Conjugating Jesus
Season of Lent .... John 18:1-8 (and Exodus 3:1-15): The Garden of Gethsemane (and the Burning Bush) .... Prayer and God's Name
Puppets: Barnabas, Olivia, and Fodder
People: Kids
Songs: Lord’s Prayer
[Barnabas, Olivia, and Fodder are all up front, Olivia in the middle]
Barnabas: Buenos dias, boys and girls. How is everybody today?
Olivia: Hi kids. It’s good to see you all here this morning.
Fodder: Gooood mornnnning Methodists! Whaaaaat’s happpenin?
Barnabas: I don’t know what’s happening. But I do know what I’m wondering.
Olivia: What’s that, Barnabas?
Barnabas: I was wondering whether Jesus knew Kung Fu.
Fodder: What?
Barnabas: Well, what I was really wondering was why Jesus didn’t fight back. When they came to get him in the Garden of Gethsemene, you know, with Judas betraying him, and the soldiers coming to arrest him. Why didn’t Jesus fight back? He could have.
Olivia: Hmm.
Fodder: I know what you mean. When the soldiers came to grab Jesus, why didn’t he just do some Jesus jujitsu? [Pause]
Olivia: [Quietly] He did.
Fodder and Barnabas: He did?
Olivia: That’s exactly what he did. Jesus jujitsu—responding not by fighting back, not with violence, but by responding with words. With the Word.
Fodder and Barnabas: Huh?
Olivia: Don’t you get it? There he was, in the garden, in the Kidron valley, Jesus with his disciples, a place that he liked to go, to find peace. And Judas knew it. And Judas took advantage of it. Judas knew that Jesus liked that place. So Judas led the solders there, and the police, the police from the chief priests and Pharisees, and they came there in the night with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Barnabas: It sounds like they expected Jesus to fight back. Pow. Kachine. Zowee.
Olivia: But Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward in the dark to them, and he asked them: “Whom are you looking for?”
Fodder: And they answered: “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Olivia: Exactly. And that’s when Jesus did his jujitsu.
Fodder and Barnabas: Huh?
Olivia: Here, maybe it will be easier if I tell you a story first.
Barnabas: OK.
Fodder: I like stories.
Olivia: So, there was Moses, walking in the desert, looking for one of his lost sheep.
Barnabas: Moses? Is this another Bible story?
Olivia: Shh. And then suddenly, Moses saw something…weird…something… strange…something that made his hair stand up on the back of his neck.
Fodder: That happened to me the first time I saw canned salmon.
Olivia: No, really. You know what Moses saw, it was a bush, on fire, but it wasn’t burning up. And it was God there. And God called him by name, saying: “Moses, Moses.”
Barnabas: I know. We’ve studied this in Sunday School. And God called on Moses to be a leader, to go back and lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, saying that he, God would help.
Olivia: But Moses was nervous about all this. So he asked his famous question:
Fodder: What question?
Barnabas: He said to God: “What is your name?”
Olivia: And God didn’t yell, or get mad, or…not answer. God did answer, and He said: “I am who I am. And if anyone asks, or wonders why you are doing these things, then tell them that ‘I am’ has sent you.”
Fodder: O….K!? Olivia: So listen. There is Jesus in the dark. With the disciples, who are scared. They know something big is going to happen. Jesus has been talking about it, at the Last Supper, and before.
Barnabas: Right. So here comes Judas, and the soldiers, and the police, in the dark, with their weapons, and their fear, and their hate.
Fodder: And Jesus steps out into the circle of light, from their torches, and says: “Whom are you looking for?” And in their anger they yell out the answer, “Jesus of Nazareth,” the right answer, if only they’d seen it, the one whom we all are looking for.
Barnabas: [Quietly] “Whom are you looking for?”
Fodder: And they say, “Jesus of Nazareth!”
Olivia: And that’s when Jesus responds, with…the Word. He says: [slowly and emphatically “I am.” [Fodder and Barnabas both fall backwards, as if in a faint, with a clunk]
Exactly. That’s exactly what Jesus’ disciples did, when they heard Jesus say that. Because they understood.
Barnabas: [Getting back up] I am! The name of God, the same as from the burning bush. Jesus was telling them that…that he…was…God.
Fodder: It was what he’d been saying all along, for those who would listen: in his stories, in his teaching, in his words: I am…I am the way…I am the resurrection and the light. I am here.
Olivia: And he’s telling it to us. [Praying] Thank you Jesus. Thank you for words so that we can pray to you, and say thank you, for your undying love. Thank you, Lord.
All: Now, is this a great day join in and pray, or not? [Sing Lord’s Prayer
Puppets: Barnabas, Olivia, and Fodder
People: Kids
Songs: Lord’s Prayer
[Barnabas, Olivia, and Fodder are all up front, Olivia in the middle]
Barnabas: Buenos dias, boys and girls. How is everybody today?
Olivia: Hi kids. It’s good to see you all here this morning.
Fodder: Gooood mornnnning Methodists! Whaaaaat’s happpenin?
Barnabas: I don’t know what’s happening. But I do know what I’m wondering.
Olivia: What’s that, Barnabas?
Barnabas: I was wondering whether Jesus knew Kung Fu.
Fodder: What?
Barnabas: Well, what I was really wondering was why Jesus didn’t fight back. When they came to get him in the Garden of Gethsemene, you know, with Judas betraying him, and the soldiers coming to arrest him. Why didn’t Jesus fight back? He could have.
Olivia: Hmm.
Fodder: I know what you mean. When the soldiers came to grab Jesus, why didn’t he just do some Jesus jujitsu? [Pause]
Olivia: [Quietly] He did.
Fodder and Barnabas: He did?
Olivia: That’s exactly what he did. Jesus jujitsu—responding not by fighting back, not with violence, but by responding with words. With the Word.
Fodder and Barnabas: Huh?
Olivia: Don’t you get it? There he was, in the garden, in the Kidron valley, Jesus with his disciples, a place that he liked to go, to find peace. And Judas knew it. And Judas took advantage of it. Judas knew that Jesus liked that place. So Judas led the solders there, and the police, the police from the chief priests and Pharisees, and they came there in the night with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Barnabas: It sounds like they expected Jesus to fight back. Pow. Kachine. Zowee.
Olivia: But Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward in the dark to them, and he asked them: “Whom are you looking for?”
Fodder: And they answered: “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Olivia: Exactly. And that’s when Jesus did his jujitsu.
Fodder and Barnabas: Huh?
Olivia: Here, maybe it will be easier if I tell you a story first.
Barnabas: OK.
Fodder: I like stories.
Olivia: So, there was Moses, walking in the desert, looking for one of his lost sheep.
Barnabas: Moses? Is this another Bible story?
Olivia: Shh. And then suddenly, Moses saw something…weird…something… strange…something that made his hair stand up on the back of his neck.
Fodder: That happened to me the first time I saw canned salmon.
Olivia: No, really. You know what Moses saw, it was a bush, on fire, but it wasn’t burning up. And it was God there. And God called him by name, saying: “Moses, Moses.”
Barnabas: I know. We’ve studied this in Sunday School. And God called on Moses to be a leader, to go back and lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, saying that he, God would help.
Olivia: But Moses was nervous about all this. So he asked his famous question:
Fodder: What question?
Barnabas: He said to God: “What is your name?”
Olivia: And God didn’t yell, or get mad, or…not answer. God did answer, and He said: “I am who I am. And if anyone asks, or wonders why you are doing these things, then tell them that ‘I am’ has sent you.”
Fodder: O….K!? Olivia: So listen. There is Jesus in the dark. With the disciples, who are scared. They know something big is going to happen. Jesus has been talking about it, at the Last Supper, and before.
Barnabas: Right. So here comes Judas, and the soldiers, and the police, in the dark, with their weapons, and their fear, and their hate.
Fodder: And Jesus steps out into the circle of light, from their torches, and says: “Whom are you looking for?” And in their anger they yell out the answer, “Jesus of Nazareth,” the right answer, if only they’d seen it, the one whom we all are looking for.
Barnabas: [Quietly] “Whom are you looking for?”
Fodder: And they say, “Jesus of Nazareth!”
Olivia: And that’s when Jesus responds, with…the Word. He says: [slowly and emphatically “I am.” [Fodder and Barnabas both fall backwards, as if in a faint, with a clunk]
Exactly. That’s exactly what Jesus’ disciples did, when they heard Jesus say that. Because they understood.
Barnabas: [Getting back up] I am! The name of God, the same as from the burning bush. Jesus was telling them that…that he…was…God.
Fodder: It was what he’d been saying all along, for those who would listen: in his stories, in his teaching, in his words: I am…I am the way…I am the resurrection and the light. I am here.
Olivia: And he’s telling it to us. [Praying] Thank you Jesus. Thank you for words so that we can pray to you, and say thank you, for your undying love. Thank you, Lord.
All: Now, is this a great day join in and pray, or not? [Sing Lord’s Prayer
posted by Marvin at 6:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home