This is the Account of Christ, as recorded in God’s Holy Word, the Bible. The following is a paraphrased monologue taken from the Life Application Bible and chronologically assembled for dramatic purposes. The end concludes with a series of questions to invoke the thoughts of the listeners to where they stand for Christ.
Dramatic Scripture Reading [Paraphrased Monologue] of the Account of Christ beginning with the Last Supper and Ending with the Crucifixion.
REFLECTION IN THE END ASKING THE CONGREGATION WHERE/WHO THEY ARE ALONG THE WAY.
• Matthew 26:20-25
1. That evening as he sat eating with the Twelve, he said, ‘One of you will betray me.’
2. Sorrow chilled their hearts, and each on asked, ‘Am I the one’
3. He replied, ‘It is the one I served first
4. For I must die just as was prophesied, but woe to the man by whom I am betrayed. Far better for that one if he had never been born.
5. Judas, too, had asked him, ‘Rabbi, am I the one?’ And Jesus had told him, ‘Yes’
• Matthew 26:31-35
1. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Tonight you will all desert me. For it is written in the Scriptures that God will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
2. But after I have been brought back to life again I will go to Galilee, and meet you there.’
3. Peter declared, ‘If everyone else deserts you, I won’t.’
4. Jesus told him, ‘The truth is that this very night, before the cock crows at dawn, you will deny me three times!’
5. ‘I would die first!’ Peter insisted. And all the other disciples said the same thing.
• Mark 14:32-41
1. And now they came to an olive grove called the Garden of Gethsemane, and he instructed his disciples, ‘Sit here, while I go and pray.’
2. He took Peter, James and John with him and began to be filled with horror and deepest distress. And he said to them, ‘My soul is crushed by sorrow to the point of death; stay here and watch with me.’
3. He went on a little further and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the awful hour awaiting him might never come.
4. ‘Father, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take away this cup from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.’
5. Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep.
6. ‘Simon!’ he said. ‘Asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?
7. Watch with me and pray lest the Tempter overpower you. For thought the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak.’
8. And he went away again and prayed, repeating his pleadings. Again he returned to them and found them sleeping, for they were very tired. And they didn’t know what to say.
9. The third time when he returned to them he said, ‘Sleep on; get your rest! But no! The time for sleep has ended! Look! I am betrayed into the hands of wicked men.
• Matthew 26:47-52
1. At that very moment while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived with a great crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the Jewish leaders.
2. Judas had told them to arrest the man he greeted, for that would be the one they were after.
3. So now Judas came straight to Jesus and said, ‘Hello Master!’ and embraced him in friendly fashion.
4. Jesus said, ‘My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.’ Then the others grabbed him.
5. One of the men with Jesus pulled out a sword and slashed off the ear of the High Priest’s servant.
6. ‘Put away your sword,’ Jesus told him. ‘Those that live by the sword, die by the sword.’
• Luke 22:54-62
1. So they seized him and led him to the High Priest’s residence, and Peter followed at a distance.
2. The soldiers lit a fire in the courtyard and sat around it for warmth, and Peter joined them there.
3. A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she spoke: ‘This man was with Jesus!’
4. Peter denied it. ‘Woman,’ he said, ‘I don’t even know the man!/
5. After a while someone else looked at him and said, ‘You must be one of them!’
6. ‘No sir, I am not!’ Peter replied.
7. About an hour later someone else flatly stated, ‘I know this fellow is one of Jesus’ disciples, for both are from Galilee.’
8. But Peter said, ‘Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.’ And as he said the words, a rooster crowed.
9. At that moment Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered what he had said—‘Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny me three times.’
10. And Peter walked out of the courtyard, crying bitterly.
• John 18:33-38a
1. Then Pilate went back into the palace and called for Jesus to be brought to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ he asked him.
2. ‘King’ as you use the word or as the Jews use it?’ Jesus asked.
3. ‘Am I a Jew?’ Pilate retorted. ‘Your own people and their chief priests brought you here. Why? What have you done?
4. Then Jesus answered, ‘I am not an earthly king. If I were, my followers would have fought when I was arrested by the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of the world.’
5. Pilate replied, ‘But you are a king then?’
6. ‘Yes, you say I am a king’, Jesus said. ‘I was born for that purpose. And I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth are my followers.”
7. ‘What is truth?’ Pilate exclaimed.
• Matthew 27:20-26
1. Meanwhile the chief priests and Jewish officials persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas’ release, and for Jesus’ death.
2. So when the governor asked again, ‘Which of these two shall I release to you?’ the crowd shouted back their reply: ‘Barabbas!’
3. ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus, your Messiah?’ Pilate asked. And they shouted, ‘Crucify him!’
4. ‘Why?’ Pilate demanded. ‘What has he done wrong?’ But they kept shouting, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’
5. When Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere, and that a riot was developing, he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this good man. The responsibility is yours!’
6. And the mob yelled back, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’
7. Then Pilate released Barabbas to them. And after he had whipped Jesus, he gave him to the Roman soldiers to take away and crucify.
• Mark 15:16-20
1. Then the Roman soldiers took him into the barracks of the palace, called out the entire palace guard, dressed him in a purple robe, and made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head.
2. Then they saluted, yelling, ‘Yea! King of the Jews!’
3. And they beat him on the head with a cane, and spat on him and went down on their knees to “worship” him.
4. When they finally tired of their sport, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again, and led him away to be crucified.
• Matthew 27:45-46
1. That afternoon, the whole earth was covered with darkness for three hours, from noon until three o’clock.
2. About three o’clock, Jesus shouted, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
• Psalm 22 (selections)
1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why do you refuse to help me or even to listen to my groans? Day and night I keep on weeping, crying for my help, but there is no reply—for you are holy.
2. The praises of our fathers surrounded your throne; they trusted you and you delivered them. Y
3. You heard their cries for help and saved them; they were never disappointed when they sought your aid.
4. But I am a worm, not a man, scorned and despised by my own people and by all mankind.
5. Everyone who sees me mocks and sneers and shrugs. ‘Is this the one who rolled his burden on the Lord?’ they laugh. ‘Is this the one who claims the Lord delights in him? We’ll believe it when we see God rescue him!’
6. Lord, how you have helped me before! You took me safely from my mother’s womb and brought me through the years of infancy. I have depended upon you since birth; you have always been my God. Don’t leave me now, for trouble is near and no one else can possibly help.
7. I am surrounded by fearsome enemies, strong as the giant bulls from Bashan. They come at me with open jaws, like roaring lions attacking their prey. My strength has drained away like water, all my bones are out of joint. My heart melts like wax;
8. My strength has dried up like sun-baked clay; my tongue sticks to my mouth, for you have laid me in the dust of death. The enemy, this gang of evil men, circles me like a pack of dogs; they have pierced my hands and feet.
9. I can count every bone in my body. See these men of evil gloat and stare; they divide my clothes among themselves by a toss of the dice.
10. Lord, don’t stay away. O God my Strength, hurry to my aid. Rescue me from death; spare my precious life from all these evil men.
11. Save me from these lion’s jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen. Yes, God will answer me and rescue me.
12. I will praise you all my brothers; I will stand up before the congregation and testify of the wonderful things you have done.
13. Praise the Lord.
• Matthew 27:50-51, 54
1. Then Jesus shouted out again, dismissed his spirit, and died.
2. And Look! The curtain secluding the Holiest Place in the Temple was split apart from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and rocks broke.
3. The soldiers at the crucifixion and their sergeant were terribly frightened by the earthquake and all that happened. They exclaimed, ‘Surely this was GOD’S SON.’
*****
CONCLUSION:
This day is Bittersweet for us, because we know that Friday is coming – the cross is coming. We know that many in the crowd on Palm Sunday, within a few short days, exchange words of praise to words of death. Shouting Hosanna, Hosanna and then later shouting Crucify Him, Crucify Him.
On Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into the city with the people shouting praises and praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
On Friday, they are shouting give us Barabbas, We want him, Crucify Jesus, Crucify Him.
Why the change?
Their words did not match their hearts. They possessed a casual, not a committed faith. They had religion, but missed the person Jesus.
In the account for Christ, Where were you?
Were you in the Garden, sleeping, instead of praying?
Were you in the courtyard as Peter, denying and ashamed of Jesus?
Were you like Pilate, going with the crowd against your better judgment?
Were you the soldier that mocked and beat him, and drove the nails into his feet and hands.
Where are you this day.
Let us pray.
Our Lord and Our Savior, we come, bowed before your presence. Open our eyes, our hearts, our minds to see and hear your voice.
