Present the Gospel

You will need two readers: a narrator and John the Baptist, and a third person with no speaking part. It will be more effective if ‘John’ can learn the monologue below, and speak from a place of semi-darkness, as if in a prison cell.

Narrator: John the Baptist has been imprisoned by King Herod, who was upset by what John had said to him. Be still for a moment to imagine what it might feel like in that prison and, in particular, how John might be feeling at this moment in his life.

John: I never thought it would come to this. To give so much of myself, and yet to finish up in here. I hate the darkness. How fruitful the desert compared to these few square feet of emptiness.

God, are you there? Do you still care? (pause) My mind plays tricks in here. One minute I believe, the next I don’t know what it’s all about. I was so sure, so assured. Now I pace and pace, wondering what it was all for.

And what of the Messiah? My cousin. My friend. (pause) But is he really the one? Where is his fire? Where is his passion? What have I prepared the way for? He doesn’t seem to be doing what I expected. God, if I could only know for certain. To be sure that it was worth all this. To hold fast to the truth that he really is the one who is to come…or should I tell my disciples to look elsewhere? To look for another...?

The narrator reads the Gospel passage. Then the ‘third person’ brings John a letter (a small scroll), which John opens and reads aloud.

John: ‘My dear cousin, my brother, my friend. Don’t be afraid. I am the one who is to come. Look no further. God loves you; you have served him well. There is room in the kingdom for all who will come to him.’ (pauses, then looks to heaven) Amen.