Joseph [Christmas Monologue]
Production Notes
The Joseph [Christmas Monologue] is one of three monologues originally written for and performed in the senior high student ministry at Willow Creek Community Church North Shore.
Cast
Joseph – male, wearing Biblical robe
Script
Suggested Intro: Black slide with the word JOSEPH written in white – fading into background slide of a carpenter’s workshop.
Cue stage lights.
When I first heard about the baby I was angry . . . angry at Mary for getting herself pregnant, angry at God for allowing it to happen, angry at myself for being tangled up in the mess of a pregnancy scandal. I couldn’t give Mary away – it would be the end of her reputation and maybe even her life. But choosing silence implicated me in her pregnancy and the disgrace I would bring to my own good name was more than I could bear. I made up my mind to quietly divorce her. It was the only scenario I thought would give each of us any hope for the future. I would not openly accuse her, but I could not claim her child as mine.
Then one night an angel appeared to me in a dream. He told me not to be afraid to marry her – that Mary was in fact telling me the truth, and that her child was God’s Child. Everything changed. I understood that God had chosen my fiancé to carry the Promised Messiah . . . and that He had chosen me to be His earthly father.
As we neared Mary’s delivery, we were alone in a new city with no place to stay. I tried to be brave for Mary’s sake but I was lost in my own fear. I’d never delivered a baby before and I wanted so desperately for everything to be right. And then Jesus came into the world perfect and beautiful and screaming at the top of his lungs. It was the greatest moment of my life . . . possibly the greatest moment of all time . . . and the world became right.
I first met God’s Son as a tiny helpless baby in the arms of my young wife . . . needing all the care and attention this finite and incapable Dad could give to Him . . . yet He is my Savior. It is one of the many complexities I am sure to encounter over the course of my changed life. I have embraced this new story I’ve been given with everything I am and am proud to be known for what I am. I know I’ll never compare to His Father God, but I’m going to do my best to be the father He needs here on earth.
Lights fade. JOSEPH exits.