THINE IS THE KINGDOM
A Short Play
(Please note: This short play has much of the same text as the monodrama, “Damascus.”)
This play takes place in Nero’s Rome, during a time of great persecution for Christians. It is 64 AD, shortly after the fire that devastated Rome. It is thought Nero set the fire and then blamed it on the Christians. We are in a small, bleak jail cell. There can be a bench, a pitcher of water and a cup on stage.
While this is a period play, it can be staged in contemporary set and costumes. This would be effective because there are many people living under severe persecution today and presenting this in a contemporary fashion would help to highlight that. If, however, you want to have fun with first century AD set and costumes, go for it.
CAST:
Julia: A Christian woman in Rome who is about to be martyred. She knew both Peter and Paul who have recently been executed. While she is not an educated woman, she has great faith in Jesus and has studied the scriptures.
Centurion: Her arresting officer. He was one of the centurions present at the crucifixion of Jesus. As a soldier, he must do what he is ordered to do whether he agrees to it or not. Since this takes place in 64 A.D. and he was there at the cross, he would be over 50 years old. The implications here are he has not advanced much in his career. He must do his job, part of which is the arrest of Christians. This is hard because he doesn’t see the point or reason for this wholesale slaughter. It bothers him. So, while his words are hard, they are the words of a seeker whose heart is soft to the Lord. As you read the lines, think of the impassive, expressionless soldier who underneath it all is full of turmoil.
Scene: It is a small cell. Bleak, isolated, cold. A lone woman slowly moves about, clutching torn garments about her bruised, dirty limbs.
Julia: (Praying haltingly) I have to speak with you, Lord, but I don’t have the words. I don’t know what to say. (Small smile) But then, I don’t have to know what to say, do I? You know my mind and my heart. You know my thoughts, my confused, mixed-up thoughts. (Hugging herself) Sometimes the fears overtake me and I feel there can be no reason in all of this. (Quickly) I don’t fear death. How can I, when it means stepping into Your glorious presence? No, death is a beginning of something so magnificent I cannot comprehend it. How could I fear that?
But I fear pain. Yes, I fear pain. (Stares straight ahead for a beat)
I must talk to you, God and I don’t know what to say. I will pray as your Son taught us to.
(As Julia starts the Lord’s Prayer, the Centurion quietly enters and eavesdrops. He maintains his hard, steely demeanor but he recognizes the words of the prayer)
Julia: Our Father— (she stops and looks up with a smile as she emphasizes the first person pronoun) My Father in heaven. Your Name is to be praised above all others. Lord, your kingdom come. (Pray with real meaning) Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give me today my daily bread. (Looks up and adds) Give me today the grace and courage I need—for today. (Resumes) Forgive my sins as (stops, thinking about this next bit and then continues firmly) I forgive those who sin against me. Do not let me fall into temptation. (A real plea) Deliver me from evil. (With strength and assurance) For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Centurion: (Hard. He must be hard, but he recognizes this prayer as the words of Jesus. His mockery is a cover for how deeply he is touched) You pray to this God of yours? The Jewish carpenter?
Julia (Startled. She had been unaware he had entered) Yes.
Centurion: What is the kingdom you say is this God’s? Rome will soon have your tiny sect crushed as I would a fly under my boot. Where will your God’s kingdom be then?
Julia: You may kill us, but you cannot kill our God.
Centurion: Cannot kill your God? I was there! On that hill outside Jerusalem. Thirty years ago it was, and I remember it clearly. That man died. Died. That was the end of him. I myself plunged a spear into his side. I knew he was dead. And once a person is dead, he stays dead.
Julia: If he is dead, why do you fear his followers so that you must kill us?
Centurion: There is no understanding you Christians. No understanding you at all. You know you will die and yet you continue your adherence to a dead leader.
Julia: It is because we know he defeated death. He rose from the grave on the third day and now his Spirit dwells in each of us who believe in him. How can we fear death when in him there is life?
Centurion: (He shakes his head to clear it) If Nero has his way, the Roman Empire will soon be purged of your treason. As your leader Jesus died, as his henchmen Paul and Peter died, so too will you and all the others. Then we’ll see where the kingdom, the power and the glory lie! Rome will prevail! Nero is and will be the greatest emperor!
Julia: Only as God allows it. The Hebrew prophet Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty Babylonian king, “You are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength and glory.” Nebuchadnezzar was great only because God ordained it.
Centurion: The Babylonians fell to the Persians. The Persians fell to the Greeks as the Greeks in turn fell to Rome! Nero is greater than some ancient potentate.
Julia: Each kingdom flourishes only by God’s grace. David, the greatest king of Israel, at the end of a long and successful reign, gave all the honor to God. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel forever,” he prayed. “The greatness and the power, the glory, the victory and the majesty are yours. All that is on earth is yours. All that is in heaven is yours. The kingdom, O Lord, is yours and you are exalted above all else.”
Centurion: And where is Israel now? Is it not a vanquished people, an occupied country? Where is the power, the glory—the kingdom? It is all gone! And soon, your little Jewish sect will be gone, too!
Julia: Again, why do you fear us? If, as you say, our leaders are dead, how can we be a threat to the might of Nero’s Empire?
Centurion: Because you are insidious! Did you know the men who guarded Paul and Peter, hardened soldiers every one of them, converted to your cause? (He had to arrest the guards. They were his friends)
Julia: (Smiles) Yes, I knew that.
Centurion: (Hard) And now they face the lions in the coliseum. Where’s the kingdom, the power and the glory in that?
Julia: (Shaking her head) It is not a political kingdom to which we refer. At one time that’s what the Jewish believers thought it was.
Centurion: Delusions of grandeur—their national pastime.
Julia: But God’s kingdom encompasses something much bigger than an earthly dominion. It crosses borders and languages, seas and mountains. The kingdom is more than Israel, more than Rome.
Centurion: And that’s the kind of talk that will get you all killed.
Julia: (Earnestly) The kingdom is where God is. The kingdom is the hearts of men and women who seek to put God first, who confess Jesus is the Son of God. The kingdom is the realm of the heavenly places. It is not physical or temporal. And so you cannot touch it.
Centurion: (Sneer) You think not? So you say the kingdom is in you? And that I cannot touch it? Did not the lash of the whip touch your back? Will not the executioner’s blade touch your neck?
Julia: Yes, you may do all those things to my body. But you cannot touch the kingdom of God because that is in my heart. My soul and spirit belong to him and my physical death will mean life with Jesus. As Paul wrote from his prison cell, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Centurion: I cannot understand you. You are all fools.
Julia: God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.
Centurion: I cannot understand you. And yet there was something about him, there on the cross... (He trails off, remembering. He softens)
Julia: You see? Even you can see it.
Centurion: (Shakes his head, dispelling the moment of weakness) No matter. I have been ordered to give you one more chance to recant this God of yours, this Jesus
of Nazareth. I will give you a few minutes to think about it and when I return, I will have incense which you can burn to Nero.
Julia: Thereby proclaiming Nero as god?
Centurion: Exactly. To claim fealty to anyone else is treason, and for that you must die. If you are willing to burn the incense, we will spare your life. Think about it. Meditate. I’ll be back in a few minutes. (He exits)
Julia (She begins to paraphrase Psalm 145, slowly, with great feeling and reality to her own life, so they become her words) I praise you, my God, my king. I bless your name forever. Everyday I bless you. I praise your name forever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
(The Centurion returns. He is carrying a candle and incense. He waits impassively just inside the door while she meditates. The words of the scripture as they are spoken with such personal meaning complete the softening. He is more open to the Holy Spirit than he has been since the crucifixion.)
Julia: (Continuing the psalm, only peripherally aware of the Centurion) I meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty. I meditate on your wondrous works. I declare your greatness, your mighty acts. I sing of your righteousness.
My Lord is gracious, full of compassion. He is slow to anger and has great mercy. My Lord is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.
All your works praise you, O Lord. Your children bless you. We sing the glory of your kingdom, we shout of your power. We declare to Rome, to Nero, your mighty acts. We proclaim the glorious majesty of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion will endure forever.
The Lord holds me up when I fall. My eyes wait expectantly for you, my Redeemer. You open your hand and satisfy all my longings.
My Jesus is righteous in all his ways and gracious in all his works. He is near to all of us who call on him, to all of us who call on him in truth. He satisfies the desire of all who fear him. He hears my cry and he saves me.
The Lord protects all who love him, but he destroys the wicked. I sing the praise of the Lord. Bless his holy name forever. Amen.
Centurion: (Moves into the room) So. You have meditated.
Julia (She nods and gestures to the incense and candle in his hands) I will not be needing those.
Centurion: (He puts them down) I did not think so. Come.
Julia: (She smiles warmly at him) I’m going to see my Jesus.
Centurion: (Quietly) I know. You have said. (He gestures to the door) It is time.
Julia: (She goes to the door, stops, turns in) And what of you, Centurion:? What did you say then? At the cross, when the earth shook and the sun was darkened? What did you say that day he died? (She exits)
Centurion: (He stays still and then in a low voice) Truly he must be the Son of God. (EXITS slowly, leaving behind the incense.)
Curtain
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