Here is a
readers’ theatre setting of the story of the birth of John the Baptist.
The Birth of John the
Baptist
(Luke 1:56-80)
One: When the time was right, Elizabeth gave
birth to a son.
News about the Lord’s special
kindness to her had spread
through her whole extended family
and the entire community.
Everyone shared her joy,
for after all these years of
infertility,
she finally had a child!
Two: As was customary,
eight days after the baby’s birth
the time came for his circumcision
and naming.
Everyone assumed he would be named
Zacharias, like his father.
But Elizabeth told them:
Three: No. We
will name him John.
One: Her relatives all protested:
Two: John?
Why John?
That name is found nowhere in your
family!
One: So they turned to Zacharias
and asked him what he wanted the
baby’s name to be.
Three: Since he still was unable to speak,
Zacharias motioned for a tablet,
and wrote on it:
“His name is John.”
One: Everyone was shocked by this breach of
family custom.
And they were even more surprised
when,
at that very moment,
Zacharias suddenly found himself
able to speak again.
And he began shouting out praises to
God.
Two: A sense of reverence spread throughout the
whole community.
In fact, this story quickly spread
throughout the hilly countryside.
People were certain that God’s hand
was on this child,
and they wondered what sort of
person John would turn out to be
when he became a man.
One: And Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit,
prophesied:
Three: May the Lord God of Israel be blessed indeed!
For God’s intervention has begun,
and He has moved to rescue us,
the people of God.
And the Lord has raised up a
powerful sign of liberation for us
from among the descendants of God’s
servant, King David.
As was prophesied through the mouths
of His holy prophets
in ancient times:
God will liberate us from our
enemies
and from the hand of our oppressors!
God will show mercy promised to our
ancestors,
upholding the abiding covenant He
made with them,
remembering the original vow He
swore to Abraham,
from whom we are all descended.
God will rescue us from the grasp of
our enemies
so that we may serve Him without
fear all our days
in holiness and justice,
in the presence of the Lord.
And you, my son, will be called
the prophet of the Most High.
For you will be the one to prepare
the way for the Lord
so that the Lord’s people will
receive knowledge of their freedom
through the forgiveness of their
sins.
All this will flow from the kind and
compassionate mercy of our God.
A new day is dawning:
the sunrise from the heavens will
break through in our darkness,
and those who huddle in the night,
those who sit in the shadow of
death,
will be able to rise and walk in the
light,
guided in the pathway of peace.
One: And John grew up and became strong in
spirit.
He lived in the wilderness, outside
the cities,
until the day came for him to step
into the public eye in Israel.
~ based heavily on The Voice™ translation of Scripture. http://www.hearthevoice.com/ Copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008 by
Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
