KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Drama
THE MOST DRAMATIC moment in human history makes for odd drama...
The hero is center-stage yet silent. His script is only seven lines long, some whispered, some groaned through gritted teeth. He gestures simply and seldom. He is still, pinned as it were to a prop from which neither the audience nor the other actors can easily unfasten their eyes. The stage is stark, the scenery sparse, the props peculiar -- hammer, spikes, spear, dice. The action is minimal at best, at worst awkward. The lighting is at first too bright, then too night.
Other actors take the stage. Soldiers hammer and gamble, making light of the weighty moment. Bystanders assuage their boredom with blasphemy. Priests parrot their vain victory, ignorant of the irony: "If you come down, we will believe." Followers weep and wonder, only a few and from afar. The rest, obvious in their absence, rest off-stage. Ultimately our eyes are drawn back to the main character, still still, and we listen to the seven lines and the sudden silence.
This old drama makes for odd drama. And we find ourselves left wondering less about the hero than ourselves. Where will we stand on the stage, with the deriders or the disciples? Will we stand fearfully but faithfully with the women or will we slip off to the wings unable to see or be seen? And what will we say when the next line is ours?
And if we should decide not to try out for this play, not to take part in this odd, old drama, it's too late. By coming to this table we have already accepted a role, we have already joined the cast, we have already taken the stage. This meal is which we are invited reminds us that we are privileged to play a part, a part in the most dramatic moment in human history, in the great drama of redemption. (J. Lee Magness)
KneEmail: "And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him" ( Mark 15:20).