Joseph's Monologue - A Christmas Play Series

As the angel spoke, I felt a stirring within my heart, and I recalled an obscure passage from Isaiah that even the rabbis struggled with.

Speaking of the coming Messiah Isaiah wrote: “and he shall be pierced for our transgressions, he shall be crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brings us peace is upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

I Doubted

(pause...)

(as you speak gradually make your way down the steps on the other side of the stage and eventually return to the area in front of the pews)

There are those – to this very day – who wonder if I truly believed what the angel said to me that night.

And you know… they’re right.

I’d never spoken with an angel before!

Have you? (point to a person in the audience)

Have you? (point to a person in the audience)

As Mary’s pregnancy progressed, I increasingly wondered if I had truly heard the voice of an angel that night… or if I had merely imagined what I hoped to hear because I so much wanted Mary to be my wife.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. It was decreed that everyone should return to the home of their family and register with the government.

Since I was of the family and of the line of David, I was required to return to our ancestral city – Bethlehem, far to the South. So I and Mary, who was far along in her pregnancy, made the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. But when we arrived, we found that so many people had come to Bethlehem to register that the Inn was full, there was no room for us.

Fortunately, we were able to find a cave just outside of town that was being used as a barn and found shelter there for the night.

That night, Mary gave birth to a son.

I cut the cord, washed his body and wrapped him in clean, warm cloths and laid him in a feeding trough – the manger where feed was placed for cattle. Then I sat down beside Mary and held her close.

We talked for a long time about visions we had received… and we wondered if what we had heard was really true.

Could It Be?

Suddenly at the entrance of the cave (rush over to the side of the auditorium to create impression of cave’s entrance) we saw that some men had gathered.

There were 14, 15 of them. Shepherds who told us they had come a fair distance from the fields where their flocks were bedded down for the night.

They said that while they were watching over their sheep, the night suddenly became filled with light. A host of angels filled the sky singing praises to God:

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

One of the angels told them “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

So they had left their flocks and come to find out if what the angel had told them was true. Quietly, they gathered around the manger, and bowed in worship of our son.

Eight days later, as the law required, we took Jesus to the great city of Jerusalem to have Him circumcised, and to offer two turtledoves as a sacrifice to God. When we reached the place where this act was to be performed, the man who was to circumcise Him – his name was Simeon – took Jesus from us and raised Him up before God and offered thanks. He told us that God had promised him that he would not die before he had been allowed to see the Lord’s anointed.