King of the Outcasts

King of the Outcasts

By Christina Westbury

Characters:

Matt

Lucy

Narrators (if you are short on actors, the narrator parts may be read by Matt and Lucy)

Mary

Joseph

Gabriel

Angel(s)

Shepherds

Innkeeper

Wise People

Herod

Jesus (Baby Jesus can be a swaddled doll. If possible, a toddler or young preschooler should play Jesus in the scene with the Wise People)

The Gospel of Matthew portrays Jesus as a King, a righteous descendent of David who will lead the people in a grand reclamation of the Davidic line. Luke portrays Jesus as a child of humble birth, born in a cattle stall and attended by lowly shepherds – reaching out to the outcast and the humble. Most Christmas pageants, and treatments of the nativity story, combine these two narratives without comment, leading to a confusing amalgamation of shepherds, wise men and angels all in the stable together and missing the points that the individual authors are trying to make about Jesus.

However, simply separating the stories in order to choose one over the other (We’ll do Matthew this year, and Luke next year) is not the answer either. There is a reason that the people who put together the canon left in four Gospels with their sometimes wildly conflicting views of Jesus. All are truths about who Jesus is and all are necessary to get as full a picture of Jesus as possible.

In this pageant, we begin with Matt and Lucy, two bickering Christmas pageant directors, who are each convinced they have the story right. Matt’s royal pageantry and tale of conflict and deception conflicts with Lucy’s image of the peaceful manger and the angelic chorus. In the end, they come to the realization that if they focus on only one of these birth narratives, they lose a vital part of the story of Jesus. They come together, not as a harmonized story of shepherds and wise men visiting baby Jesus in the manger, but as a side-by-side retelling of the gospel writers’ individual perspectives on the birth of the King of the Outcasts.

Set suggestion:

The set should be in 3 parts.

Downstage and to one side, the office or meeting room in which Matt and Lucy are meeting to discuss the pageant script.

On the stage/chancel, on each side, there should be a separate set on which we see Matt and Lucy’s visions for the script played out. Ideally, each would have its own cast, but if your numbers are smaller, the same actors may play parts on both sets.

Matt’s set should be in rich colors of gold and purple. It needs a throne for Herod and a simple house setting for Mary and Joseph. The backdrop should have a bright star over the house.

Lucy’s set needs the traditional stable, hill for the shepherds and a backdrop with many stars, none of which stand out from the others.

Based on the birth narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, using the NRSV version of the Bible.

The majority of the songs in this production can be found in Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013).

KING OF THE OUTCASTS

An office. Matt and Lucy are meeting to discuss the script for the upcoming Christmas pageant.

Matt: Hey Lucy!

Lucy: Hi Matt! Thanks for meeting with me. Christmas pageant auditions are next week. I thought we should chat about our plans for the script.

Matt: Great! Yeah. I have tons of great ideas. I’ve been poring over the birth story in the Gospel of Matthew. I thought we could call it “A Star is Born!”

Lucy: Umm… That’s… one way to go. I’ve been looking at Luke, and I was thinking something more along the lines of “Servant Savior.”

Matt: Ok… Maybe we can come back to the title later. Let’s discuss the opening scene. Here’s what I have in mind.

Narrator standing in front of Matt’s set

Narrator: Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Lucy jumps up and interrupts

Lucy: Wait! You’re just going to jump into it like that? What about the background story? You can’t just start with “Mary was pregnant!”

Matt: Well, how would you do it?

Lucy: You’ve got to give people a context, set the story. When is this happening? Where?

Narrator standing in front of Lucy’s set

Narrator: In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah. His wife was a descendent of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

Matt interrupts

Matt: What? Who are Zechariah and Elizabeth? What about Mary and Joseph?

Lucy: I’m getting to them! Elizabeth is Mary’s cousin and the mother of John the Baptist. She becomes pregnant, even though she is old and thought she couldn’t have children. Her child is the first to recognize who Jesus is, even before either of them is born!

Matt: OK, but can’t you skip a bit? I mean this is only supposed to be a twenty minute pageant.

Lucy: Fine. I supposed we could start with the angel visiting Mary.

Matt: Mary? What? No! The angel visits Joseph!

Lucy: (exasperated) Just watch.

Narrator, Mary and Gabriel standing in front of Lucy’s set

Narrator: In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

Gabriel: Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.

Mary: I am confused. What sort of greeting is this?

Gabriel: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Mary: How can this be, since I am not married?

Angel: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.

Lucy: (aside to Matt) See, I told you Elizabeth was important!

Matt rolls his eyes

Mary: Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.

Mary and Gabriel exit

SONG: “To a Maid Whose Name Was Mary” - Glory to God Hymnal #98

Matt: That’s a great story. And a great song! But what about Joseph? In Matthew’s version, an angel appeared to him.

Lucy: Really? Let’s see.

Narrator, Joseph and Angel standing in front of Lucy’s set

Narrator: Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.

Angel: Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Narrator: All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.

SONG: “Come, Come Emmanuel” – GTG Hymnal #91

Lucy: Okay… An angel visits Mary in Luke’s story, and Joseph in Matthew’s. I never really realized that there were such big differences between the two stories. What’s next in Matthew’s version? Do they head off to Bethlehem?

Matt: Head off? No. There’s nothing about traveling anywhere for the birth in Matthew. It goes straight from the angel to the birth. It assumes they were in Bethlehem all along. Then, it kinda skips a couple of years to the Wise Men.

Lucy: What? No census? No travel? No “no room at the inn?” How did they end up in the stable? Huh?

Matt: Well…there is no stable in Matthew’s version. He was telling the story of the birth of a king! There’s a palace and a star and presents…. (Lucy looks concerned. Matt trails off) How about if you tell Luke’s version of how the birth came about?

Lucy: Um…there’s no king or presents or anything. In Luke’s version, Jesus had a very humble birth, in a very humble place, witnessed by very humble people.

Narrator standing in front of Lucy’s set. The narration should be read slowly, and throughout the narration, the scene is pantomimed.

Narrator: In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. (Mary and Joseph walk across the stage “traveling.” They knock on the innkeeper’s door. S/he looks out, shakes head and points toward the stable. Mary and Joseph walk over and kneel beside the manger.) He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

SONG: “Away in a Manger” – GtG Hymnal #114

Narrator and shepherds stand on Lucy’s set

Narrator: In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. (Angel enters) Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Angel: Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.

Narrator: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host (as many angels as you can muster enter), praising God and saying,

Angels: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom God favors!

Exit angels

Shepherd: Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.

Again, the action is pantomimed as the narration continues

Narrator: So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

All on Lucy’s set freeze.

Awkward pause…

Matt: Well… don’t stop! What happened next?

Lucy: Umm…that’s it. That’s the end of the birth story. I mean, there’s a little thing about Jesus being presented in the Temple and the family returning to Nazareth, but that’s pretty much it until he’s about 12.

Matt: Seriously? So some shepherds witness the birth – the end? Where’s the pomp and circumstance? This is the birth of a king!

Mary, Joseph and Shepherds exit Lucy’s set.

Lucy: Fine. What does Matthew have to say about it?

Matt: Well, like I said, the birth itself is kind of skimmed over, but about two years later, things really get interesting.

Narrator standing in front of Matt’s set. Herod sits in throne. As Narrator speaks, wise men (and/or women) enter.

Narrator: In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem.

Wise Person: Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.

Herod looks shocked and shoos the Wise People away. They move across the stage and pantomime looking at star charts.

Narrator: When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and he called together all the chief priests and scribes of the people.

Herod: Scribes! Priests! Get in here! (Enter scribes and priests) Where is the Messiah to be born?

Scribe: In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.”

Exit Scribes and Priests

Herod beckons the wise people over to him and they have a pantomimed conversation.

Narrator: Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.

Herod: Go to Bethlehem and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.

Herod exits. Wise People pantomime following the star. Mary, Joseph and toddler Jesus enter and sit in the house area of the set with the star directly over them. During the narration, the Wise People arrive at the house, kneel down before the child and present their gifts.