DRAMA—NAME OF JESUS, YEAR B
Bible reference: Luke 2:15-21
NO ORDINARY BABY
PROPS: Wooden chair, footstool or second chair.
(Innkeeper/innkeeper’s wife enters walking tiredly and sees audience)
Oh, hello, nice day, isn’t it? (Sits down) Ah, that feels good! I’ve just come out here for a bit of a breather. (Puts feet up) I hope you don’t mind if I put my feet up? It’s all work, work, work when you own an inn. It’s the finest inn in all of Bethlehem! Well, actually it’s the only inn in Bethlehem. We’ve even had royalty stop here—well, almost royalty. A friend of King Herod’s second cousin twice removed stopped here for a drink once, and he said the place had...atmosphere, but he was probably sitting too close to the stables.
What a day I’ve had! Still, it’s much quieter than it was here a few months ago when we had the census. Boy, was it crowded then! You should’ve seen it, there were people everywhere! They’d come to Bethlehem from all over the country to get counted by those wretched Romans.
Our inn was totally packed, and I mean totally packed. You couldn’t move without tripping over someone. It was so full that we even had to put one young couple in the stable! (Shrugs) Alright, so it was a bit on the smelly side! But at least it was warm and dry, and we gave them some fresh hay. We could’ve turned them away, you know!
Mary and Joseph, that was their names. Mary was pregnant. She looked like she was going to have her baby any minute, and she did, right in our stable! (Points over shoulder to imaginary stable) They had to use a manger for his cradle.
(Puts feet down and leans forward) You know it was the most amazing thing. There was this really bright star in the sky. (Looks up) It almost looked as though it was shining right down on that stable. (Looks back at audience, shaking head) My wife/husband said I was crazy, but that’s what it looked like to me.
(Stands up, walks towards audience) But that wasn’t the strangest thing. Some shepherds came banging on our door, in the middle of the night, asking to see the baby, and waking everyone up while they were at it! But, get this, they said that an angel appeared and told them that the baby was the one who was going to save us all! I thought they must’ve been drunk or something, except that we’re the only inn in Bethlehem. But then they said the angel told them they’d find the baby in a manger. They said the sky was full of angels all singing about him!
Now I’m not one to go around believing in angels, but how else could they have known about the baby? How could they know he’d be in a manger? It’s not the sort of place where you’d normally go looking for a baby!
Anyway, they went to the stable to see the baby, then they went off and told the whole of Bethlehem about him. You couldn’t shut them up! The Saviour is born!, they kept saying.
You know what Mary and Joseph called the baby when he was circumcised? Jesus, that’s right, it means ‘The Lord saves!’
And then, the other day, these rich-looking men turned up at the inn. They were dressed like kings. You should’ve seen them! Let me tell you, we don’t often get people like that coming to this little town. They said they were looking for the new baby king and that they’d followed the star to Bethlehem. I couldn’t believe it!
I showed them the house where Mary and Joseph are staying now and they went in to see the baby. I couldn’t help noticing that they gave him some incredibly expensive gifts too.
(Thoughtfully) You know, I may just be an innkeeper/ innkeeper’s wife, but I know that Jesus is no ordinary baby. Not when angels sing about him and kings come visiting. Maybe...he is the Saviour, the one who’s going to save us all. Who knows, maybe he will live up to his name. I just hope I’m still around to see what happens when he grows up. (Exits)
© Verena Johnson 1999
Permission is given for the owner of this disk to make sufficient copies of this script for their group or congregation, for rehearsal and performance purposes only.
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