15 April 2006

An easter story

Once upon a time…

Narrator: This is not a story about Jesus and Easter. This is a story about you.
Once upon a time, there were 3 persons…



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Act 1:

Lady 1: A successful career woman. She dies of a car accident.

Since young, I’ve seen the lives of people in my kampong. They were all poor. I was poor.

I worked since I was 10. Doing odd jobs and helping out my dad with his small hawker. Why didn’t I open a restaurant? Because my dad was a gambler. He had no money to give to mum when he passed away. He didn’t even see me go to university. He always said that I was no good. He said I was stupid.

I managed to get a scholarship and went to university in London. I took law. I fought my way up. I struggled. Finally getting myself to where I am, with my own law firm.

I got too caught up with my career. I have questioned myself why. I didn’t know the answer. Is life all about being successful? I didn’t want people to look down on me. I didn’t want my family and relatives to say I was no good.

I’m a lawyer with all the answers, except this. Until one day, I realized that all I was doing was a chasing after the wind. I heard someone mention this phrase and I went to find out who said this. It turned out to be from the Bible and I read about King Solomon’s wisdom.

I married late and at 48, I have a 13 year old daughter who reminds myself of me when I was young. Peter is an accountant. We’re doing well. I love my family. Peter thought me a lot about God. He was my teacher. It changed me totally.

Last night, I worked till very late. I had a case to finish for next day’s early morning court. I have been up late till 2am for the past 2 weeks. Up early at 6am for court cases.

I didn’t see the parked bus. I really didn’t . I didn’t. I don’t know where the bus came from. But the next thing I knew, I went straight into the back of the bus. I heard a loud crash and I felt pain all over my body. My last words were, “Jesus! Help me!”

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Act 2

Man 1: A gangster. Shot to death.

My name is Joe. The first time I heard about Jesus, I told the person to get lost and I hit him too. Since I was 12, I’ve been with people whom you call gangsters and hooligans. My parents both died when I was very young and I stayed with my grandma.

I never knew what happened to me, but I know that I found security in the friends I made and the life I lived. I didn’t think of it as dangerous. I was young and it was exciting and I had friends who were loyal and stayed by my side.

By the time I was 18, I was looked upon as a ‘big brother’. The whole taman was my area. I got into lots of fights, even if it wasn’t my problem. That’s called loyalty. I took care of the younger guys and I had others who looked after me. I have had a broken nose, broken ribs, broken wrist, broken head and broken leg. But I’m still here.

I’m a good fighter and I think I probably have killed more people than I knew. Many of them were seriously injured and I never stayed to check if they were still breathing.

One day I was chased by the police. It was a fight between two gangs and the police came. Someone had cut my leg and I couldn’t run. Or I tried to run. I thought my buddies would have helped me up into the car, but the police were near and they ran.

I stayed in jail for 3 years. I was lucky they never found out I had done much more. That jailed made me realize who my friends were. My buddies never came to see me. My buddies seemed to have forgotten me. There was another person in jail who told me about Jesus. He has been there for 10 years and he still has another 10 years to go.

Although his whole life is almost wasted in jail, but he always had a smile on his face. All others were fierce and angry, but Ah Chong had a smile. He was always happy. I though initially he was crazy. But I could see even the hardest man in prison respected him. I could see how all the rest, although they don’t quite talk to him, but they never disturbed him like how they would bully me.

Ah Chong continued to befriend me and many times, helped me out when I got in trouble with my hot temper. I almost got killed once when I quarreled with a big huge guy. Ah Chong quickly came and stopped the guy, getting beaten himself. But they eventually left. Ah Chong told me a lot about his past and how he was jailed for cheating a bank. He told me about how Jesus gave him hope in this prison and how he could continue to live though God’s love.

I felt lost and decided to follow this Jesus and see what He could do for me. Jesus softened me. He showed me that He loved me. I pulled through my 3 years and when I finally got out, I went straight home to my grandmother to tell her all about this Jesus. She passed away three months later.

A few days after the funeral, I went to look for some of my old friends. They’ve heard about how I’m different and I wanted to tell them so much.

However, at the mamak stall, as I was talking to my friends halfway, they suddenly stood up and shouted. By the time I turned to look, I heard a gunshot and a numb pain in my chest. Blood was pouring out onto my shirt. I said a last prayer for my friends who left me once before.

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Act 3

Lady 2: A university student. She dies of leukemia.

It was a long battle. I hate hospitals. I hate needles. I hated going through the whole thing.

I wanted to be a doctor. It’s ironic. I have almost completed my degree in medicine. I’ve always been weak and I wanted to be a doctor to help those, or maybe it’s to help myself, to get better, to feel better.

My hostel mates were shocked when they saw me faint in the kitchen one day. I was far away from my family. I studied in Sydney. I have always been pale and weak. They rushed me to hospital and diagnosed me with leukemia.

My poor parents bought the plane tickets and came to Sydney almost immediately. I told them they didn’t need to come, but they still did.

Because I thought I was just anemic, I never went for any other check ups. I went through 3 continuous years of chemo. I hate chemo. My body was already weak. I couldn’t fight it well enough. But I still lasted three years.

My parents went broke with all the medical expenses. People came to see me. Friends and relatives. My good friend Siew Ling came to see me often. She’s a Christian and prayed for me. I’m glad I have her. She told me all about how Jesus healed people and how to be ‘saved’. I didn’t know what she was talking about.

Lying in the hospital, I had many nurses who were very kind, but one nurse in particular always had a small gift for me whenever she came to see me. She’d talk to me about everything except my illness. It touched me that a stranger would visit me more often than my family. One day, she told me stories about how she knew others who were healed of leukemia. She spoke of a Jesus who was loving and kind and who heals the sick. I knew she was telling the truth and I felt in my heart a sadness that was overwhelming.

I thought about Siew Ling who talked about Jesus.

The nurse then prayed with me to accept God, that I was a sinner, I believe in Jesus and I said in my heart, “Jesus, take away my pain.”

The next day, I stopped breathing.


Lady 2 jumps down from chair.

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Act 4

Jesus enters, heavy laden with the cross. Stumbles His way to the stage and He gets nailed down and shouts:

Jesus: My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?!
Father, into Your hands I commit my Spirit!

Jesus dies.

Narrator: Do you know the Son of God?



Jesus walks to Lady 1 who died of car accident, and lifts her up saying:

Jesus: Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest. (Matt 11:28)

He then walks to the gangster who died from gunshot. Picks him up gently.

Jesus: I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. (John 14:6)

Finally, together, they walk to the girl with leukemia and help her up.

Jesus: I am the good shepherd. (John 10:11) I am the bread of life. (John 6:35)


They walk to middle of stage together.

Narrator: All of us have in our own ways, done things our own way. Who is Jesus?

He is all that He said. He is the way. He is the Truth. He is the Life. He is the good shepherd. He is the bread of life. He is the beginning and the end.
He is a friend. He is the king. He is the comforter.

But then, who are we? Who are you? Who am I?
I am a sinner but by acknowledging who God is, I am now a child of God.

Happy Easter, my friends.

THE END

-written by CG-

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Jesus is risen!!

~feel free to use the above story to tell people about the reason why Jesus came~

~just need to let me know for what function and how the response was~

:-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

All of you acted so well... wish I could join in... is this original idea from you? Nice job... keep up the good work...To God be the Glory

Anonymous said...

all glory to god alone... i got the concept from a drama i did in sec school. fine tuned for church use. i am only amazed at my actors n actresses. this story is about who jesus is to diff people.