Forgiveness at the Table
Thursday, February 23, 2006 at 06:43PM The following is fresh off the processor. Probably lots of mistakes but... It's a readers theatre piece contrasting the Old Testament Story of Joseph and the Passion Week. It's written around the Lord's Supper...
(For three readers- Reader 1 and Reader 3 are male. Reader 2 is female)
I
Reader 2: Around an ancient table a family gathered to eat together.
Reader 1: Before Sinai, before the sling that sent a giant to the ground,
Reader 2: before the cross and an empty tomb,
All: there was a table and a family.
Reader 3: The son of Israel and Rebekah came to that table. He was Joseph, their beloved son, in whom they were well pleased. One of his brothers announced his coming,
Reader 1: Look, here comes that dreamer! What great vision did you receive from God last night?
Reader 3: Listen to this dream I had: We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine."
Reader 2: And they hated him even more.
Reader 1: So you are going to be our boss. Good one, Joseph.
Reader 3: I dreamed another dream--the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me!"
Reader 2: The brothers glared in contempt. Perhaps you can hear the voices around the table as the brothers sneered and his father brooded
Reader 1: What’s with all this dreaming! Destinies are to be earned, not dreamt. What authority do you have over us? The audacity. You’re only 17 and you act like you own us. I think that fancy coat has gone to your head. You expect us to be impressed by your nightly fantasies that you parade before us like some prize?
Reader 3: If it weren’t true I wouldn’t have told you, Rueben.
Reader 1: Who do you think we are? Listen closely; I will never bow down to you. Never!
Reader 2: With strong malice they conspired to silence the dreamer. The brothers whispered after dinner, Let's kill him tomorrow and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We'll see what his dreams amount to. They set their plans in motion. The dreamer would be silenced. But not in death. They sold him cheaply, deserted him and fled.
(Moment of silence)
Now come with us at another to another table. A rough, imperfect lot half-full of faith, half full of earthly ambition- Tax collectors, fishermen, zealots, and sinners all vying for position and power.
Reader 3: Surely one of you will betray me,
Reader 2: He proclaimed.
Reader 1: Is it I, Lord. All others may fail you but I never will.
Reader 2: But also assured them,
Reader 3: "Don't be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If it weren’t true I wouldn’t have told you, When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know where I am going and how to get there."
Reader 2: And the plans were set in motion. This dream of true destiny would be soon be silenced as well, but not in death.
II
Reader 2 is female.
1: The brothers threw Joseph, the dreamer into a deep cistern and sold into slavery
2: They stripped him of his robe
3: Selling him for a small bag of silver
1: They took the beautiful robe, covered it in the blood of a goat and took it to Jacob.
3: Meanwhile the Ishmaelites bound him in chains and carried him off to the land of Egypt. To the house of a high ranking official
All: But God was with Joseph
1: He ended up serving in the home of his Egyptian master- Potiphar. His master recognized that GOD was at work through Joseph.
3: But Joseph was a striking figure and Potiphar’s wife set her sights on him.
2: “Sleep with me.”
3: But Joseph refused.
1: She pestered him day after day, relentlessly.
3: Finally Potiphar’s wife demanded for him to show affection toward her and once again he refused.
1: She stripped him of his robe and he ran away. Potiphor’s wife, sick of his standards hurled false accusations.
2: "Look--this Hebrew shows up and before you know it he's trying to seduce us. He tried to make love to me but I yelled as loud as I could. With all my yelling and screaming, he left his coat beside me here and ran outside."
1: Falsely accused, he was thrown into prison.
2: Away from home.
3: Away from comfort.
1: Seemingly forgotten.
2: But Joseph found favor with the jailers
All: because God was with him
3: Joseph, still the master of dreams, interpreted dreams of fortune and catastrophe.
1: Freedom and Tragedy
3: Life and death.
2: His gift of interpretation propelled him to the very foot of Pharaoh’s throne.
3: I was standing by the Nile River. Seven cows came up out of the Nile, all shimmering with health, and grazed on the marsh grass. Then seven other cows, all skin and bones, came up out of the river after them and stood by them on the bank of the Nile. The skinny cows ate the seven healthy cows.
1: He went back to sleep and dreamed a second time
3: Seven ears of grain, full-bodied and lush, grew out of a single stalk. Then seven more ears grew up, but these were thin and dried out by the east wind. The thin ears swallowed up the full, healthy ears.
2: Then Pharaoh woke up--another dream. These lucid dreams disturbed Pharoah greatly. He sent for all the magicians and sages of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but they couldn't interpret them to him. Then Joseph spoke.
1: The meaning is that God is giving Pharaoh a view of his future acts. Seven years of plenty are on their way throughout Egypt. But on their heels will come seven years of famine, There won’t be a scrap of food left. So here is the plan. You must prepare for the famine during times of the feast. You must store and remember the prophecy of the coming day.
3: Pharaoh put him in charge. Gave him a robe.
2: Joseph, the dreamer came.
3: He was stripped of his robe
All: But God was with him
3: He was made to be a servant
2: But God was with him
1: Though he was born as a child of blessing he became a slave
All: But God was with Him
3: He was shackled and falsely accused.
All: But God was with Him
2: and it was God who raise Joseph up with authority
to save the lives of people from hunger
1: Now let’s journey over a thousand years later to a moment in time when there stood another servant. The Christ…Immanuel- God with us.
3: Who, although being essentially one with God was stripped of all privileges and rightful dignity,
3: He became like men
2: and was born a human being.
1: And after He had appeared,
2: He humbled Himself
1: still further
3: and carried His obedience to the extreme of death,
2: even the death of the cross!
3: Jesus came
2: They stripped him of his robe
All: And God was with us!
3: He was made to be a servant
All: And God was with us!
3: He was betrayed for a small bag of silver
All: And God was with us!
1: Though he was born as a child of blessing he became a slave
All: And God was with us!
3: He was shackled and falsely accused.
All: And God was with us!
2: And there he became the sacrifice for our sin and for the first time in the history of the cosmos, God turned his back on the beloved son. And hanging there. Jesus, Son of the most High cried out,
1: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
3: but it was God who raise Jesus up with authority to save the lives of people from spiritual hunger, yes even death.
III
Reader 1: When Jacob was very old a famine struck the entire region of the middle east. When he heard that there was bread in Egypt, Jacob said:
Reader 2: Why do you keep staring at each other? I’ve heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go there now and buy some before we die of starvation.
Reader 1: The famine was severe in the land. And Joseph tested them severely. And the sons of Jacob didn’t know who he was. His words cut them to the core but they didn’t recognize him. The sons of Israel fell on their faces. Their lives were at the mercy of this stranger, or so he seemed to them.
Reader 2: Joseph could stand it no longer.
Reader 3: "Out, all of you, Leave me hear with my family!"
Reader 2: The palace guard seemed bewildered.
Reader 3: “This is his family.”
Reader 1: The brothers thought this was another test. What could he possibly mean. We are his family? We have no other brothers except Joseph and he’s dead.
Reader 2: Then Joseph broke down and wept aloud. His sobs could be heard throughout the palace, and the news was quickly carried to Pharaoh's palace.
Reader 3: "I am Joseph."
Reader 2: But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them.
Reader 3: "Come over here,"
Reader 2: So they came closer.
Reader 3: "I am Joseph, your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don't be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it. He sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. God has sent me here to keep you and your families alive so that you will become a great nation. Yes, it was God who sent me here, not you! And he has made me a counselor to Pharaoh--manager of his entire household and ruler over all Egypt.”
Reader 2: And they dined, celebrating the reunion.
Reader 1: A family torn now united.
Reader 3: A family lost now redeemed.
Reader 2: Around the table of the family of Isreal. God’s beloved.
Reader 2: And years later a man named Simon Peter said,
Reader 3: "I'm going fishing."
Reader 1: "We'll come, too,"
Reader 3: So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. At dawn the disciples saw a man standing on the beach, but they didn’t recognize Him.
Reader 2: He called out,
Reader 1: "Friends, have you caught any fish?"
Reader 3: "No,"
Reader 2: Then he said,
Reader 1: "Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you'll get plenty of fish!"
Reader 2: So they did, and they couldn't draw in the net because there were so many fish in it. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter,
Reader 3: "It is the Lord!"
Reader 2: When they got there, they saw that a charcoal fire was burning and fish were frying over it, and there was bread.
Reader 1: "Bring some of the fish you've just caught,"
Reader 2: Jesus said. So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn't torn.
Reader 1: "Now come and have some breakfast.”
Reader 3: And no one dared ask him if he really was the Lord because they were sure of it.
Reader 2: Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter,
Reader 1: "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?"
Reader 3: "Yes, Lord," Peter replied, "you know I love you."
Reader 2: "Then feed my lambs,"
Reader 2: Jesus repeated the question:
Reader 1: "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Reader 3: "Yes, Lord," Peter said, "you know I love you."
Reader 1: "Then take care of my sheep,"
Reader 2: Once more he asked him,
Reader 1: "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Reader 2: Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time.
Reader 3: "Lord, you know everything. You know I love you."
Reader 2: "Then feed my sheep.
Reader 1: And the feast of the ages began, as we passed the cup, as we celebrate our kinship with the King of Ages.
Reader 2: He feeds us.
Reader 3: And we feed each other.
Reader 1: We are surprised by grace.
Reader 3: Astounded by the scandalous mercy of a risen Savior.
Reader 1: We are accepted as family.
Reader 2: We are redeemed from alienation.
Reader 3: We are forgiven.
Reader 1: We are loved.
All: Amen
Reader Comments (2)
I like it and would like to use it. If you make any revisions, please let me know. Thanks
I'll keep you posted. Would love to catch up with you then. Send me your new email address. Thanks!!
Miss seeing you all,
m