Description

Where is your focus when you go through trials?

Above all that Christ endured throughout His life, His focus was on you. Above all. A guard in training witnesses the movements of Jesus before, during, and after the crucifixion. Nathan ends up at the empty tomb fully aware that, above all, this special Man had His eyes on him even when His life was in shambles.
Obviously there were many larger than life figures in the real life drama that went on at the time of the capture, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But  I have always been intrigued by the secondary, the “lesser lights” in that series of events. People like the woman who called out and exposed Peter at the cross, the person who built the cross on which Jesus died, the person who nailed him to that cross, and Roman soldiers and temple police in charge. This may be one person’s story, above all.

Cast:     1 monolog m young – mid age

• Nathan is a guard in training in the Roman army who has been witness to different events in Christ’s life.

Bible Reference:    Luke 23

Set:      bare

Lighting:       spotlight

  Sound:     wireless mics if available

Song: 

• At the end of the drama,  “Above All” by Michael W. Smith
• song is available from your local Christian bookstore or online
• please support musicians and songwriters.

SFX:  none

Costumes:      likely a Roman guard period costume

Props:      none

Special Instructions:   none

  Time:     12

Sample of script:

The scene opens as a single spot comes onto an empty center stage. The actor enters from stage left, frantically yelling.

Nathan: Hello? Hello! Is anyone home? It’s Nathan! (Looks into the audience.) Oh, good! I was hoping you’d be here. I just had to talk to someone. I have this strange feeling inside. I can’t get rid of it! I . . . (pauses and looks at audience). Sorry, I guess I should explain what I’m talking about, huh? Well, you must have heard the news by now – His body is gone. Some thought that a few of the followers stole it, but I don’t see how they could have gotten into the cave. (Pauses as he looks into the audience.) Oh, yeah, I guess I’m still not making sense. Sorry. Well, this strange feeling all started a while ago.
You see, part of my training is that I have to follow around the older, more experienced guards so I learn what to do. For the most part, it’s not too bad. We’re usually doing different things every day so, I get to see a lot of things firsthand that I have only heard about growing up. But, one of the things I didn’t like was having to watch that Jesus guy. He was definitely different, no question on that!
We spent a lot of days following Him around just to make sure He wasn’t causing too much trouble. You see, this guy has attracted a lot of followers, and you and I both know that you have to watch out for these radicals. The guys told me that if we let this Jesus character get too much out of control, then pretty soon He could be quite the threat to the local leadership. I wasn’t supposed to repeat that, but now I don’t really think it matters.
(Pauses to look at the audience.)
Okay, okay, I’ll get to my point. From what I gather, this business of following people around isn’t all that uncommon. But for some reason, the guys really give it to this Jesus. I don’t know what the problem is, but He must have really done something bad because the guys barely let Him take a step without yelling and screaming horrible things at Him. I didn’t think what Jesus was doing was so bad at all, He seemed like He was just a nice guy telling people some stories. But I kept my mouth shut because there was no way I wanted the guards yelling at me the way they were hollerin’ at Jesus, that’s for sure! I mean I’ve heard the guys really give it to an old blind man or maybe even yell some pretty mean stuff to that young widow who lives in town. But it really seemed like they were trying to make up stuff about this Jesus, just to see how He would react! I know it seems strange, but you know what’s even stranger than that? Every time the guys would start up the insults with Jesus, He would just turn away and look right at me! At me!
I thought at first I was imagining this. I thought this guy doesn’t know me from any of the other soldiers, so why would He keep looking at me? He’s gotta know that I wasn’t going to help Him! He was on His own!
Then, there was when they decided that this guy was more trouble than what they were gonna put up with, so they decided to have him crucified, with a couple of other troublemakers just like Him. I was on duty that day too. Well, we called it crowd control, but there was no way any of us guys were doing anything to keep the angry crowds away from Him. You wouldn’t believe what these people did to Him – they screamed horrible things at Him that even I know are lies, they spit on Him and threw things at Him! I didn’t know what to do, so I looked at a few of the other guards, and do you know something? They actually had smiles on their faces! Smiles! The ones that were supposed to protect Him seemed like they were actually enjoying watching this. One thing I will never forget, though. Through all this, when He passed by me, He looked me right in the eye again! Again! Now that’s too much of a coincidence, isn’t it?

Pauses and looks to the audience.