BACK TRANSFI2 6'1m*f RT: Mount of transfiguration, resurrection (RT == Readers' Theater: requires little or no memorization, little or no rehearsal. An indefinite number of reporters are salted throughout the audience.) PETER -- (enters wearing tunic and sandals, crosses to podium) Good Morning, my name is Simon son of Jonah. I am an apostle of Jesus the messiah. As some of you already know, many of the disciples of Jesus call me Peter. The reason I called this news conference is to.... REPORTER -- Simon, aren't you embarrassed to call Jesus the messiah after he died such a gruesome death? PETER -- I'm sorry, I thought you heard. REPORTER -- Heard what? PETER -- Jesus rose from the dead. He has been seen by dozens -- maybe hundreds -- of witnesses. REPORTER -- The High Priest at the temple in Jerusalem said that those sightings were bogus. PETER -- You can fake one or two sightings, but not hundreds. Besides, if Jesus was a fake messiah, why would anyone claim allegiance to a fake? And yet, just the other day 5000 people converted to a saving faith in Jesus as their personal savior. You're reporters. Ask a few of these witnesses yourselves. You'll see that these sightings are genuine: no two witnesses give exactly the same testimony, yet all of them saw Jesus alive. But that's not why I called this news conference. The reason I called this news conference is to talk about an incident that I was sworn to secrecy about earlier. REPORTER -- When you say EARLIER, you mean... PETER -- Before Jesus died, just a few days before, Jesus took James and John and me to a mountain top. We all thought he brought us there to pray, as he often did. But instead, there on the mountain we all saw the same pillar of cloud that accompanied the tabernacle for forty years in the desert. Then Jesus began to shine. REPORTER -- What do you mean "Jesus began to shine"? PETER -- His skin and his clothes glowed like the sun. And then the voice of God said "This is my son in whom I am well pleased." Then Moses and Elijah appeared out of nowhere. REPORTER -- Wait a minute. Moses is dead. He's been dead for centuries. How could you have seen him? PETER -- That was the point. Jesus took us to the mountain top to show us what the kingdom of God was like. REPORTER -- Are you saying that Moses and Elijah are alive in the kingdom of God? PETER -- Yes. REPORTER -- Now?! Moses and Elijah are alive NOW?! PETER -- Yes. REPORTER -- But the teachers of the law have always taught us that when we die, we will stay dead until God comes and redeems his people. PETER -- Well, the teachers were wrong. I saw both Moses and Elijah and they were very much alive. REPORTER -- Well, Elijah I can understand because he was taken up into Heaven alive by the firey chariot. But Moses died on the other side of the Jordan River. How could this be?! PETER -- I think that's why Jesus showed us both Moses and Elijah. He wanted us to know that God is the God of the living, not the dead. REPORTER -- But how could the teachers of the law have been so wrong about this? PETER -- I think they confused the destination of the body with the destination of the person. REPORTER -- What's the difference? PETER -- Who you are -- your PERSON -- USES your body. After you die, you leave your body behind. In Heaven, if you have a body, it will be a different body without the limitations we have on earth. REPORTER -- Are you saying that when we die, we will go directly to Heaven and be with God? PETER -- It was true for Moses, but it may not be true for you. REPORTER -- For me personally? What do you mean by that? PETER -- Jesus made it very clear. In fact, he used these exact words: "Noone comes to the father except through me". REPORTER -- What does that mean to us? PETER -- It means that if you don't trust Jesus to get you to Heaven, you will never see Moses or Elijah. REPORTER -- You mean, if we don't believe in Jesus we won't get to Heaven? PETER -- That's right. REPORTER -- That's not fair. PETER -- Actually, that's more than fair. REPORTER -- How can you say that? PETER -- Jesus came to earth as a man in order to die for your sins. If you reject Jesus' death as payment for your sins, you must pay for them yourself. REPORTER -- Oh, dear! REPORTER -- Peter, you said earlier that Jesus swore you to secrecy about that mountain top experience. Why do you think he did that? PETER -- Because, as Jesus said many times during the past three years, "My time has not yet come." If James and John and I had shot off our mouths about what we saw on the mountain, people would have made Jesus king of Israel by force. REPORTER -- What's so bad about that? PETER -- Jesus didn't come to earth to be crowned king. REPORTER -- But the teachers of the law say that the messiah MUST be crowned king. PETER -- That's another error of the teachers of the law. The scriptures clearly teach that the messiah must suffer for the sins of his people and that the messiah must be crowned king. The teachers of the law wrongly assumed that the messiah must do both during the same visit. REPORTER -- Are you saying that the messiah will come again? PETER -- That's exactly what I'm saying. In fulfillment of the Prophecy, Jesus will come again -- this time to reign on the throne of Israel. REPORTER -- So, Jesus really is the son of God, just as he claimed to be? PETER -- After the resurrection, I thought that would be obvious by now. Thank you for coming. (exits) �2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: [email protected] BACK |