Readers' Theatre: Mark 8: 27-38


Here’s a readers’ theatre setting of Mark 8:27-38, the suggested gospel reading for Proper 19 B (Ordinary 24 B) – the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  It is set for three readers.

Readers’ Theatre: Mark 8: 27-38 (NLT)

One:     Jesus and his disciples left Galilee
            and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi.
            As they were walking along, he asked them,

Two:     Who do people say I am?

Three:   Well, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah,
            and others say you are one of the other prophets.

Two:     But what about you?  Who do you say I am?

One:     Peter replied,

Three:   You are the Messiah.

One:     But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
            Then Jesus began to tell them
            that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things
            and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests,
            and the teachers of religious law.
            That He would be killed,
            but three days later he would rise from the dead.
            As he talked about this openly with his disciples,
            Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
            Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter.

Two:     Get away from me, Satan!
            You are seeing things merely from a human point of view,
            not from God’s.

One:     Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said,

Two:     If any of you wants to be my follower,
            you must turn from your selfish ways,
            take up your cross, and follow me.
            If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.
            But if you give up your life for my sake
            and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
            And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world
            but lose your own soul? 
            Is anything worth more than your soul?
            If anyone is ashamed of me and my message
            in these adulterous and sinful days,
            the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person
            when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”