THE TWO PARADES

a drama by Nate Lee (adapted by Blaine Gregg)

Two groups (one larger than
the other) enter the front of the church

from opposite side aisles of
the church.

The conversations start as
they are coming toward the centre.

Large Leader (to
his/her group):     Hurry up!  I hear the horns.  We don’t want to be late.

Small Leader (to
her/his group):     Come on guys.  It’s not that much further.

Large:                    I can’t wait to see the
horses.  I love horses.  I wonder how many soldiers there will be this
year.  They look so cool in those
uniforms.

Small:                   I don’t know what it will be
like.  I’ve never heard of anything like
this before.

The two groups meet in the
centre.  The two group leaders bump into
each other.

Small:                   Oh, sorry about that I wasn’t
watching where I was going.

Large:                    Hey, I understand.  I wasn’t paying attention either.  It makes sense – this is going to be
exciting.

Small:                   It is exciting.  So, how did you hear about it?  Matthias told me that he’d be entering
Jerusalem this morning.

Large:                    I don’t know who this Matthias
is, but no one needed to tell me.  I’ve
been going to the parade for years.

Small:                   For years?  But this is brand new.

Large:                    What are you talking
about?  And besides you’re going the
wrong way, if you want to get a good spot to see.  You’re not from around here, are you?

Small:                   No, we’re just here for the
festival.  What are you talking about?

Large:                    This is all about the
festival.  Governor Pilate is coming into
Jerusalem for the Passover week.  He does
it every year.  It’s a big deal – horses,
soliders in full uniform, marching in formation.  It’s quite impressive.

Small:                   Oh... that’s not the parade
that we’re going to.

Large:                    There is no other
parade.  Even members of the Council will
line the streets to view Pilate’s entry. 
What are you talking about?

Small:                   Jesus.

Large:                    Jesus?  Who’s Jesus?

Small:                   Jesus from Nazareth.  He’s a prophet – he can heal sicknesses; and
he is so wise – you haven’t lived until you’ve heard one of his stories.  It’s like God is speaking.

Large:                    Wait a minute.  You’d better watch yourself.  That’s borderline blasphemy.

Small:                   How can it be blasphemy to
talk about the Messiah?

Large:                    The Messiah?  You are
from out of town.  Every few weeks,
someone claims to be the Messiah around here. 
It never turns out to be true. 
Sometimes, they just go away; sometimes the Temple looks into the claims
and discredits them; sometimes they try to cause trouble and the Romans step in
and... well, that’s it. The truth is... the days of a true Hebrew King are gone
– the Empire is in charge, get used to it.

Small:                   This Jesus is different.  You’ll see.

Large:                    Well, if he’s going to be
King, he’s going to need a big army. 
Pilate won’t give in without a fight. 
And even if this Jesus wins the first battles, it won’t last.  Didn’t we learn anything from the Macabees?

Small:                   Army?  Jesus doesn’t have an army.

Large:                    What no warriors?

Small:                   No.

Large:                    No shields?

Small:                   No.

Large:                    No swords?  No shiny helmets?

Small:                   I don’t think so.

Large:                    This Jesus is going to have
to do something to get noticed.  I hope
he has a tall horse.  Pilate always rides
the grandest horse in the parade.

Small:                   I don’t think he’ll be on a
horse.  See, that’s how we heard about
this.  Early this morning, a couple of
Jesus’ disciples came to Matthias’ place and asked to take his donkey.

Large:                    Donkey?

Small:                   Yeah, a donkey.  They just said, “The master needs it.”  They’ve been staying with the other Galileans
on the Mount of Olives.  We assume that
he’ll be coming in the east gate, right by the Temple.

Large (quieter,
thinking):     A donkey?

Small:                   What?

Large:                    Oh, well it’s probably
nothing.

Small:                   What?

Large:                    When you said donkey, it got
me thinking about Zechariah.  “Rejoice greatly, O daughter
Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious...

Small:                   ...humble and riding on a donkey.”

Large:                    A donkey.  That’s interesting.  I haven’t seen that before – even with all of
these other wanna-be-messiahs.   Jesus,
hmm.

Small:                   Yes, Jesus from
Nazareth.  He could be ‘the one’.  This could be our salvation.

Large:                    This could be worth a
look.  Afterall,  I’ve done the ‘Pilate thing’ before.  (to the large group)  Hey, anyone else want to come with us and see
the ‘other’ parade.

About half of the large group
still want to go see Pilate’s entry and walk off.

The Large Leader and some of
her/his group go with the Small group.

Large:                    Hey, we will want Jesus to
notice us.  We should grab some big palm
branches and wave them.  He’ll see that.

Small:                   Yeah... and we should yell
“Hosanna - We’re Saved”.  People need to
know what this all means.  Let’s go, we
don’t want to be late.

The now-larger Small Group
exits waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna”.

One member of the Large
Groups come running back.

Member of Large
Group:     Hey, wait for me!!