in purple. They kept coming up
to him and taunting him: "Hail, King of the Jews!" and they
struck him on the face.
Pilate again appeared to the crowd and said, "Look, I am
bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case
against him."
So Jesus came out, wearing a crown of thorns and a purple
robe. Pilate said, "Here is the man!"
When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted
... (Plants in the congregation - - "Crucify him! Crucify
him!). Pilate became afraid and after questioning Jesus
again, tried to release him. But the Jews cried out, "If you
release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone
who claims to be a king sets himself against the
emperor."
So about noon, Pilate said, "Here is your king!" (Plants
in the congregation -- "Away with him! Away with him!
Crucify him!") Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your
King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the
emperor." Then Pilate handed him over to be crucified.
Actors freeze...
Physician: My name is Dr. Darrell O'Conner. I
have been a medical examiner and pathologist for twenty-four
years. As one who was spent years researching causes of
death, I have studied the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus
from a medical perspective.
The pain of Jesus began even before he was nailed to a
cross. When the soldiers flogged him, they likely used a
whip with metal pieces attached at the end of each strip of
leather. When struck on the back, the metal would have
served as small knives that filleted the flesh and left it
in bloody strips. When the robe was placed on Jesus, the
blood would have coagulated and dried against the fabric.
Every time Jesus moved, the wounds would have reopened and
torn.
The damage to the head of Jesus would depend upon how hard
the crown of thorns was pressed into his skull. He also took
repeated blows to the face as the soldiers mocked him.
SCENE
6: THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS (Jesus is Crucified with Two
Criminals)
(John 19:16b-22; 25b-30)
Narrator: Jesus carried his own cross and was made
to walk to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in
Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified Jesus along
with two others, one on either side of him.
Pilate had an inscription affixed to the cross that was
written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. Because the place where
Jesus was crucified was near the city, the inscription was
read by many. It said, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the
Jews." Actors freeze...
Archaeologist: It was customary for the Romans to
crucify people next to roads so that those passing could see
what could happen if Rome was defied. In John's Gospel,
Jesus is made to carry his own cross. We cannot know if he
carried all of the cross or just the beam to which his arms
would be nailed. Nor do we know the location of Golgotha
despite what tourists to the Holy Land are told. Apparently,
Golgotha was a dome shaped hill that resembled a skull.
In 1968, building contractors working in a suburb north of
Jerusalem accidentally uncovered a Jewish tomb dated to the
first century. Inside were the skeletal remains of a man in
his twenties who had been crucified. The heel bone had been
pierce by an iron nail 11.5 cm in length. Research on the
remains indicate that each foot was nailed separately, but
no evidence was found of traumatic injury to the forearms.
This indicates that sometimes the arms were tied to the
horizontal bar of the cross; but written accounts of Roman
crucifixion indicate that the hands were more typically
nailed as well as the feet.
Physician: Jesus would have been exhausted from blood
loss from his back and from the exertion of carrying the
cross to the outskirts of the city. His body would have been
thrown backwards with his shoulders against we wood. The
legionnaire would have felt for the depression at the front
of the wrist and nailed in that area. Then the other wrist.
The knees would have been bent slightly before nailing the
feet into place. With the toes pointing away from the body,
the nails would have been punched through the arch or the
heel.
At that point, the cross would have been lifted into place.
As he slowly sagged from the weight of his body, with more
and more pressure on the nail entry points, he would have
felt an excruciating, fiery pain shoot along the fingers and
up the arms to explode in the brain-the nails in the wrists
were putting pressure on the median nerves. As he tried to
push himself up to avoid this stretching torment, he would
have placed the full weight on the nail through his feet.
Again, he felt the searing agony of the nail tearing through
the nerves between the bones of his feet.
SCENE
7: THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS (Jesus Entrusts his Mother to
another Disciple) (19:25b-27)
Narrator: Standing near the cross were the mother of
Jesus and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and
Mary Magdalene. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom
Jesus loved standing beside her. He said to his mother,
"Woman, here is your son." And to the disciple he said,
"Here is your mother." And from that hour, the disciple took
her into his own home. Actors freeze...
Physician: It would have been difficult for Jesus to
speak from the cross at all. As his arms became fatigued,
cramps swept through the muscles, knotting them in deep,
relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps would have
come the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air
could be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled because the
two muscles needed for exhaling, the diaphragm and the
intercostalis muscles between the ribs, were impeded. Jesus
would have had to fight to raise himself in order to get
even one small breath. Finally, carbon dioxide would build
up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps
would partially subside. Spasmodically, he was able to push
himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving
oxygen.
SCENE
8: THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS (Jesus is Thirsty and Dies)
(19:28-30)
Narrator: After this, when Jesus knew that all was
now finished, he said, "I am thirsty." Ajar full of sour
wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the
wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When
Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then
he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Actors
freeze...
Physician: Hours of this limitless pain, cycles
of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial
asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue was torn from his
lacerated back as he moved up and down against the rough
timber. Then another agony began a deep, crushing pain deep
in the chest as the pericardium slowly filled with serum and
began to compress the heart. It was then almost over - the
loss of tissue fluids had reached a critical level - the
compressed heart struggling to pump heavy, sluggish blood
into the tissues - the tortured lungs making a frantic
effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He could feel the
chill of death creeping through his tissues. Finally, he
could allow his body to die.
SCENE
9 THE BURIAL OF JESUS John 19:38-42
Narrator: Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of
Jesus-although he followed Jesus in secret because he was
afraid of the religious leaders- asked Pilate to let him
take the body of Jesus away. Pilate gave him permission; so
he came and removed the body of Jesus from the cross.
(Pause, Joseph carries Jesus - down aisle).
They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the
spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of
the Jews.
Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified,
and in the garden there was a tomb in which no one had ever
been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of
Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus
there.
Lights dim completely...
Solo done a capella: "What Wondrous
Love" (Lutheran Book of Worship, No. 385,
verse 1)
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