The Cheltenham Passion Play
Good Friday 2000
Act 1: Friendship
Act 1 tells the story of the life and
teaching of Jesus - it is set in Sandford Park, Cheltenham’s Friendship
Park. It begins around the fountain at
the College Road side of the Park. The Cast
gathered in St Luke’s Church Hall and after prayers at 11-40 moved down to the
Park. A cohort of Roman soldiers led by
the Centurion led the way, followed by the core cast and all the supporting
cast of crowd and followers on - in all there were about 80 in costume. We had anticipated gathering people on one
side of the fountain, against the railings beside the road. One segment of grass around the fountain
would then provide our ‘stage’. In the
event it poured with rain and people were unwilling to stand on the
water-logged grass. A far larger crowd
than we had anticipated encircled the fountain.
Torrential rain on umbrellas made it difficult to hear. But from the beginning there was an air of
anticipation.
Scene 1: The Sermon on the Mount and the Feeding of the 5000
Narrator Sandford
Park. Home of Cheltenham’s Friendship
Circle. Shrubs, trees, flower beds,
fountains - all with Cheltenham’s twin towns in mind. Churches Together. Friends Together. It’s good to be together. And we have a journey to make - it’s a
journey that’s 2000 years old already, a journey that’s still going on. A journey for today. A Journey that begins at the beginning of
time ...[1]
John In
the beginning was the Word
and
the Word was with God
and
the Word was God.
And
the Word became flesh
and
dwelt among us
and
we have seen his glory
the
glory of the one and only Son of God.
John the Baptist The
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world
Andrew The
Teacher - the Messiah we’ve been waiting for.
Philip The
One they all spoke of, the One they’ve all been waiting for. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son from Nazareth.
Nathanael He
is the One ... the Son of God, the King of Israel.[2]
Christ A
journey from the Friendship Park to the Imperial Gardens. It really is good to be together, churches
together, friends together. And as a
sign of our friendship let’s eat together ... I’m sure someone’s got something [a
child from the church that has brought the Hot Cross Buns presents them to
Andrew]. Hot
Cross buns - that’s always been a special part of Good Friday.[3] It would be best if we got into groups -
about fifty in each group. On the grass
... let’s spread out round the fountain.
Andrew, let’s share them out - there may not be quite enough to go
round. Don’t start eating yet. We’ll have a prayer. We’ll give thanks ... [Andrew,
with the help the church that has brought the hot cross buns - has hot cross
buns to share - but at most one between three.]. Let’s have a prayer.
Christ Praise
the Lord, everyone here
Praise
the Lord, all the nations of this Friendship Park
For
great is God’s love towards us all
Making
us friends together.
Father
God, make us one heart and mind
and
give the world evidence of your wonderful love.
Amen.[4]
Christ Not
enough to go round? We are friends
together aren’t we? Take it. Break it.
Share it. Jesus
takes a Hot Cross Bun, breaks it and shares it with a couple of people nearby You are my friends. I want you to be friends with each other.[5] I want you to love one another. That’s what it is all about. Love one another.
You
know the old written law, “Love your friend,” and its unwritten companion,
“Hate your enemy”. I’m challenging
that. I’m telling you to love your
enemies. Let them bring out the best in
you, not the worst. If all you do is love the loveable, do you expect a
bonus? Anybody can do that.
In
a word what I am saying is, Grow up. Do
to others what you would have others do to you.
Love one another. Be friends
... with everyone.
You’re
here to be a light in a world of darkness.
This is something we need to go public on, as public as we can, so
public that we’re going to go through the busy streets of our busy town.
If
I make you my light do you think I’m going to hide you? I’m putting you on view ... so, shine! By showing the way, you’ll help others to see
what life is really about.
Christ Simon
and Andrew - you’re fishermen. And you,
James and John. Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women
instead of fish.[6]
Simon and Andrew come and take a
stand on the inner circle around the fountain - as the disciples are called by
name they come into that inner circle and stand around facing the crowd.
Christ Philip
and Bartholomew, Come follow me. Thomas
and Matthew the tax man; James - Alphaeus’s son - and Thaddaeus; Come, follow me. Simon the Canaanite and [Jesus
breaks off ... he is looking for one more ]
and Judas Iscariot. Leave everything ... and follow me.
Jesus takes four of the disciples in
turn - puts his hand on their shoulder, addresses them each one - but at the
same time includes everyone else. John is the beloved disciple who at the last
looks after Jesus’s mother; Andrew has just shared out the Hot Cross buns,
Simon Peter will deny Jesus and break down in tears, and Judas Iscariot will be
filled with remorse when he realises how he has betrayed Jesus.
Christ [taking
John and putting his hand on his shoulder]
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is
the kingdom of God.[7]
[putting
a hand on Andrew’s shoulder] Blessed are you who
are hungry now, for you will be filled.[8]
[singling
out Judas, with a hand around his shoulders] Blessed
are you when people hate you, for your reward is great in heaven.[10]
Christ Don’t
waste your energy striving for perishable food.
Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting
life, food I will provide.[11]
Andrew Master,
give us this bread, now and forever.
Christ I
am the Bread of Life. Follow me, and you
won’t go hungry.
Judas Iscariot Why
don’t you give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of what’s going
on. Show us what you can do.
Christ I
am telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has
real life, eternal life. I am the Bread
of Life. I am the Bread - living Bread!
- who came down out of heaven. Anyone
who eats this Bread will live - and forever!
The Bread that I give to the world so that it can eat and live is
myself, this flesh-and-blood self. [12]
[addressing Judas ... and the others] Take me. Break me.
share me.
Come
... all of you and follow me. The way is
narrow - the path is difficult - take care and follow me.[13]
Christ gathers the disciples to one
side of the fountain - the stewards marshall the crowd to follow on - and as
they are ready he speaks again
Christ Ask,
and it will be given you.
Seek
and you will find.
Knock,
and the door will be opened for you.
Ask,
seek, knock and follow.[14]
the disciples take up the chant ...
and encourage the crowd to take up the chant - they set off along the narrow
windy path chanting ‘ask, seek, knock and follow - ask, seek, knock and follow’
Crowd Ask,
seek, knock and follow.
Scene 2 - A woman in the crowd - on the narrow path
The crowd follow Jesus along the
narrow path - a woman is standing on the circle of hard-standing to the side of
the path - it is Mary Magdalene - Jesus passes - and then stops - the crowd is
around the trees -
Christ Who
touched me?
Peter But,
Master, we’ve got crowds of people on our hands. Dozens have touched you.
Christ Someone
touched me. I felt power discharging
from me.
Mary Magdalene So many
men. They used me ... they abused
me. And then it started - the
bleeding. And it wouldn’t stop. No one could help me, no doctor. No one would help me. No one would touch me. I didn’t touch you ... I just touched your
robe. That’s all. Just your robe. But something happened - the bleeding, it
stopped.[15]
Christ Daughter,
you believed in me ... and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, you’re blessed! And follow me.[16]
the woman joins the band of disciples
and follows Jesus. - the disciples mingle with the crowd ... and slip back in
the ‘procession’ - Jesus is out in front - and the crowd following him. Jesus leads the way up on to the path by the
Chelt, up the steps and straight along under the ‘arbor’ and then back up the
middle pathway to the fountain in the French Gardens.
Scene 3 - The Woman at the Well - and Jesus’ teaching
Jesus sits beside the fountain ...
the crowd are kept well back from the semi-circle in front of the fountain - we
are now looking towards the fountain - Jesus is sitting alone, when another
woman appears at the well She is
carrying a pitcher of water and a basket of hot cross buns. She sees him, likes him ... and begins to
flirt with him.[17]
Christ Would
you give me a drink of water?
Samaritan Woman How come a
Jew is asking me, a Samaritan, for a drink?
Christ If
you knew how much God loves you ... and who I am, you would be asking me for a
drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.
Samaritan Woman Sir, you
don’t even have a bucket, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get
this ‘living water’? Are you a better
man than our ancestor Jacob who dug this well and drank from it and passed it
down to us?
Christ Everyone
who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never
thirst - not ever. The water I give will
be a spring, gushing fountains of endless life.
Samaritan Woman Sir, give
me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, so that I won’t ever have to come
back to this well again.
Christ Go
and call your husband. Then come back
here.
Samaritan Woman I have no
husband.
Christ ‘I
have no husband’. You’ve had five
husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. ‘I have no husband’ ... that’s true enough.
Samaritan Woman Oh, so
you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this:
Our ancestors worshipped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem
is the only place for worship, right?
Christ The
time is coming - it has in fact come - when your race will not matter and where
you go to worship will not matter.[18]
It’s
who you are and the way you live that
count before God. Your worship must
engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth.
That’s the kind of people the Father is looking out for: those who are
simply and honestly themselves before
him in their worship. God is sheer being
itself - Spirit. Those who worship him
must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in
adoration.
Samaritan Woman I don’t
know about that. But I do know that the
Messiah is coming. When he comes we’ll
get the whole story.
Christ I
am the One. You don’t have to wait any
longer or look any further.
Just then his disciples come
back. They are shocked. They can’t believe he is talking with that
kind of woman - their faces show exactly what they think!! In a stylised way - they come one by one and
turn their back on Jesus who is oblivious of what they are saying. The Woman, however reacts with shame at each
comment ... she knows what they are thinking.
.
Peter Not
another Woman
James A
Samaritan Woman
John A
Samaritan Woman with five husbands.
Judas Iscariot A
Samaritan Woman with five husbands who is living with someone else.
The woman takes the hint and
leaves. In her confusion she leaves the
pitcher of water and the basket of Hot Cross Buns behind..
Peter Aren’t
you going to eat?
Christ I
have food to eat you know nothing about.
Judas [taking
the basket of bread] Who could have brought him
food?
Christ The
food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me,
finishing the work he started. [Jesus
looks around at the gardens] As you look around
right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to
harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open
your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you.[19] These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time! And the harvester is arm in arm with The
Sower!
The Samaritan Woman then brings on a
church group who are as it were the Samaritan friends from her town. She is arm
in arm with the one who will act the part of the Sower. That Church group then acts out the Parable
of the Sower - making full use of the beautiful gardens. At the end the characters freeze ... and we
return to Christ’s conversation with his disciples.
Listen! What do you make of this? A sower sowed some seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on
the road and birds ate it. Some fell in
the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came
up it withered just as quickly. Some
fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing
came of it. Some fell on good earth and
came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams.[20]
Christ The
Harvester can’t wait ... he’s gathering in the grain that’s ripe for eternal
life. That’s the truth of the saying, ‘This one sows [pointing to the Sower], that one harvests.’[pointing to the woman I sent you to
harvest a field you never worked.
Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and
hard by others.
Samaritan Woman speaking
to the church group who have just acted out the parable and to the crowd - He knew all about the things I did.
He knows me inside and out!
The Sower the
one who took the part acting the Sower in the parable. We’re no longer
taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard
it for ourselves and know it for sure.
He’s the Saviour of the World.[21]
Peter Ask
and it will be given you
James Seek,
and you will find
John Knock,
and the door will be opened for you.
Judas Iscariot Ask,
seek, knock and follow.
Christ now leads the way - out of the
garden, back into the park. The
disciples and the crowd follow ... but not far.
Scene 4 - The Road to Jerusalem
This scene takes place only a few
yards from the steps that lead out of the Garden back into the park. Jesus and the disciples gather to the left of
the bushes - we anticipated that the crowd would be between that point and the
Gardens. The crowd was much bigger than
we anticipated: it consequently had a mind of its own. People were going ahead to make sure they
could hear at the next scene. Many
people had already gone down to the Friendship Circle for Scene 5.
Christ Who
do the people say I am?[22]
Judas Some
say John the Baptist.
James Others
say, ‘Elijah’
John Still
others say, ‘one of the prophets’.
Christ And
you - what are you saying about me? Who
am I?
Peter You
are the Christ, the Messiah.
Christ But
the time is not yet ripe. It is
necessary for the Son of Man to face an ordeal of suffering,[23]
to be put on trial. It is necessary for
the Son of Man to be found guilty by the religious leaders. It is necessary for me to be killed ... but
after three days I will rise up again and live.
Peter grabs Jesus in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering,
wondering what to believe, Jesus confronts Peter.
Peter That
must never be.
Christ Peter,
get out of my way! Satan, get away from me! You have no idea how God
works. Anyone who intends to come with
me has to let me lead. You’re not in
charge: I am. Don’t run from suffering;
embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you
how.[24]
James,
John ... Go over to the next village. As
soon as you enter, you’ll find a colt tethered, one that has never yet been
ridden. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ say,
‘The Master needs him, and will return him right away.’
Peter [calling
after them,] Ask and it will be given you.
Judas Seek,
and you will find.
Peter Knock,
and the door will be opened for you.
Judas Ask,
seek, knock and follow.
James and John run off towards the
Friendship Circle. Jesus and the other
disciples and then the crowd follow around the bush and down to the Friendship
Circle.
Scene 6 - The Journey to Jerusalem begins
At the Friendship Circle -Janita the
Donkey from the Donkey Sanctuary is
waiting. The Crowd stops before the
Friendship Circle - looking down at the Circle - the mother of James and John -
Zebedee’s wife is with her two sons, James and John.
Zebedee’s wife Jesus! Jesus![25]
James Not
now, mother!
John This
is not the time, mother!
Zebedee’s wife Jesus!
Christ What
do you want?
Zebedee’s Wife Give
your word that these two sons of mine will be awarded the highest places of
honour in your kingdom, one at your right hand, one at your left hand.
Christ You
have no idea what you’re asking. [Jesus
turns to James and John] Are you capable of drinking the cup that I am
about to drink?
James Sure,
why not?
Christ You
will drink my cup. But as to awarding
places of honour, that’s not my business.
My Father is taking care of that.
Judas Iscariot remonstrates
with James and John - the other disciples are also losing their tempers,
thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers.
That’s offensive ... asking who is the
greatest! You should be ashamed of
yourselves.[26]
Christ Have
you noticed how people in power throw their weight around, how quickly a little
power goes to their heads. It’s not
going to be that way with you. Whoever
wants to be great must become a servant.
Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: he came to serve, not to be served. He came
to give his life away in exchange for the many who are held hostage.
Christ That’s
it. [He goes to the donkey] The time has come for the Son of Man to be lifted up and glorified.[27]
Listen
carefully: [as he says these words - Jesus moves around the
Friendship circle from the 2D shape to the 3 dimensional castings Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world,
it is never any more than a grain of wheat.
But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times
over. In the same way, anyone who holds
on to life just as it is destroys that life.
But if you let it go you’ll have
it forever, real and eternal.
If
any of you wants to serve me, then follow me.
Judas a
touch of scepticism in his voice ... Look, our King
is on his way,
poised
and ready mounted
On
a donkey, on a colt
foal
of a pack animal.[28]
With great excitement Jesus sets off
on or leading the Donkey! Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their
garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others have cut branches
from the trees which they throw down as a welcome mat. Crowds go on ahead, and more crowds
follow. All of them calling out ...
All Disciples Hosanna!
... and crowd Blessed
is He who comes in God’s Name!
Yes! The King of Israel!
Hosanna
to David’s Son
Blessed
is he who comes in God’s name!
Hosanna
in highest heaven!
` Blessed
be the coming kingdom of our father David!
Blessed
is he who comes, the King in God’s name!
All’s
well in heaven! Glory in the high places!
The procession leads off along the stream,
over the bridge and into the water gardens.
Scene 6 - At the Gates of Jerusalem
Caiaphas, Annas and Joseph of
Arimathea, the religious leaders who all along have been around the edges of
the crowd, have got themselves to the front.
They have gone on a little ahead - they are the first over the
bridge. They take a stand in the gateway
on to the Old Bath Road - blocking the Gate.
This is their first real appearance.
It is important that the Marshall and the Stewards be towards the front
as well at this stage. All along through
the park they have been kindly and gently keeping people going in the right
direction. Jesus leads the way. Through into the water garden there is a
general hubbub of excitement and enthusiasm.
Jesus and the disciples approach the gate. The stewards keep the crowds back from the
gates - on each side of the fountains - the Religious Leaders stand across the
Gateway. The marshall is standing beside
the Gate. The police will be in the background
ready to shut off the road. [29]The
Disciples keep up the chanting - keep the crowd chanting
Chant Blessed
is he who comes - the King in God’s name!
Hosanna
in the highest heaven.
Blessed
be the coming Kingdom of our Father David.
The
Religious leaders - Annas, Caiaphas and Joseph of Arimathea try to make
themselves heard - they try to quieten the crowd down. At that point the crowd stop their chanting -
one or two of the disciples continue.
Judas Iscariot the most vociferous.
At last one of the finely dressed Religious leaders, Joseph of Arimathea
tries to step in with the cool voice of reason.
Annas Quiet! Order!
Keep Quiet.
Disciples Blessed
is he who comes - the King in God’s name!
Hosanna
in the Highest heaven.
Annas Quiet!
Judas Iscariot [30]Blessed
be the coming Kingdom of our Father David
Christ walking
up the steps into the gateway, and turning to the crowd. If they kept
quiet, the stones themselves would shout and sing.
Disciples shouting
all the more loudly
Blessed is he who comes - the King in God’s name!
Hosanna
in the Highest heaven
Christ Peace,
be still.[32] He turns for a moment and looks through the
Gate at the busy road behind. When there
is perfect stillness he turns again. He
is overcome with emotion .. he weeps over the city .
If
you had only recognised this day, and everything that was good for you. If you had only known the things that make
for peace. But now it’s too late.[33]
What
am I going to say? Father, get me out of
this? No, this is why I came in the
first place. I’ll say, Father, yours is
the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory.
Christ At
this moment the world is in crisis. Now
Satan, the ruler of this world, will be thrown out. And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will
attract everyone to me and gather them around me.
Joseph We
heard from God’s Law that the Messiah lasts forever. How can it be necessary, as you put it, that
the Son of Man ‘be lifted up’? Who is
this ‘Son of Man’?[34]
Christ [35]I
am the light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won’t
have to stay any longer in the dark. For
a brief time still, the light is among you.
Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn’t destroy you. As you have the light, believe in the
light. Then the light will be within
you, and shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light.
If
anyone wants to serve me, then follow me.
I am the Gate. Anyone who goes
through me will be cared for. I came so
you can have real and eternal life.
Come, follow me.
At this point Jesus and the core cast
set off ahead of the crowds and went very quickly round to Cambray. There they
went into the Church to have a fifteen minute break - an opportunity to dry out
a little bit from the downpour of rain, and to have some warm coffee. The crowd followed behind the donkey round to
Cambray.
[1] The journey theme recurs throughout the play - these words of
introduction are echoed almost exactly when we arrive on the High Street. They set the scene for the play as a whole.
[2] The first chapter of John’s Gospel contains not only the Prologue
identifying Jesus as the Word of God, but also a sequence of cameo scenes in
which Jesus is identified as Lamb of God, Teacher, the One they’ve all been
waiting for, Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph’s son, the one, the Son of God, the King
of Israel. This leaves the reader of the
Gospel in no doubt as to the identity of the central figure of the Gospel
Story. Our play takes a leaf out of
John’s book and identifies Jesus right at the outset. There is no way that people in the crowd will
realise who these people are - people simply step out from the costumed crowd
and identify Jesus. Nathanael’s final
identification of Jesus as the Son of God, the King of Israel is what in the
end leads the Religious Leaders and the Civic Leaders to call for Christ’s
crucifixion; and yet it is also what the Centurion recognised to be true about
Jesus at the very end.
[3] Jesus starts in the present - Jesus really is present with us as we
share our presentation of His Passion - he quickly slides back to 2000 years to
the Feeding of the 5000. In John’s
Gospel there is a very close link between the Feeding of the 5000 and the Last
Supper, a link which John 6 makes explicit - we establish the link by using
John’s account of the Feeding of the 5000, by using Hot Cross buns on both
occasions, in the words that Jesus uses and in the provision of a Hot Cross Bun
for Jesus to break by the same little boy.
[4] This prayer brings together the words of Psalm 117, a Psalm used at
the Passover, with words from John 17, the prayer for oneness among his
followers which Jesus prayed at the Last Supper.
[5] These words capture the teaching of Jesus - in the Friendship Park
Jesus starts with the New Command of John 13 and then proceeds with extracts
from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.
[6] This brings together the call of the fishermen in Matthew 4 and the
naming of the Twelve in Matthew 10. The
basic text has been Eugene Peterson’s The Message - but in view of the fact
that this is an outdoor production involving basically street theatre it has
often been necessary to ‘tighten’ the text, reduce the words and give it a
stronger punch.
[7] The Beatitudes are taken from Luke 6 and use the more familiar
words of the New Revised Standard Version.
Luke’s Beatitudes are cut down to 4 and are addressed directly to people
- Blessed are you ... In our play Jesus addresses each Beatitude not just to
the crowd as a whole, but to a particular disciple - each Beatitude has a
significance for that Disciple at some point in the Play. John, together with the others has been
challenged to ‘leave everything’ - Jesus speaks of him as ‘poor’.
[8] Andrew, of course, was the disciple who found the little boy ready
to share his Hot Cross Buns.
[9] The strong fisherman, Peter, is the last you expect to break down
in tears, but when he realises what he has done he weeps bitter tears of
sorrow.
[10] This is the most moving of all the Beatitudes. In our play it is addressed to Judas. Judas had been the last of the Disciples to
be chosen - it is as if from the beginning Jesus knows what is in store. But true to his teaching about loving enemies
Jesus holds out hope for Judas at the last.
In our play Judas’s suicide is the act of a penitent who knows exactly
what they have done, and cannot bear to live with the enormity of it.
[11] We return to John 6 - the conversation Jesus has with people in the
crowd, is conducted with the disciples - Andrew has found the boy with the Hot
Cross Buns ... the dissenting voice, wanting proof, is Judas.
[12] The final words addressed to Judas are an addition to the words
from John 6, but very much in the spirit of John 6 - a memorable phrase, these
words repeat what we have just heard in the sharing of the Hot Cross Buns in
the Feeding of the 5000 and anticipate the words that Jesus will use at the
Last Supper. It is almost as if Jesus is
laying down the gauntlet to Judas.
[13] An echo of the call to the Disciples, linked with the invitation to
follow on the Narrow Path at the end of the Sermon on the MountBack to the call
to the Disciples
[14] The words of Luke 11 become a chant to accompany the journey. Jesus’s challenge is to follow him. The Passion Play itself is a journey through
the Town - it starts as Jesus picks his way through the crowd and follows a
windy, narrow path from the Fountain through the bushes to space on the way.
[15] This scene is based on the healing of the woman in the crowd in
Luke 8. The woman is not named. Luke tells us that ‘she blurted out her
story’ ... but he does not tell us what that story was. Our play imagines that it was Mary Magdalene,
and that her haemorrhaging was as a result of abuse she had suffered from
men. The one cast out, damaged and rejected
by society is accepted by Christ, and receives the very same word of blessing
which had previously been offered to the Disciples. Mary is the first of the women to follow
Jesus. She later becomes the one to
announce the reality of the Resurrection to doubting disciples.
[16] Eugene Petereson’s ‘You’re healed, you’re whole’ is a wonderful
rendering of the words Jesus said.
[17] This scene is taken only one or two significant adaptations from
John 4.
[18] The scenes in the Friendship Park highlight the way Jesus breaks
barriers down ... here barriers are coming down between a Jewish Man and a
Samaritan Woman - they are the barriers of gender and of race that need to come
down in our society too. The people who
have come together in the Friendship Park have come specifically for the
Passion Play - there aren’t many passers by here! For the most part they come from
churches. Here in the Friendship Park
our play is presented by Churches Together - part of our task is to break down
barriers between churches, not least the barriers there are between people who
adopt different styles of worship.
[19] In John 4 the Woman goes off to the nearby Samaritan town to tell
people all about the One she has found.
The folk from that town come out to see Jesus for themselves. As the crowds came up the road in the
distance with their white robes flowing in the wind, they might have looked
just like a field of grain white and ripe for harvest. In our play the Woman is seen as ‘the
Harvester’ - she brings on the people from the Samaritan village. At this point in John 4:35 Jesus shares some
powerful teaching about Sowing and Harvesting.
We slot in to the story of John 4 the Parable of the Sower which is
acted out by the Samaritans dressed in white.
They are dressed in white, suggestive of those white fields ripe for
harvest. But there is also a contrast in
store. The next of Jesus’ parables is
going to take on a sinister note and will be presented by people dressed in
black.
[20] A team from Elim presented a fun, modern version of the Parable of
the Sower.
[21] The one who had played the part of the Sower in the Parable speaks
the words from John 4:42 which the Samaritans say in response to all they have
heard from the Woman, and seen for themselves.
This anticipates the response of Thomas at the Resurrection and also
serves to identify Christ as the Saviour of the World, not just of Jews, or of
Samaritans, not just of men or of women, but of the whole world.
[22] Mark 8:27ff
[23] One of the strengths of using Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase is that
it makes people who know the story already think again about the words and
their meaning; it also has a directness which makes it accessible for people
who have not heard the story before.
Here, the words have been condensed to add power to the street theatre,
but Eugene Peterson’s direct imagery makes it clear what is in store.
[24] At that point we break off from Mark 8 and jump to Mark 11 - in our
play the two disciples are James and John.
This gets them ahead of the others ... but by the time the others arrive
at the Friendship circle, their mother has waylaid them.
[25] this scene from Mark 10 and Matthew 20 comes immediately after
another of Jesus’ predictions of his suffering and death. The tension is now mounting as Jesus is
approaching Jerusalem.
[26] Matthew tells us that when the ten others heard this, they lost
their tempers ... in our play it is Judas who speaks for the Ten.
[27] We now turn to John 12:23.
Talk of the grain of wheat recalls the Parable of the Sower, it
anticipates the death and resurrection of Christ. The Friendship Circle is a modern sculpture
which represents different forms of friendship - one is depicted two
dimensionally on the floor, and then three cones are different three
dimensional representations of the two dimensional plan. The seed is buried ... and then comes to life. Jesus with a wave of the hand points out the
different parts of the sculpture as he says these words.
[28] The words of the prophecy quoted in Matthew 21 are put into the
mouth of Judas ... and then the crowds with palm branches shout their hosannas
round past the fountain to the Gate on to the Bath Road.
[29] In the event the Police did not appear. The stewards who were to have marshalled the
Procession had to switch to controlling the traffic.
[30] Judas faces off the religious leaders - he is threatening - clearly
has not taken on board Jesus’ talk of accepting suffering.
[31] In Luke 19:39, some of the Pharisees make this comment - in our
Play it is put into the mouth of Joseph of Arimathea.
[32] This comes from the stilling of the storm - the storm clouds really
had mounted for the whole of Act 1 - by now the storm was beginning to
abate. As Christ quietened the sea, so
he quietened the crowds. We then return
to Luke 19 as Jesus weeps over the city.
Standing in the Gateway to the Park with the traffic of the Bath Road
behind there is something intensely moving about these words.
[33] From Luke 19 we turn back to John 12:27ff and the words that follow
on from the saying about the grain of wheat.
[34] Joseph is now the voice of the crowd
[35] The final words of Christ bring together sayings on Light and the
Gate from John 8 and John 10. As Jesus
stands in the Gateway and invites people to follow him, everyone then has to
follow him through the Gateway. It is
significant that the Religious Leaders have already gone on ahead.
