“CSI:JERUSALEM"--an original one act liturgical drama

 Easter Sunday  Sermon   “CSI: Jerusalem"

An one act play written by John Donnelly and performed at St. Michael's, Wayne, NJ (2005 & 2011) and at Christ Church Quaker Farms, Oxford, CT

(2013). Video available at

 www.facebook.com/christchurchquakerfarms

 

 

John: “ Good morning.  I am Joseph Arimithea, Crime Scene Investigator with the Jerusalem PD.   Today we are going to examine an actual crime scene of an alleged murder, which took place three days ago, right here… ON THIS SPOT.

 

The victim was a simple clergyman, named Jesus Nazarene.

 

There is disagreement as to whether or not this was a murder or an execution.  That will be left for the Superior Judge to decide.  On our previous show, you heard eyewitness testimony on this case from the governor, the police, from his friends, and even from his mother.  Today, we are going to examine the forensic evidence of this killing; to determine how the crime scene evidence is CONSISTENT or if it differs from the eyewitness accounts. People may say what they want about this situation—

BUT THIS IS SCIENCE, AND SCIENCE DOES NOT LIE.

 

Now, part of the truth of this case is that the victim was clearly TORTURED before he was put to death.  Scatted before us on the ground is evidence of that torturing.  Now I’m going to call upon some people in our studio audience to help us identify the truth behind the evidence.

 

WHIP.  Why is this important? Cat of 9 tails,,,metal,  Blood residue on the whip. Glass…sharp metal.., ripped skin, 40 lashes.  That would have killed 90% of all people, but this victim was no weakling.

 

CROWN.  How was this used?   You can see the blood residue on the crown.  Blood is the same type and comes from the same person as the blood found on the whip. On one level, they used this crown to make fun of him ---called him the King of the fools.  Eyewitness accounts—mashed thorns through his skull. Some evidence of brain tissue on the thorns, which match the DNA evidence of the blood.

 

DICE.  Type of dice issued by the Roman Army recreation dept…..  used by soldiers.  Eyewitness accounts—used to gamble for his clothes.  Stripped him and He was left in his underwear.  This was psychological torture—designed to ridicule him and to break his spirit.

 

 

John: Now, we come to the actual weapons of the execution.

 

NAILS---How were these used? Taken from the cross over there, as we took the body down on Friday night.  Pierced what parts of his body?  Hands. Feet. Blood type consistent with what we have seen already. 

 

CRUCIFIXION WORKS by hanging a person up by their hands, putting undue strain on the person’s lungs until he suffocates. That’ what the eyewitnesses claim happened to Jesus.  We’ll confirm this when we go to examine the body.   Well, I’m tried of dealing wityh dead bodies all the time.  I want to go see one that has Risen from the dead.   So, that’s all for today. Folks.  Be sure to join us next time,  when I will have arranged a LIVE interview with Jesus Nazarene.

 

SPEAR.  How was this used?   Eyewitnesses claim that He was already dead.  But it’s up to us to determine the truth about that, when we look at the body.

 

NOW, FINALLY, WE COME TO THE BODY ITSELF.  On Friday night, my assistants and I took the body of the deceased off the cross. I personally put the deceased in a body bag.  We then laid the body in this tomb over there.  We then rolled this huge bolder in front of the tomb.  We also posted guards here.  So, the crime scene and the body have been left intact.   No evidence has been disturbed. So, if I could have some help to roll away the stone, we can examine the remains.

 

Okay, do I have a volunteer to go into the tomb to get the body bag with the body?

 

[TYLER  GETS UP, ENTERS THE TOMB, AND PULLS OUT THE EMPTY  THE BODY BAG, GIVING IT  TO FR. JOHN]

 

Hey, this is empty. All right funny guy, why did you take the body out of the bag?  You’re contaminating the evidence. O, get out of here.  You’re fired.  I’ll have to just go in, pull him out, and re-bag him. 

[John goes into tomb, and comes out].

 

HE’S NOT HERE.  The Body is not here.  How can the body be gone? I thoroughly examined him, when we took him off the cross.  He was dead.  He was stone cold dead and I put him in the tomb myself.  This is impossible.

 

Jeremiah beats the drums loudly and the angel appears!!

 

John:  OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT?

 

Angel speaks into microphone:” Do not be afraid, for I know that you were looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He’s not here.  Jesus is  Alive. “

 

He has risen from the dead.  Remember how he said that he must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again?   Well, He did it!!

 

Now, go quickly and tell his disciples: He’s alive. He’s risen from the dead and is going ahead of you to Galilee.  You’ll see him there!”

 

·         Jeremiah hits cymbal one time.

·         Angel disappears.

 

Joseph: Oh, my gosh. I’m shaking.  Did you see that?  Did you see the angel?

 

She says that this Jesus is alive, but how can that be?  I examined his dead body…but wait a second.  He was dead; but if there is no dead body now, then now He’s not dead.  How can he be dead and be walking around Galilee?  He must be alive.  I’ve never seen anything like this.

 

(John runs off).

 

Soldier:  Truly, this Jesus was the Son of God.   (Tyler runs off)

 

FREEDOM FROM DEATH--Palm Sunday

Freedom from Death--Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013

 

So, within the space of one hour we came from the first Palm Sunday, when Jesus was hailed as King, and moved 5 days forward to Good Friday when Jesus was hailed as a heretic & criminal, deserving of torture and execution.   Today I want for us to focus upon some of Jesus last words before he died.  He said, and please repeat after me, ”Father, forgive them  for they do not know what they are doing.” Father, forgive them  for they do not know what they are doing.

 

Why did Jesus forgive them then and there, and  how did He do it?   Jesus chose to forgive them because it is God’s will that all of us ultimately choose to forgive the sins of others, just as we want God the Father to forgive us.  Jesus forgave them because he would rather have been right with God, then being hurt and angry against all the people who turned against Him.  Jesus forgave them because he understood something that most of us do not—which is this: Who suffers most?  You or the one who hurt you?  You suffer the most.  You see, the other person may or may not believe that he or she has done anything wrong?  He might be insensitive and oblivious to your hurt, or  she might believe that you deserved to be hurt.

·       There is no denying that you may have been unjustly wounded by your adversary, but when we do not forgive others as we want God to forgive us, then we mainly hurt ourselves. 

·       When we do not forgive, bitterness and resentment will linger and fester, and it can have negative repercussions that we cannot even imagine.

 

  I remember a couple times in my life when I did not forgive those who had offended or betrayed me.  The resentment and anger grew within me, and it eventually came out against my family.  I went from being a positive person, to becoming a negative person.  After all, I was in the right.  Those people should have asked for my forgiveness.

 

 Why do I need to forgive them when they have not changed, when they continue hurting me and others, when they seem to get off Scott- free?  That just is not fair.   But I learned the hard way something that I hope you do not have to learn, and that is this:  If you want peace with God and peace with yourself, then you need to learn to choose forgiveness over vengeance & self righteousness.

 

There are some people who say that they are just too wounded to forgive the person who have hurt you.  That they are so devastated and distraught, that it does not seem possible now.  Well, God is patient.  God understands your pain and suffering, because Jesus went through it all on the cross.  And God weeps for you, and for those people who are probably much worse off than you are.

In these cases then we need to ask God for forgiveness because we are violating his command to forgive others; and,we can ask God to help us  so that at some point, we will choose to forgive our adversaries.

 

You see, God has our best interests at heart.  He understands how our refusal to forgive others will ultimately hurt us, because not forgiving others is a sin; and that sin can have toxic  results.

 

Imagine that someone puts a frog in a kettle of water.  At first the frog will swim around, not knowing that someone has placed the pot on a stove, and turned up the burner.  Initially, as the water gently warms, the frog becomes complacent.  The frog then dozes, not initially realizing that the water becomes hotter and hotter. Shortly after that, the water begins to boil; and the frog has unsuspectingly been killed.

 

When we do not forgive others and when we do not ask God to forgive us when we don’t, we are  like the frog.  It may take years for the water in your pot to become uncomfortably warm. But once the heat begins to rise and become hotter and hotter, by them, we may be in deeper trouble than what we had previously imagined.  And that trouble, my friends, is a spiritual death.  Spiritual death is a taste of hell, when by our attitudes and actions we push Jesus away from us.  Jesus will try reaching out to you over and over again; but as resentment festers and grows, you may become more and more oblivious to the help Jesus wants to give you.

 

You see, Jesus died on the cross not just to give us forgiveness of our sins, but to help us when we are caught in sin, so that we may repent and turn to His way, the way of life, not the way of spiritual death.

 

So, today, you are going to have a chance to set your soul free by the blood of the cross.  In a few minutes we are going to confess our sins; but today, we are not going to just sit in the comfortable pew, where we can hide out and not acknowledge our own culpability.  Instead, I am going to invite you, in a few minutes, to write down the sin of your choice; and to boldly stand up and to bring it up to the consecrated fire beneath the cross of Jesus.

 

  You know, making a burnt offering to God for the forgiveness of sins goes back to Old Testament times.  And just like your paper, offered to God, will totally burn up, likewise God will forgive you. 

 

But first, we are going to sing a song as our children rejoin us so that they can share in this offering.  This old time song expresses the peace and reconciliation that Jesus wants you to have with Him.

 

 

Today we are going to burn pieces of paper, representing our sins.  One way to look at this is to imagine that Jesus is purifying our hearts, like gold and precious silver are refined to remove all their impurity.  Today, you can be made pure, too, by  Jesus Christ, who wants nothing more than your love for Him, and your wellbeing for you.

 

In the baskets at the end of each pew, you will find  pens and envelopes with a purple cross on it, containing pieces of paper.  Pass the pens and paper down your pew, and during this next song, I want you encourage you to write down one or more sins, for which you wish to receive forgiveness on this  Holy day.  After you have finished, join in singing our song.  At its conclusion,  I will explain the offering process.  Also, we want to make this a respectful and reverent time, so I invite everyone to refrain from conversation except for the conversation that you have here and now with God.

 

Remaining seated,  I now invite you to open you bulletins to page 6, where you will find the words the  song once you have finished with your paper.   As the choir begins, use this time to speak to God in the quietness of your heart—because we want to be holy, set apart for our master, ready to do his will.

 

Confession  p. 6 bull

 

Offering process----- 

·       Come up on the left aisle , simply place your paper in the fire pots, and then continue on your way down the right aisle and back to your seats.  Today we will begin with those in the balcony first.

 

·       Also, we want to continue to  make this a respectful and reverent time, by refraining from conversations. So if those in the balcony would come first, we will consecrate this to God.  Let us pray:  Almighty Father, accept this expression of love and contrition, that in making this offering, we would glorify the cross of Jesus, by which we are freed from sin and death, now and forever.  AMEN

 

 

--The Rev. John Donnelly