DRAMA - GOOD FRIDAY, YEAR C
Bible reference: John 18:15-18,25-27
PETER WHO DENIED HIM
(Peter enters in Biblical costume and begins to speak)
I'm Simon, the one Jesus named Peter. 'Peter the Rock', he called me, and he said, 'On you I will build my church.'
(Laughs) What a joke that is to those who know my story. Peter. The one who fell asleep while Jesus wept in the garden, the one who denied him (shows three fingers) three times. Not much of a rock by any standard. My only claim to be a rock was that I sank (Makes sinking motion with hand) like a stone into the waters of the Sea of Gallilee.
Friends, in my defence I say this. (Indicates audience) Have you done any better? When the crunch comes, do you stand up for him any better than I did?
Please understand what's behind my question. I don't ask this in order to shame you. Believe me, I've seen enough of shame in my own life to wish it drowned in the deepest part of the sea. When I heard the cock crow and saw Jesus across the courtyard I felt shame that made my heart want to break. (Put hand over heart sadly)
Nor is it my intention to see you squirm with guilt. I walked long enough with the Lord to know that these old sinner's hands (Shows audience his hands) can't pick up stones to cast at you.
Rather, I ask this question in order to share with you something I discovered as I stood with the words of my denial still fresh on my lips.
You see, I know that you too have shame in your life. Each of us does. There are secret things in every life, secrets that even now cause your cheeks to burn. You also know what it's like to stand guilty and condemned by your own weakness and actions.
In this we're partners, you and I (Indicates audience and self), 'partners in crime' as your world would put it. Partners in human frailty and sin, as Jesus so often told it.
That's what Jesus saw as he looked across the courtyard at me that fateful night, the night of my shame. He looked across and saw the human weakness in me as clear as the light of day. As I felt his eyes upon me, I knew that he could see to the very depths of my soul.
Faced with the terrible truth about myself, I turned and fled, weeping bitterly to be so exposed and vulnerable before him. (Shakes head, remembering)
(To audience) Haven't you done the same? Haven't you also fled when faced with the truth that Jesus has to bring? I suspect that in this as well, we're partners.
This brings me to another question. Where will you run to as you flee from the truth of what is in you? Where will you go to find peace?
Listen to me well. Let me warn you there's nowhere you can go to run away from yourself. Judas tried to find escape, he ran and ran but found only death at his own hand.
In reality, he'd done no worse than me. Giving in to his human frailty, he'd betrayed Jesus. (Indicates self) I, Peter, in similar weakness, denied him three times. Was either sin worse than the other?
The difference in our stories lies only the direction we ran when faced with the enormity of our weakness.
Judas wouldn't return to Jesus. Instead, he ran headlong down the path to destruction.
I ran away too, weeping bitterly, but in my hour of despair I remembered the eyes of Jesus. I saw then what my guilty heart had not seen in the courtyard.
As I looked deep into his eyes I saw not the accusation and rejection I had feared, (Can hardly believe it) but only sadness, love and the offer of forgiveness.
My Lord was saddened by my failure, yet he didn't reject me. Instead, his eyes spoke of the reconciliation and peace that he later shared with me. Though I had denied him three times, he allowed me to reconfirm my love for him three times over.
His eyes said, 'Return to me, Peter. Come to me for peace.'
I said to you that I had something to share with you. It's this, (Exitedly) look into the eyes of Jesus.
Some of what you see there will dismay you, for you will see yourself reflected there, you will see your human weakness mirrored in the eyes of the one who knows everything about you. That is a frightening thing to see.
But look beyond the things your guilty heart projects and see also his offer of love and forgiveness. It's there for you, just as it was for me.
Don't run from his eyes, but run to them. Find in them peace, as I did.
His eyes are always filled with love and forgiveness for you. (Exits)
© 1991 Mike Fulwood
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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