Summary: Mary’s Hope begins after Jesus’ crucifixion, as Mary comforts her friend Rebecca by sharing the story of His miraculous birth. Through flashbacks acted out by the cast, Mary recounts the angel’s announcement, Joseph’s journey from doubt to faith, and their difficult trip to Bethlehem. She remembers Jesus’ humble birth in a stable and the shepherds who came to worship Him. Reflecting on Old Testament prophecies, Mary explains her belief that Jesus’ suffering and death were part of God’s plan to save humanity. The play ends with the joyful news of Jesus’ resurrection, transforming Mary’s grief into hope and reaffirming God’s faithfulness.
Style: Dramatic Duration: 10-15min
Actors: 4F, 3M; Flexible shepherds
Scriptures: Luke 1-2; Mathew 1; John 12:23; Jeremiah 23:5; Isaiah 53:4-5
A video of a performance of the piece can be seen at https://vimeo.com/778728804?fl=pl&fe=sh Performance begins at 2:25
Characters
Female
MARY – She’s strong, but hurting.
REBECCA – in her 20s. Somewhat hotheaded.
YOUNG MARY - young, determined,
MARY MAGDALENE - Can be Young Mary in a different costume or simply a voice from offstage.
Male
YOUNG JOSEPH – Young, somewhat stubborn.
INNKEEPER
ROMAN SOLDIER
Either
Shepherds – these can be played by adults, teens, or older children. I had some cast double as shepherds
Script
Setting: A table at John's home, exterior of a house, stables
(Lights reveal the interior of a room on stage right perhaps a kitchen/dining room. Mary sits alone at table praying. On stage left, still in shadow is the exterior of YOUNG MARY’S house. Relatively plain. This house is able to be turned around or redressed to become the stable later).
REBECCA: Mary?... Mary, can I come in? I brought you something to drink.
MARY: (trying to recover herself) Thank you.
REBECCA: I’m sorry about what happened to your son. I can’t believe what those monsters did. Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong. They were just jealous of his followers. They had no cause to crucify Him. May God bring judgement on them all.
MARY: No… no, Rebecca you don’t mean that. Rather may God forgive us all for what we have done.
REBECCA: What we have done? They killed your son. Mary, you’re grieving. You don’t know what you are saying.
MARY: I know what I’m saying, Rebecca! My son knew this was coming. John told me what he said. “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” They didn’t understand him then, but now….
REBECCA: Mary…
MARY: Anyways, don’t you think the man who could turn water into wine or feed 5,000 people with a couple of fish or heal the sick could have stopped this if He wanted to?
Pause
MARY: I have to believe that Jesus knew what he was doing. He let them crucify Him. And… I.. . I think he did it for us.
REBECCA: How could his death be for us?
Pause
MARY: It- …I- …. Have I ever told you the story of his birth?
REBECCA: No
MARY: Well, the memory of those days is something that I’ve kept in my heart and maybe it will help you understand what I see now.
MARY: (Young Mary enters from the home on stage left and stand center stage) My life was so happy then. I was young and healthy and betrothed to the love of my life. Then an Angel --- and yes I mean an actual messenger from God -- appeared to me.
ANGEL (voiceover): (Bright white spotlight on Young Mary as we see her receive this message) Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Bright white lights fade out. Mary gets up, rushes offstage and later returns with Young Joseph.)
REBECCA: But if the angel said he would have a kingdom without end, he shouldn’t have died now.
MARY: Slow down. I’m getting there.
REBECCA: Well Joseph must have been excited when you told him.
MARY: (While she speaks Young Joseph and Young Mary pantomime the scene) Actually when I told Joseph – (Young Mary speaks with Mary) “An angel told me that I’m going to have a baby from God” he was hurt. Everyone he told thought I was lying. He even thought about divorcing me. It wasn’t until an angel came to him too that he really believed me.
YOUNG JOSEPH: No, Mary. Stop. I can’t believe you’d … (He leaves in anger and betrayal.)
YOUNG MARY: Joseph, I ….(She cries and leaves.)
(Angel lights reappear from wherever Joseph left to. Sound cue. Joseph returns to center stage a changed man. He falls to his knees)
YOUNG JOSEPH: (Joseph bangs on Mary’s door. When she emerges, he embraces her and spins her around.
YOUNG MARY: Joseph? What’s going on?
YOUNG JOSEPH: Mary, I’m sorry. I should have trusted you.
(Lights go down on Mary and Joseph. Mary goes back in the house. Joseph goes off left.)
REBECCA: That must have been difficult for you. What did your parents think about all of this? Did you have problems with your neighbors and relatives?
MARY: It certainly wasn’t easy. Some people believed us. But most thought that I was lying. Thankfully I had Joseph who supported me and defended me. And we knew that we were doing what God wanted. (Lights back up on stage left, a Roman soldier enters and knocks on Mary’s door. She emerges pregnant. The soldier hands her the decree, and exits to the center.) We had to trust God, especially when the Romans came. The soldier said that we would have to go to Bethlehem for the census and taxation.
REBECCA: Of course, it would be the Romans.
(Joseph appears from stage left with two packs one much smaller, which Mary takes from him. They begin to travel down center to the back of the auditorium, and around left.)
MARY: At that point, the baby was due soon. We had to travel slowly because of my condition. Joseph helped however he could. But I never thought the journey would end.
(Mary and Joseph arrive at Bethlehem (by the stage left doors) The meet the Innkeeper who shows them to the stables. We never see the innkeeper’s inn. Ideally, Young Mary’s house spins round to become the stable or at least is redressed to become the stable. The innkeeper pokes around and finds some cloth which he hands to Joseph)
MARY: By the time we arrived in Bethlehem no one had any rooms that we could stay in. I was terrified, but Joseph kept asking for a place. He said God would provide. Finally, an innkeeper let us stay in his stables – it was a small dingy cave full of the animals of the other guests, but it was better than nothing. And that was when the Baby came. (Young Mary and Joseph disappear behind a bale of hay or a wall and return, Young Mary holding a baby and Joseph supporting her to a seated position near a manger. They place the baby in the manger.)
REBECCA: In a stable.
MARY: Yep.
REBECCA: Jesus, performer of miracles and great teacher, was born in a barn. How did I never hear this before?
Both laugh
MARY: Yes – God, the great God of all the universe and creator of everything, humbled himself to become not just a human, but so low a person as to be born among the animals.
REBECCA: That must have been a strange and scary experience. Your first child too.
MARY: Yes, but that wasn’t the only odd thing to happen that night. Soon after he was born, some of the local shepherds came to the door.
SHEPHERDS: (All at once exclaiming different things) Is there a baby here? The messiah? Is it true? The messiah has been born! He’s here. The messiah is here!
(Young Mary hands the baby to a shepherd who weeps with Joy. Others kneel and pray. Some dance. Young Mary stays seated and watches with Joseph at her side.)
MARY: Then they worshiped him and praised God.
I was tired, but I was in awe. I have always treasured those first moments. But I have always wondered. I know of the prophecies of the Messiah. (Lights fade on manger scene)
The prophet Jeremiah said he would be a king. “I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.”
But Isaiah said the Messiah would suffer. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
If my baby was the king of the universe, Emanuel, God with us, why would he choose to be born in a stable?
If the angel promised me that he would reign on the throne of David forever, how could he die in such a way?
And the words he said (she breaks a little here) on the cross from the Psalms? Why would he say that God had forsaken him?
Rebecca, I tell you the story of Jesus’s birth now because I don’t have all the answers. But I do know my Son and my God. He meant for this to happen. John told me that Jesus said that he would return in three days. Jesus said he would take away the sins of the world. I don’t know how He will do this, but I believe. I believe my God is faithful and will fulfil his promises.
MARY MAGDALENE (or JOHN): Mary! Mary!! The tomb. Mary, Jesus’s tomb! His tomb is empty! The angel said he has risen! Come and see!
(Rebecca runs out to see. Mary stands up and looks toward heaven.)
MARY: And still, you keep your promises!
(Mary runs out after Rebecca.)
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© Kelly Nupson 2022, All rights reserved. This script may be used free of charge, on the condition that copies are not sold for profit in any medium, nor any entrance fee charged to a performance. In exchange, the author would appreciate being notified of any occasion the play is used in public performance.
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