BACK BURDEN 5'1m0f Monologue: "my yoke is easy, my burden is light" THADEUS -- (enters hurriedly wearing shabby tunic and sandals, carrying Bible scrolls) I'm sorry I'm so late. But some wonderful things have been happening. (examines audience) Oh, it's happened again! I have never seen this room so full since I began preaching here three years ago! Forgive me. Those of you who have never been in this church before have no idea who I am or why I'm here. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Thaddeus. I am a fisherman on the mainland. But I was appointed by Apostle Paul to preach the gospel to the people of these islands. For those of you who have never been here before, Paul is a Jew, like myself, but some of you may know him as Saul of Tarsus. Anyway, I row out here to the three islands to preach every Sunday. Normally, this is my first of three stops. I usually arrive here first thing in the morning. I usually read a few passages from Bible scrolls like this one (holds up scroll), then I usually preach a message about what the passage means to us. Then, I get back into my row boat and row over to the (points) middle island about midday and repeat the process. Finally, in mid-afternoon, I row over to the far island (points) and repeat the process there. Recently, however, Apostle Paul gave me this NEW scroll that he calls part of the NEW TESTAMENT. For the last three years I have been preaching on what we used to call the Holy Scriptures, but now because we have writings from apostles like Paul and some friends of Jesus, we call those old scrolls the Old Testament. The New Testament describes the life and times of Jesus and what it means to us today. Anyway, I recently began to read and preach about this New Testament scroll. But when I came to today's passage, my mind was blank. After days of meditation and prayer about it, I had no idea what I was going to preach. Indeed, I didn't even know what my message would be this morning as I got into my boat and began to row over to this island. Let me read today's passage to you. It's a quote from Jesus himself recorded by his friend Matthew. (reads) "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." So, there I am in the boat and, as usual, Finehas and a few others were waiting on shore to help me pull my boat up on shore. But when I was still a couple of hundred yards offshore, the ever-changing winds in this channel became a cross wind, blowing me sideways. I struggled and struggled on the ores to keep my heading. But then all of a sudden my struggling became the message I was going to preach. I stood up in the boat and turned around and waved good-bye to the people standing on shore. Then I picked up the ores and threw them overboard and let the wind take me where it wanted to go. It blew me straight to the farthest island (points). When the people of that island saw me coming so early, they assumed that I was bringing important news, so the members of the church invited everybody on the island to come listen to me. Now keep in mind, for the last three years, I have been preaching to the same small number of people at each church every Sunday. I have been doing everything I could think of to get more people to hear the good news of Christ. So, it seems that the moment I gave up struggling, the Lord took over and immediately did what I should have let him do all along. Well, as it happened, the moment I stepped on shore at the far island, the wind in the channel changed directions again. So, when I finish there and I got into my boat and pushed off, the wind carried me directly to the middle island. Again, the Lord filled the church with curiousity seekers, but because they could see that the Lord was not the demanding task master that they thought him to be, many gave their lives over to Him. Then again the wind shifted and carried me here. And yet again the Lord filled the church with people. And so again, I will tell you what I told the others. When I was in my boat, that cross wind reminded me that we Christians are to serve the same way we were saved, not by our own strength and struggle, but by the strength of the One who died for us. I'm not going to tell you to throw away the ores to your fishing boats. That message was just for me, because I thought I was supposed to build these churches by the sweat of my brow. (wipes forehead symbolically) (looks offstage, smiles) Well, look there! It happened again! The wind shifted again! It looks like I'll have a tail-wind blowing me home to the mainland. The message in this passage is clear. Give up the struggle. Give up trying to do it on your own. (reads) "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (waves exiting) Well, thanks for listening. I'll see you next week. ©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 |