It's a custom in the Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic traditions to read a dramatised version of one of the Gospel accounts of Jesus death either on Palm Sunday or Good Friday (Or more traditionally one Gospel version on one and one on another)
This is a new adaption from the message translation where there is no "narrator" - everything has been turned into words that the characters say
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The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Mark (14:21-15:27)
Cast list
Judas
Jesus
Joseph of Arimathea
The disciples
James
Mark
Peter
Leper Simon
Mary Magdalene
Priests and Associates
Priest
Councillor
Chief Priest
Fake Witness
Thug
Rooster
Servant girl
Bystander
Romans
Pilate
Centurion
Soldier
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Priest - We priests and religion scholars were looking for a way they could seize Jesus by stealth and kill him.
Councillor - But Not during Passover Week.
Chief Priest - “We don’t want the crowds up in arms,”
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Leper Simon - That Week Jesus was in Bethany - a guest at my house – yes me – Simon the LEPER! While we were eating dinner, a woman came in
Mary Mag - I was carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, I poured it on his head. Some of the guests didn’t like it
Judas - “That’s criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year’s wages and handed out to the poor.”
Leper Simon - My guests swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her.
Jesus - Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me. She did what she could when she could—she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly.
Judas - That was it. I Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, determined to betray him. I went to the cabal of high priests. They couldn’t believe their ears, and promised to pay well. I started looking for just the right moment to hand Jesus over.
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James - It was the first of the Days of Unleavened Bread, the day they prepare the Passover sacrifice, so we asked him,
Mark - “Where do you want us to go and make preparations so you can eat the Passover meal?”
Jesus - You two - go into the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him. Ask the owner of whichever house he enters, This is what you will say
James - So we went into the city followed the man with the water jug and when he entered a house, we found the owner and said
Mark - The Teacher wants to know, 'Where is my guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’
James - He showed us spacious second-story room, swept and ready. and we prepared the Passover meal.
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Mark -After sunset Jesus came with the Twelve. As they were at the supper table eating, Jesus said,
Jesus - I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators, one who at this moment is eating with me.
James - “It isn’t me, is it?”
Peter - “It isn’t me, is it?”
Judas - (sounding guilty) “It isn’t me, is it?”
Mark - “It isn’t me, is it?”
Jesus - It’s one of the Twelve, one who eats with me out of the same bowl. In one sense, it turns out that the Son of Man is entering into a way of treachery well-marked by the Scriptures—no surprises here. In another sense, the man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man—better never to have been born than do this!
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Mary Mag - In the course of the meal, Jesus takes and blesses the bread, breaks it and gives it to us saying
Jesus - Take, this is my body.
Leper Simon - Then he takes the cup
James - He thanks God,
Peter - We all drink from it.
Mark - He says
Jesus - This is my blood. God’s new covenant, Poured out for many people. “I’ll not be drinking wine again until the new day when I drink it in the kingdom of God.”
Mark - We sang a hymn and then went directly to Mount Olives.
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Jesus - You’re all going to feel that your world is falling apart and that it’s my fault. There’s a Scripture that says, “I will strike the shepherd. The sheep will scatter." But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee.
Peter - Jesus- Even if everyone else is ashamed of you when things fall to pieces, I won’t.
Jesus - Don’t be so sure Peter. Today, this very night in fact, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.
Peter - Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.
Other Disciples (as a cacophony) Me neither / not me etc
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Mark - We came to an area called Gethsemane.
Jesus - Sit here while I pray.
Peter - He left the others behind and I (Peter) James, and John with him.
James - He was in a bad way like he was in a pit of suffocating darkness.
Jesus - I feel bad enough right now to die. Stay here and keep vigil with me.
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Peter - He goes a little ahead,
James - he falls to the ground
Peter - He prays for a way out:
Jesus - Papa, Father, you can—can’t you?—get me out of this. Take this cup away from me. But please, not what I want—what do you want?
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Peter - he found us sound asleep.
Jesus - Peter? you went to sleep on me? Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don’t enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don’t be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”
James - He then went back and prayed the same prayer.
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Peter - Returning, he again found us sound asleep.
James - No excuse - we simply couldn’t keep their eyes open,
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Peter - He came back a third time
Jesus - Are you going to sleep all night? No—you’ve slept long enough. Time’s up. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up. Let’s get going. My betrayer has arrived.
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James - No sooner were the words out of his mouth when....
Judas - I Judas, the one out of the Twelve, showed up, and with me....
Thug - a bunch of us thugs, sent by the high priests, religion scholars, and leaders, brandishing swords and clubs.
Judas - I’d told the men “The one I kiss, that’s the one—seize him. Make sure he doesn’t get away.”
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Mark - He went straight to Jesus and said,
Judas - “Rabbi!”
Mark - and kissed him.
Thug - Then we grabbed him and roughed him up.
Woman - One of the men standing there unsheathed his sword, swung, and came down on the Chief Priest’s servant, lopping off the man’s ear.
Jesus - “What is this, coming after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I’ve been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. What you in fact have done is confirm the prophetic writings.”
James - All of us bailed on him.
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Mark - I perhaps the youngest there was following along. All I had on was a bedsheet.
Thug - We grabbed at the youngster
Mark - I got away - as they grabbed the sheet I slipped out naked and ran off.
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Thug - We led Jesus to the Chief Priest, where the high priests, religious leaders, and scholars had gathered together.
Peter - I Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest’s courtyard, where I mingled with the servants and warmed myself at the fire.
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Priest - We were conspiring with the Jewish Council
Councillor - We looked high and low for evidence against Jesus by which they could sentence him to death.
Priest - We found nothing.
Councillor - Plenty of people were willing to bring in false charges, but nothing added up, and they ended up canceling each other out. Then a few of them stood up and lied:
Fake witness - “We heard him say, ‘I am going to tear down this Temple, built by hard labor, and in three days build another without lifting a hand.’”
Priest - But even they couldn’t agree exactly.
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Counsellor - Sshh – the chief priest’s standing up
Fake Witness - He’s addressing Jesus
Chief Priest - What do you have to say to the accusation?
{LONG PAUSE}
Priest - Jesus was silent. He said nothing.
Chief Priest - Lets try this one more time - Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed?”
Jesus - Yes, I am, and you’ll see it yourself: "The Son of Man seated At the right hand of the Mighty One, Arriving on the clouds of heaven.”
Chief Priest - That was too much. I lost it Ripping my clothes, I yelled, “Did you hear that? After that do we need witnesses? You heard the blasphemy. Are you going to stand for it?”
All Priests - Never - The sentence is death.
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Thug - Some of us started spitting at him. we blindfolded his eyes, then hit him, saying, “Who hit you? Prophesy!”, punching and slapping him , we took him away.
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Peter - While all this was going on, I Peter was down in the courtyard. One of the Chief Priest’s servant girls came in and, seeing me warming myself there, she looked hard at him and said,
Servant girl -you were with the Nazarene, Jesus.
Peter - "I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I slipped away
Rooster - Cock a doodle doo
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Servant girl - I spotted him again and began telling the people standing around, “He’s one of them.”
Peter - I denied it . But After a little while, the bystanders brought it up again.
Bystander - “You’ve got to be one of them. You’ve got ‘Galilean’ written all over you.”
Peter - I got really nervous and swore, “I never laid eyes on this man you’re talking about.”
Rooster Cock a doodle doo
Peter - And I remembered how Jesus had said,
Jesus - “Before a rooster crows twice, you’ll deny me three times.”
Bystander - He collapsed in tears.
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Chief Priest - At dawn’s first light, We high priests, with the religious leaders and scholars, arranged a conference with the entire Jewish Council.
Councilor - After tying Jesus securely, we took him out and presented him to Pilate.
Pilate - Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?”
Jesus - Those are your words.
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Chief Priest - We fired off a barrage of accusations against Jesus
Pilate - Aren’t you going to answer anything? That’s quite a list of accusations the priests are making.
Priest - He said nothing. Pilate looked impressed, really impressed.
Pilate - It was a custom at the Feast to release a prisoner, anyone the people asked for. There was one prisoner called Barabbas, locked up with the insurrectionists who had committed murder during the uprising against Rome. As the crowd came up and began to present its petition for him to release a prisoner, I anticipated them: “Do you want me Pilate to release the King of the Jews to you?”
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Chief Priest -He knew by this time that it was through sheer spite that we high priests had turned Jesus over to him.
Councillor - But by then we had worked up the crowd to ask for the release of….
Everyone - Barabbas!
Pilate - So what do I do with this man you call King of the Jews?
Everyone - Crucify him!
Pilate - But for what crime?
Everyone - Crucify him!” “Crucify him!
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Pilate - I gave the crowd what it wanted, set Barabbas free and turned Jesus over for whipping and crucifixion.
Soldier - We soldiers took Jesus into the palace (called the “ Praetorium”) and called together the entire brigade. We dressed him up in purple and put a crown plaited from a thornbush on his head. Then we began their mockery:
Centurion - “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Soldier - We banged on his head with a club, spit on him, and knelt down in mock worship.
Centurion - After the boys had had their fun, they took off the purple cape and put his own clothes back on him. Then we marched out to nail him to the cross.
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Bystander - There was a man walking by, coming from work, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made him carry Jesus’ cross.
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Soldier - We soldiers brought Jesus to Golgotha, meaning “Skull Hill.”
Centurion - We offered him a mild painkiller (wine mixed with myrrh), but he wouldn’t take it.
Soldier - We nailed him to the cross. Then we divided up his clothes and threw dice to see who would get them.
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Mary Mag - They nailed him up at nine o’clock in the morning. The charge against him—THE KING OF THE JEWS—was scrawled across a sign. Along with him, they crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament:
Bystander - “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”
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Mary Mag - The high priests, along with the religion scholars, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him:
All priests - He saved others—but he can’t save himself! Messiah, is he? King of Israel? Then let him climb down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then!
Mary Mag - Even the men crucified alongside him joined in the mockery.
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Centurion - At noon the sky became extremely dark. The darkness lasted three hours. At three o’clock, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly,
Jesus - “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”
Priest - which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Bystander - We bystanders heard him “Listen, he’s calling for Elijah.”
Soldier - Someone ran off, soaked a sponge in sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying,
Bystander - “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
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Mary Mag - But Jesus, with a loud cry, gave his last breath.
Chief Priest At that moment the Temple curtain ripped right down the middle.
Soldier - When our boss the centurion standing guard in front of him saw that he had quit breathing, he said,
Centurion - “This has to be the Son of God!”
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Mary Mag A group of us women including me Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and Joses, and Salome were watching from a distance. When Jesus was in Galilee, We had followed and served him, and had come up with him to Jerusalem.
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Joseph of A - Late in the afternoon, since it was the Day of Preparation (that is, Sabbath eve), I Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Jewish Council, came. I lived expectantly, on the lookout for the kingdom of God. Working up my courage, I went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
Pilate - Can he be dead that soon? Centurion: verify that he really is dead.
Centurion - He is
Pilate - I released the body to Joseph
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Joseph - Having already purchased a linen shroud, I took him down, wrapped him in the shroud, placed him in a tomb that had been cut into the rock, and rolled a large stone across the opening.
Mary Mag - And we - Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Joses, watched the burial.
