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THE CARPENTER
by Scott Crain
GENRE: Dramatic Monologue
TIME: Under 5 minutes
SYNOPSIS: A Jewish craftsman re-
CAST BREAKDOWN: 1
counts the death of a fellow carpenter and one-time friend, Jesus of
Nazareth.
TOPIC: Easter
DIRECTOR’S TIP: This monologue can
be used either alone, or as the second of three monologues, alongside
“The Servant” and “The Gardener”.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: John 19:16-37
CHURCH YEAR SEASON: Easter
SUGGESTED USE: Worship Service, Sermon Starter
CHARACTERS: ASA
PROPS: A hammer
COSTUMES: Biblical
SOUND: General
LIGHTING: General stage
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SETTING: Calvary
Drama Ministry
[email protected]
www.DramaMinistry.com
ISSN 1084-5917
Publisher: Regi Stone
Executive Editor: Kimberlee Crisafulli / Assistant Editor: Scott Crain
Drama Ministry is a division of
Belden Worship Resources
www.beldenworshipresources.com
Copyright ©2011 by Drama Ministry. Material is intended for use by the subscriber in the subscriber’s local church. With the exception of
scripts, no issue may be reproduced by any means. As a subscriber, you may make as many copies of scripts as needed in your church only.
You may perform the sketch as often as you wish at no additional cost. Scripts and performance rights arenot transferable between churches
and cannot be resold. You may not use the sketch for any commercial or fundraising purpose, and usage rights do not extend to video, radio,
television or film.
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by Scott Crain
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Lights up on ASA, a Jewish carpenter.
ASA: I am a man of no great talent. (He runs his hand along the iron head of the hammer) There
was a time when I would have considered myself a master craftsman—an artisan of
great skill—until I met a true master and realized that these callused hands are clumsy and inadequate at best.
Pause.
He was from Nazareth, and his name was Jesus. I apprenticed alongside him for six
months, but this man needed no instruction. He could look at a piece of lumber and
know what it was meant to be. ‘This stack of cedar will be a doorpost.’ ‘This length of
cypress will be a stool.’ And then he would begin to shape it with his tools, calling the
shape forth from the wood, until it was plain that he was right. Perfectly right. Every
time. Seeing this man Jesus at work made my own efforts seem foolish by comparison.
I knew I would never achieve the level of skill this man had, and in time, I gave up trying.
Beat.
I began to work for the Romans, making instruments of death. Hewing out crude
lengths of wood for the construction of crosses. My job now is to stand and wait at
the place of execution. Stand and wait for the condemned men to come, bearing their
crossbeams, then I nail the beams into place, watch as the prisoners are nailed to their
surface, then help the guards hoist them into position. (Pause) I take no pleasure in this
work, but it feeds my family.
Beat.
Today I stood here on Mount Calvary in the growing heat of the morning sun, as three
condemned men crested the hill. I watched as they dropped their crossbeams to the
ground, exhausted, and as I stooped to begin my work, the third man raised his eyes to
look in mine. For a time, everything stopped, as I looked in the eyes of Jesus.
Beat.
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I was frozen. Powerless before that gaze. I couldn’t imagine what he might have done—a man of his skill—to deserve such a death. I stood so long that the Romans grew
angry and impatient. They shoved me aside and nailed his crossbeam into place, then
took those long iron nails and drove them deep into the hands of my friend. Into the
wood that my hands had cut.
I watched, helpless, as he suffered. Watched as he died. And as the Roman guard
thrust a spear into my dead friend’s side, I began to weep.
Copyright © 2011 by Drama Ministry
THE CARPENTER
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by Scott Crain
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THE CARPENTER
There are those who say this man was the Messiah. The promised Deliverer of Israel.
I don’t know about such things—I’m a simple man with simple dreams. But as they
placed his body in the garden tomb and I lowered the cross beam back to the ground,
my hands became red with his blood. And I can’t help but feel that I’m somehow responsible for his death.
Even though I didn’t drive the nails, still, I stand here on this lonely hill with his blood
on my hands...
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lights down.
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Copyright 2011 Scott Crain, published by Drama Ministry
PO Box 40387, Nashville, TN, 37204 • Phone: 1-866-859-7622 • Fax: 1-615-463-9139 • E-mail: [email protected]
Material is intended for use by the subscriber in the subscriber’s local church. With the exception of scripts, no issue of Drama Ministry may be reproduced by any
means. As a subscriber, you may make as many copies of scripts as needed for your church only. You may perform the sketch as often as you wish at no additional
cost. Scripts and performance rights are not transferable between churches and cannot be resold. You may not use the sketch for any commercial or fundraising
purpose, and usage rights do not extend to video, radio, television or film outside your church.
Copyright © 2011 by Drama Ministry
THE CARPENTER
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