DRAMA - NINTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY, YEAR C
(also Proper 4)
Bible reference: Luke 7:1-10
ONE UNDER AUTHORITY
(This drama is in the form of a monologue spoken by a Roman centurion. Audience stands as he enters in biblical costume and begins speaking)
Be seated! (Audience sits)
As you can tell, I am one accustomed to leadership, to the easy exercise of authority.
My people have always been legion people. My father, my father's father and his father before him, were all officers under Caesar. You must understand, then, that I am one well rehearsed in the art of giving orders, and equally so, in the discipline of receiving them. It comes naturally to me.
After all, I cut my teeth ordering the house servants to bring me my favourite toy. I grew up in a house where my father regularly turned us out for inspection.
Then at the right age I entered the Roman legion and progressed through the various levels of leadership. I became what you would call a drill sergeant, putting common soldiers through their paces. (Yells at imaginary squad) Squad attention! Squad lock shields. Squad forward march! Squad dis . . . Wait for it! Wait for it! . . . Dismiss!
Finally I reached my present position, the post of centurion. Here too my life is one where authority and orders are of prime importance. The commander-in-chief tells me to move my troops and I move them. He tells me to bring them back and I bring them back. When he commands, I obey.
And of course when I command, others obey.
My experience is that life is very much a matter of having the right authority. With the right authority one can accomplish anything. For example, if my superiors give me authority to capture this town, or enforce this law, or take over this province, then it can be done. With the right authority it is possible.
But of course acting outside of one's authority is another question altogether. Without authority nothing can be accomplished.
This fact was brought home to me most forcefully the day I met Jesus. At that moment in my life the limits of my authority were brought sharply into focus.
Before the illness of my trusted friend and servant, Malcus, I considered myself master of my own destiny. I believed that there was nothing that I could not or would not achieve in my life. In essence I had it all. I was rich, I was powerful, I had influence and the ear of my superiors, I was acknowledged by those around me. Life seemed like a book that kept opening up to new and better pages.
(Shakes head) But it all came tumbling down when Malcus took ill.
(Remembering fondly) He had been with me since birth. The body servant who had shared all the moments of my life. He knew my secrets. He had shared my joys and sorrows. He had stood guard for me as I sneaked my first kiss. (Smiles)
He may have been a servant, but he was one of those servants who was far more, a mentor, a friend, the one who knew me better than I knew myself.
So when he fell ill my life fell with him. I was brought face to face with the limits of my authority.
For all my authority, for all my influence and power, for all my belief that my own destiny was in my control, there was nothing that I could do for him. My money could not buy his health, my influence could not procure a cure, important ears heard my requests for help but the owners of those ears could not offer the help I sought.
Malcus faced death, and I had no authority to change his situation.
(Frustrated) I had all sorts of power, I even had the authority to put a man to death, but I did not have the authority to put an end to the process of death. Malcus was dying, and I could not stop what was happening!
(Looking round at audience) I wonder if you have ever felt like me? Have you known the march of death in your own life or the life of those around you?
If you have, you will understand that I explored every possible avenue to restore Malcus to health, and it was in pursuit of some chance, any chance, for my servant, that I heard about Jesus.
This man had a reputation. He was spoken about everywhere. And what I saw in what I heard, was that he had authority.
All the stories told me the same thing. He would speak and things would happen. He told the evil spirits to leave and they left, he told a lame man to stand and he stood up, he told a blind man to see and he saw, he even told a dead girl to wake up and she did.
He had the authority that I did not have, authority that no one else had. He had authority over life and death, and he offered hope for Malcus that no one else did.
And so I sought him out. I used my influence with the Jewish leaders to get in touch with him. It seems strange to me, but the Jewish leaders themselves knew little about the kind of authority that Jesus possessed. They did not recognise him for what he was.
In fact they treated me as more important than him. They approached Jesus as if he owed me something, but the truth was that Jesus owed me nothing.
As I saw it, he was my superior and I came to him as a foot soldier approaching a general. He could help me but only if he decided to. I couldn't command him or force him to help me. I couldn't claim his favour, I could only ask him for his help.
Let me say to you, (Indicates audience) that you are in the same boat. He has authority over you just as he had over me. He is really the Lord of life, and when you call him 'Lord' you acknowledge his authority over you.
I suspect you find it hard to accept this. It was hard for me, and I grew up understanding authority. You live in an age when there is rebellion against all sorts of authority. In your world everyone wants to have the final word, everyone wants to be able to say yes or no.
Beware this attitude when it comes to Jesus. The truth is uncomfortably clear, to know Jesus is to know him as Lord, and if Jesus is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all.
But be assured. If you do this, this Lord will honour your trust in him.
I deserved nothing, but he answered my call. He respected the trust I placed in him and he did what no one else could do and restored my servant to health.
Know this about him too.
Unlike many in authority, Jesus is not an authoritarian. Rather, he is generous in his leadership, free with this power, and anxious to help even the humblest soldier in his army. He does not use his power as an excuse to do wrong but wields it wisely and with love. I know of none who have followed him who have not known his help and his support.
As one who understands authority, I ask you to listen carefully to what I have reported about him.
He is one who has absolute authority in the most important area of all. He has authority over life and death. To those who believe in him, who trust his authority, he gives the gift of life. That is a precious gift.
I searched for it in relation to my dear servant and found it in this man Jesus.
(Looks around at audience) Where do you search for it today?
Death stalks close by in so many ways. Not just death of the body, but death of the spirit, death of the mind, death of the emotions, death of our dreams.
Death in all its insidious forms. We are all its victims. We all find it close at hand. In the deepest sense all of us are dead and we lack the authority to deal with death.
But this Jesus, he has authority over it.
If it were not exceeding my authority, I would now give you a simple order: 'Believe in this Jesus. Hold onto him and trust him with your life.' But I cannot do that.
I can but do what I have already done, which is to tell you my story and give you my testimony. The rest you must decide for yourself.
(Gives Roman salute) Hail Jesus! (Exits)
© Mike Fulwood 1992
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.
|