POY!
jit 3f 89
Decisive Prayer and Arrest in Gethsemane
Based on Matt. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; John 18
POY! skit guidelines:
 Participants may simply read their lines, or glance at their lines to get the idea and speak in their own words.
 Most POY! skits require no practice in advance, and need no costumes or props.
 Let tots play a brief part. Most scripts have children do the “Companions” part, under PARTICIPANTS.
 Most skits have someone serve as Narrator, who should read a skit beforehand to see how to keep it
moving along.
 There is no need to have an audience watch the skit. All present may participate, as “Companions”.
 Scripture and paraphrases, if any, usually appear in bold.
 In large groups, ask folks, especially children, to talk loudly and slowly, and add actions if they want.
PARTICIPANTS
Peter (also serves as Narrator)
Voice (of Jesus) Stand to one side, read slowly and loudly
Eve
Adam
Prompter (Optional). Prompter shouts a brief line and Companions repeat it.
Companions (Optional): children and all adults who want to take part. Make sure
Companions know who the Prompter is, and that they are to repeat Prompter’s words.
SCRIPT
Peter
John, look! Jesus is leading us again to that secluded place up on the Mount of
Olives. King David once passed through this same Kidron valley and brook, shedding
tears, betrayed by his close friend. Oh, now look down, westward! The last rays of sunset
are caressing Jerusalem’s roofs!
Voice
Peter, James, John, come with me a little farther into this Garden of Gethsemane.
My soul grieves to the point of death! Wait for me while I pray, and pray that you
will not be tempted.
Peter
Jesus goes a stone’s throw beyond and falls face down, distressed and horrified.
Why?
Voice
Abba! Father! If it’s possible, let this hour pass Me by. Abba! Father! All things are
possible for You; remove this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.
Peter
After this desperate plea, Jesus comes to find us sleeping, His soul swallowed up in
sorrow.
Voice
Peter, could you men not keep watch for an hour?
Peter
Had I been watching, I would have seen flaming torches gathering outside the city walls.
But no, I slept while the bravest person who ever lived wrestles with a terrifying choice.
His would be no common death. The atoning blood of every Passover lamb, every goat
and bull slain since Adam, becomes effective if ─ only if ─ the Galilean agrees to bear
mankind’s sins.
Peter
Again, Jesus goes and prays the same agonizing words. He comes again and finds us
sleeping; our eyes are heavy. He prays a third time, and returns. Oh no! Again!
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To do His Father’s Will, Jesus Lets the Serpent Inject its Venom
We’ve fallen asleep! Had we been alert, we’d have seen the column of flickering
torches snaking its way across the Kidron and up the mountainside. Closer!
Voice
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Peter
I did not yet grasp the depth of the effect of this moment’s verdict! No mortal mind could
grasp it. Every shameful act and thought, yours and mine, will make up the venom that
will be injected by the serpent’s accusing fangs into Messiah’s veins, penetrating,
scalding His deepest soul and heart. The full, excruciating, lethal dose! Oh, the horror of
this night! The anguish! The shame!
Voice
Are you still resting? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let’s go. The traitor is coming!
Peter
We join the others and look down the slope. Torches! Many, many torches! Oh, they
have weapons! My stomach knots in fear. Now we hear the yells of a huge mob! They
are crying, “Where is that rebel?”
Prompter &
Companions Where is that rebel? Where is that rebel?
Peter
Look! Judas is leading the officers sent by the chief priests. How can he, one of
Messiah’s chosen twelve, do this? Judas is walking right up to Jesus! Oh! He’s kissing
Him! A signal!
Voice
Soldiers, whom do you seek?
Peter
I hear them say. “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Voice
I AM.
Peter
“I Am!” The words Moses heard at the burning bush when God revealed His Name! The
soldiers fall back! They notice something about this man! Apostate priests scream,
spewing their hatred, “Seize him!
Prompter & Companions
“Seize him! Seize him!”
Peter
(Pretend to swing a sword wildly) Take that!
Prompter &
Companions Take that! Take that!
Peter
I swing my sword wildly, severing an ear of the high priest’s slave, Malchus.
Voice
Peter, sheath the sword. Shall I not drink the cup my Father has handed me?
Prompter & Companions
Voice
“Arrest him! Arrest him!”
Do you come with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would a robber? Daily I
was with you in the temple teaching, and you did nothing. But this is your hour,
your power of darkness.
Peter
All of us disciples flee, leaving Him alone… All alone!
Prompter &
Companions All alone! All alone!
Peter
Now, I wonder. What might Adam and Eve say in this moment, as they look down from
heaven and see the One whom Scripture calls “the Last Adam”?
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To do His Father’s Will, Jesus Lets the Serpent Inject its Venom
Adam & Eve (Read slowly, in a way that stresses contrasts between the two gardens, Eden and
Gethsemane.)
Eve
Both gardens, old Eden and Gethsemane,
Were scenes of far-reaching decisions.
Two Adams, the First, and the Last we now see,
Both shaped mankind’s fate and condition.
Adam
In Eden it was day, all beauty and light,
And the Lord made the old serpent crawl.
In Gethsemane tonight, Christ yields to its bite,
Reversing the effect of my shameful fall.
Eve
It was daytime when the serpent sneaked in,
Lying, interrupting our true King’s reign.
Now it’s nighttime, darker than ever it’s been
As men seize Christ in the devil’s domain.
Adam
In Eden, I sinned and in me all men fell;
I ate that fruit against God’s command.
Now Jesus spurns that foul fiend of hell
And takes death’s cup from His Father’s hand.
Eve
For Adam and me, Eden was all delight,
But we ate the fruit that left mankind ill.
Gethsemane gives Christ one terrible plight;
But He takes death’s cup, fulfilling God’s will!
Adam
In Eden, I ran to hide shame and sham.
God called; the sinner He sought.
Now, Jesus stands still, tells the soldiers, “I AM.”
To seek God and His will is Messiahs’ one thought.
Eve
A flaming sword barred Eden’s gate that day,
All was defeat; Adam and I all to blame.
Now Jesus tells Peter, “Put your sword away.”
The last Adam has agreed to bear all our shame!
DISCUSS
What did the events at Gethsemane tell us about Jesus’ humanity?
What did those events suggest about His deity?
Why was there no other way to save sinners?
Romans 5:19 says the deeds of both the first and “final Adam” had contrasting effects. What
were those effects?
The disciples that fled in fear later stood firm and brave; they died as martyrs rather than
abandon Jesus again. What transformed their cowardice into courage?
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