Preparing the Way
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
62 Stories For Cycle B
A young director faced his cast and crew, slumped in their auditorium seats before the stage of Green Haven medium security prison for women. The youngest member present was sixteen, the oldest nineteen. All had been convicted and sentenced as adults for gang related shootings, stabbings and killings. Their combined sentences averaged 25 years. Most would be in their mid to late twenties before they were eligible for parole. Some would be middle-aged women.
David Pryor's dream of beginning a prison ministry for young felons through stage productions was off to a rocky start. The girls before him were willing enough to fill their empty time learning parts for a musical production, but most had balked at his insistence on a Bible study. Their sullen presence was their testimony.
"So, what is Godspell all about?" he asked. Each of the girls maintained her practiced, detached "I don't care" expression and no one spoke. "Sasha," he added, singling out the girl he had chosen to play the vamp role of Mary Magdelene.
"It's about a bunch of hippie clown-types from the '60s," she muttered.
"Naw," another countered, "it's about a Bible story."
"Okay!" David jumped back in. "So why did somebody write a musical play about a Bible story? Who do all of you cast members represent?"
There were shrugs and grunts of dismissal. "Audra, who do you play?"
"Jesus Christ," the girl said with emphasis, making her reply a curse as well as an answer. David's gaze met her hooded glare evenly.
"Right," he said. "Open your Bibles to page 2 in the back section." After much loud page flipping and grumbling he added, "Okay, Jesus Christ, read what's printed after the big number 3, down through the small number 3."
The exotic-looking girl glared at him again, then pulled off the baseball cap she wore, shook out a mane of dark, wavy hair, and stood in her place. "Matthew, chapter 3, verses 1 through 3," she began clearly, to the snorts and chuckles of approval from the group. "In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.' This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' "
With no comment on the girl's knowledge of biblical structure, David hurried on. "Okay, somebody look up Isaiah 40:1-11." The girl named Shirley, who would play the John the Baptist role, raised her hand lazily, and when called on to read verses 3 through 8, repeated the familiar verse from Matthew and continued, "A voice says, 'Cry out!' and I said, 'What shall I cry?' All people are grass, their constancy like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever."
There was no comment when Shirley finished reading. Most of the girls just stared at David. A few stared off into space.
"What you need to understand," David began, "is that Isaiah was ordered by God to tell the people of Israel that God would take care of them. The thing was, another country had defeated Israel in battle and taken all of the young, important, educated people to be prisoners in their country. They left the old, sick, uneducated people in Israel, and sent their army to run Jerusalem and their people to live there. The enemy army tore down the Jewish temple - their most holy place - and wouldn't let the people follow their religious rules anymore. They made them worship the foreign gods. They broke up families. They took away every bit of the Israelites' identity that they could to make them nobody and nothing."
None of the girls looked at David anymore. This they understood only too well.
"The thing was," he went on in a softer voice, "the Israelite people knew that all of this was their own fault. They hadn't been faithful to God, hadn't kept the laws. They believed they were damned forever.
"But then God sent this prophet, Isaiah, to tell the people God still cared. God would bring them home and they would be God's people again. God forgave them for screwing up.
"You see," he concluded, "the people saw their lives as hopeless. They judged God based on their bad experiences alone, not on how great God is. They ignored the fact that God can do anything, anytime. That's why God gave them the message that they would be saved even though they didn't deserve it. The rules can be suspended whenever God decides. That's called grace.
"Now, the prisoners in that foreign land probably thought Isaiah was nuts, just like you think I am, but God's message is just as true today as it was then. You are not just grass. You will be saved by God, like they were, because God said you would be. Time's up. See you tomorrow."
The shuffling and mumbling of the group making their way toward the exit, where armed guards awaited them, was silenced by one voice.
"When did God say we would be saved?" Audra demanded, standing firmly by her seat and glaring at David.
"Ah," the director answered with a smug smile, "That's what Godspell is all about!"
David Pryor's dream of beginning a prison ministry for young felons through stage productions was off to a rocky start. The girls before him were willing enough to fill their empty time learning parts for a musical production, but most had balked at his insistence on a Bible study. Their sullen presence was their testimony.
"So, what is Godspell all about?" he asked. Each of the girls maintained her practiced, detached "I don't care" expression and no one spoke. "Sasha," he added, singling out the girl he had chosen to play the vamp role of Mary Magdelene.
"It's about a bunch of hippie clown-types from the '60s," she muttered.
"Naw," another countered, "it's about a Bible story."
"Okay!" David jumped back in. "So why did somebody write a musical play about a Bible story? Who do all of you cast members represent?"
There were shrugs and grunts of dismissal. "Audra, who do you play?"
"Jesus Christ," the girl said with emphasis, making her reply a curse as well as an answer. David's gaze met her hooded glare evenly.
"Right," he said. "Open your Bibles to page 2 in the back section." After much loud page flipping and grumbling he added, "Okay, Jesus Christ, read what's printed after the big number 3, down through the small number 3."
The exotic-looking girl glared at him again, then pulled off the baseball cap she wore, shook out a mane of dark, wavy hair, and stood in her place. "Matthew, chapter 3, verses 1 through 3," she began clearly, to the snorts and chuckles of approval from the group. "In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.' This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' "
With no comment on the girl's knowledge of biblical structure, David hurried on. "Okay, somebody look up Isaiah 40:1-11." The girl named Shirley, who would play the John the Baptist role, raised her hand lazily, and when called on to read verses 3 through 8, repeated the familiar verse from Matthew and continued, "A voice says, 'Cry out!' and I said, 'What shall I cry?' All people are grass, their constancy like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever."
There was no comment when Shirley finished reading. Most of the girls just stared at David. A few stared off into space.
"What you need to understand," David began, "is that Isaiah was ordered by God to tell the people of Israel that God would take care of them. The thing was, another country had defeated Israel in battle and taken all of the young, important, educated people to be prisoners in their country. They left the old, sick, uneducated people in Israel, and sent their army to run Jerusalem and their people to live there. The enemy army tore down the Jewish temple - their most holy place - and wouldn't let the people follow their religious rules anymore. They made them worship the foreign gods. They broke up families. They took away every bit of the Israelites' identity that they could to make them nobody and nothing."
None of the girls looked at David anymore. This they understood only too well.
"The thing was," he went on in a softer voice, "the Israelite people knew that all of this was their own fault. They hadn't been faithful to God, hadn't kept the laws. They believed they were damned forever.
"But then God sent this prophet, Isaiah, to tell the people God still cared. God would bring them home and they would be God's people again. God forgave them for screwing up.
"You see," he concluded, "the people saw their lives as hopeless. They judged God based on their bad experiences alone, not on how great God is. They ignored the fact that God can do anything, anytime. That's why God gave them the message that they would be saved even though they didn't deserve it. The rules can be suspended whenever God decides. That's called grace.
"Now, the prisoners in that foreign land probably thought Isaiah was nuts, just like you think I am, but God's message is just as true today as it was then. You are not just grass. You will be saved by God, like they were, because God said you would be. Time's up. See you tomorrow."
The shuffling and mumbling of the group making their way toward the exit, where armed guards awaited them, was silenced by one voice.
"When did God say we would be saved?" Audra demanded, standing firmly by her seat and glaring at David.
"Ah," the director answered with a smug smile, "That's what Godspell is all about!"
