Narrator
(Costume Wear a One Peace Dress With African Style Print Or A One Peace Dress That’s Brown Or Orange)
We welcome you to the story Fallout From The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Three days and beyond after the resurrection several characters will share their experiences of how the Resurrection of Jesus Christ touched their lives. Some of us believe completely in the resurrection. Some of us have doubts that such a thing could take place. Some of us are not sure. Could someone really be raised from the dead.
Well let’s journey together and then try to decide.
You will meet the angel who rolled back the stone on Easter morning. Have you ever thought about why he came down and what his thoughts might have been? What would you have said to him if you could?
We all know that the disciples were together that first Sunday of the resurrection. Have you ever wondered what it was like for them and who else might have been with them. Somebody had to have cooked breakfast that morning. How do you go from gloom to hope in the course of a meal?
Have you ever lost someone that you loved dearly? All you really wanted was the chance to say goodbye or to see that they had a decent funeral. What happens when you get far more than you bargained for?
Did you ever wonder how much money the religious leaders paid out to keep what happened at the tomb a secret.? Where did that money go and who profited the most from hiding the truth? You will hear the story of a soldier’s wife who had no problem living well off a lie.
Have you ever had the experience of just seeming to miss out on a lot of the good things that happen all around you? You will meet a character who desperately wants to know the truth, but finds out just how easy it can be to miss out once again.
Have you ever made a decision that you later regretted, but you couldn’t undo it? What happens when your loyalty to others forces you to live a lie that you want to get away from but can’t. These and other questions will be answered in our story Fallout From The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Walter Glenn—The Angel At The Tomb
(Costume—Dress In Completely White Shirt and Pants Or Wear A White Sheet With Cut Out For Your Head And Arms)
I almost came the night he was betrayed to rescue him. I was among one of those 72,000 angels Jesus could have called on, on the night he was arrested. We were all just waiting for the signal. Even one of us could have wiped out the mob that had come to take him away, soldiers and all.
It was so hard standing in heaven and watching him upon that cross and not being able to come down and help. If it had of been possible, I would have gladly swapped places with him on the cross.
The Father could see how badly I wanted to go and take him down and put an end to that miserable crowd, saying. “He saved others, why can’t He save Himself.” He could have come down anytime He wanted to. I was told he had to die for those people’ sins.
I wanted to do something, but the Father wouldn’t allow it. But then 3 days later I got the call. I was told I was going to go and help get the word out, that the Savior was alive. I shot down from heaven like a lightening bolt. When my feet hit the ground, there was a great earthquake. The soldiers were there guarding the tomb to make sure nobody came and stole the body of the Master. That earthquake got their attention.
They were so afraid when they saw me that they froze in fear. I could see them shaking. I went over to that great big stone in front of the tomb, that they thought nobody could move and laughed. With one hand, I gave it a gentle push, and the seal broke and the stone rolled away. I then sat upon the stone and I took over. Once the soldier saw what I did to that massive rock, they took off running.
You see my job wasn’t to go and let the Master out. He had already risen by the time I arrived. The Father was sending a group of women to the tomb. They were coming to anoint a dead man. My job was to open the tomb to let the women in, so that they could see for themselves the truth of my words. When they came early that morning, I got to preach my first sermon.
“Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here. He has risen just as he said.”
Pearlie (The Breakfast Cook)
(Costume-Wear A Full Dress That’s Darker In Color With An Apron As A Cook)
I was one of the women that followed with Jesus and the disciples. It was the third day, and we were over at the house outside the city gates. I was cooking breakfast that morning. Everybody was just so sad. We still couldn’t believe that Jesus was gone. That he had actually died on that cross.
Some of the other women had gone to the tomb to anoint his body with oil. I knew I couldn’t handle it. I could not dare the thought of looking at my master’s dead face again. That was just too much to ask. But I did know how to cook and I did know how to encourage.
Peter and John, had never looked more down than they did that day. So I was determined to make them the best breakfast they had eaten in a long time. None of us really knew what the next step was going to be. We had swapped our previous lives for a life following Jesus. We didn’t know if the religious leaders would come after us or not.
We knew they had wanted to kill Lazarus because people knew that Jesus had raised him from the dead. They wanted to get rid of all evidence that Jesus could have been the Son of God. If people asked us about Jesus, what could we say without getting ourselves into more trouble?
Well there we were eating breakfast. It was a good one I might add. James and Matthew both asked for seconds. Then it happened. There was a banging on the door. This was it. They were coming for us. All of a sudden the door opened, and Mary came in completely out of breath. She had been running. They must have been after her.
When she caught her breath, she said, “Jesus was not in the tomb.” Peter yelled out what did you say. She said, again “Jesus is not in the tomb.” She said, “there was an angel there, and he said that Jesus is Alive.”
At first we thought she was having a delusion. But she kept insisting she knew what she was talking about. I said to the group. I believe Mary. Listen to the lady, God is sending us some good news. Peter and John looked at each other and both of them shot out of the door and ran as fast as they could down the road heading to the tomb They were going to go and find out what had really happened. They didn’t care if they got in trouble or not.
Well that turned out to be the best breakfast we ever had. The news from Mary had swapped out our fear and replaced it with hope and gladness. I didn’t have to wait for Peter and John to get back. After listening to Mary in my heart, I knew Jesus had risen.
The Soldier’s Wife ()
(Costume: Wear An Atrractive African Style Outfit)
We’re in the money. We’re in the money. Don’t I look good in this outfit. I got more good news, my husband and I are going to be taking a vacation to Egypt soon. At first I didn’t want him to take the extra assignment to guard some dead man’s tomb. What on earth did those silly religious leaders think was going to happen?
Did they really think somebody was going to break in to a sealed tomb in order steal a dead body. All I know is that it kept me from my husband for three extra nights. Here it was our anniversary and he was going out the door to work. But it turned out it was worth it.
You may wonder where we got all this extra money from. It was more than just the 3 days of overtime. Well it came from the same religious leaders who had my husband guarding the grave in the first place. It appears they had a problem with some man named Jesus. It wasn’t enough they had killed the man through what I heard was a sham trial.
Unfortunately for me, my husband was one of the ones they ordered to whip and beat him. I was so disgusted. My husband came home with blood on his clothes that obviously came from the man’s back during the beating. I had to clean that blood off his shoes and his uniform. But on the other hand, if that had not of happened, I would not have gotten this outfit and the vacation to Egypt.
When my husband came home, and I asked him where did he get all that money, he started telling me some silly story about an angel, and an earthquake at a tomb. That man has told so many lies in the past, I figured this was just another one. I said cut the drama and get to the part about the money.
That’s when he told me the Jewish leaders offered to pay them a bribe if they say they had all fallen asleep on the job and that the followers of Jesus had stolen his body.
When he said that I almost hit the roof. I said don’t you know what the district commander will do to you, if they found out you were sleeping when you were on guard duty. I can’t believe you would put your career and life on the line. That’s when he assured me that the religious leaders promised to smooth everything out with the army officials. They were not going to get in trouble as long as they all had the same story.
Well once he said that, I calmed down and started thinking about the money and what we could do with it. This was a great swap. Money for a story over a dead man. I am not going to lose any sleep over this one. I can’t wait to see the pyramids of Egypt.
Jasmine "Missing Out"
(Costume: Wear A Darker Colored Single Dress Outfit Or Be Creative with a Brown Sheet To Make An Outfit.)
It seems like I’m always missing out. Either I get there too early and leave before something happens or I get there too late and its already over. I missed out when that guy Jesus fed all those people free food and free fish. I was there that day, but I got hungry and I left early to go buy some food in town.
I missed out when Jesus called that guy Lazarus out of the tomb. I would have loved to have seen a dead man walking around like a mummy. If only I had not have gone to see my cousin that day, I would have been there.
I missed out when they crucified Jesus. I heard there was blood dripping and weird things happening when he was on the cross. When I heard about it, I ran over to Calvary, but everybody was coming down the hill when I was going up it. When I reached Calvary everybody was gone. All I saw were three crosses lying on the ground that had been taken down
Well 3 days later I heard something had happened at the tomb of Jesus and there was a big argument down by the temple. I ran down as fast as I could because this time I was not going to miss out on what was going on. I wanted to hear for myself from somebody who was actually there. That’s when I saw a soldier with people around him. I ran over to them to listen
Somebody yelled to the soldier, ”Can you tell us again what really happened? Did you see an angel up there or not?” The soldier said to us, “For the last time, there were no angels. Just a bunch of thieves. We had been working for 3 days and 3 nights without a break. That third night in the wee morning we fell asleep for about an hour or two. The followers of Jesus came and stole his body while we were sleeping. We woke up as they were leaving. We went after them but they had horses and got away. Ask any soldier who was there and you’ll get the same truth. End of Story.
I was so disappointed that’s all there was. I had to started to think Jesus might have been more than a good teacher. After what the soldier told us, I realized it was all over. I hadn’t really missed out on anything at all. I could scratch running after Jesus off my list of things to do.
Patricia (Mary Magdalene)
(Costume—A Dress that’s not too bright in color or something like at liturgical dance outfit. You Can also be creative with a colored sheet if you like.)
We had come to the tomb expecting to put oil on the body of Jesus. Our biggest concern was how would we get the stone out of the opening. When we got there, the stone was already rolled back. We didn’t know what to make of it. The other Mary went back to tell the disciples what had happened.
Peter and John came running down to the tomb to see if Mary was telling the truth . They went into the tomb and saw the clothes Jesus had been wrapped in, but they did not see any trace of Jesus’ body anywhere. They decided to go back and tell the other disciples what they had seen.
I know it sounds silly but, I didn’t want to leave the tomb so I stayed behind. I started crying when I remembered the day Jesus had cast all those demons out of me. I loved him ever since. My life was never the same. So many people needed the power he gave to me to be set free. And now he was gone. Where did they take him. I just wanted to say goodbye.
I knew I should leave the tomb, but I had to have one more look. So I bent over to look into the tomb one last time. That’s when I saw two angels, one at the head and one of the foot of where Jesus’ body must have laid.. I didn’t know if this was real or a vision I was having.
Then I heard someone behind me asking “Woman why are you crying.” I didn’t know who it was so I told them. They have taken away my Lord and I don’t know where they put him.” I turned around and I could see some guy out the corner of my eye.
He asked me again, “Woman why are you crying and who are you looking for.”
I though he was the gardener, so I said to him, “Look if you carried him away, tell me where you put him and I will get him.” I would have swapped anything I had to have found his body.
I felt at least that would give me the chance to say goodbye. That’s when he said “Mary.” It wasn’t my name so much as how he said it. Nobody called me Mary like that. I turned all the way around to confirm with my eyes what my ears and heart was telling me.
I knew it had to be Jesus. I cried out “Rabonni. Teacher” Jesus was truly alive and He gave me a message to tell the world. “I have seen the Lord.”
Roman Soldier Maximus
(Costume dress in completely black, or if you have something like a toga or Wrap yourself with a sheet and a colored scarf coming down the shoulder.)
What do you do when you feel guilty inside. When you know what you’ve done is wrong, but at the time you do it because everyone else is doing it. The truth was right there in front of me, and I chose not to see it.
It all began that day when Jesus was crucified. Well it was getting late in the day and a Special Sabbath was coming up for the Jews. They didn’t want any bodies hanging on the cross on the Sabbath so they asked Pilate to speed up the dying process. Well the easy way to do it, is to break the criminals legs. It helps them to suffocate quicker and they have a lot of internal bleeding.
Well as a soldier, I was given my orders and I carried them out. There were three guys crucified that day. We broke the legs of the first two guys because they were still hanging on to life. When we came to the third guy, the one with the title “Jesus Of Nazerth, The King Of The Jews,” he looked pretty dead to me.
But I wasn’t going to take any chances. I’ve heard sometimes criminals will fake death in order to be taken down from the cross. I pointed to one of the soldiers to take his spear and pierce the side of Jesus. He gave Jesus quite a stab because when he pulled that spear back, a rush of water and blood came flowing out of his side. Some of it ran down his legs, but some fell immediately to the ground. It almost seemed like a sacrifice was being offered. I had this strange feeling that I had seen something powerful take place.
When we took him of the cross, some guys name Joseph and Nicodemus were in charge of his body and burial. I thought that was the last I had heard or seen of Jesus of Nazareth. To my surprised I was ordered with some other soldiers to guard this burial tomb for 3 days and 3 nights. What on earth were they expecting a dead man to do. Get up and walk out? One thing for sure, nobody was going to go in and get him.
That was the most boring assignment I ever had until early that Sunday morning. I could have sworn something like lightening was falling from the sky, straight to our position. Then there was a violent earthquake that made you wonder if you were about to die. To make matters worse, this powerful angelic being, went over to the large sealed stone and pushed it away from the tomb.
We were Roman soldiers who are afraid of nothing. But we were afraid that day. We didn’t know what we were up against, but we knew we needed more troops. We rushed back to the city to explain the situation to the religious leaders. Instead of them asking Pilate for more troops, they offered us money to lie and say that we had fallen asleep on the job and while we were sleeping the disciples stole the body.
Since everybody else took the money, I took it too. But now I feel guilty about keeping the truth from the people. It seems more than coincidence that they expected something to happen after 3 days and something did happen. There was a reason for that earthquake. There was a reason for that angel coming down and moving that stone away. I wonder if Jesus came out of that tomb that Sunday morning.
For years I have been wanting to tell the truth about what we saw that day, but I feel trapped. I don’t want to make the other soldiers look bad by calling them a bunch of liars. But if this Jesus really did rise from the dead, it might be important for the people to know the truth. How long should I deal with this guilt inside of me.
