The Sower
Drama
EXPANDED PARABLES
Dramatization in the Church
A parable of unfruitfulness for a narrator and five solo voices (Solo 3 doubles as Isaiah and Solo 5 doubles as Jesus).
Narrator: Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside.
Solo 1: To enjoy the peace of the waves,
Solo 2: Away from the city,
Solo 3: Away from the crowds,
Solo 4: Peace, by the waters.
Narrator: But such crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.
Solo 4: They found him,
Solo 2: Surrounded him,
Solo 3: And begged for a story.
Solo 1: Give us a story!
Solo 4: Make us want to live!
Solo 3: Entertain us!
Narrator: So Jesus said to them:
Solo 5: Imagine a Sower going out to sow.
Solo 2: A man like me?
Solo 4: A common man?
Solo 1: A man of the soil,
Solo 3: Whose hands are rough from work?
Solo 1: Who sweats from laboring?
Solo 2: Who is bronzed by the sun,
Solo 4: Who scratches a living from the soil,
Solo 3: Who prays for rain,
Solo 2: A man like me?
Solo 5: As he sowed some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of soil, but as soon as the sun came up ...
Solo 4: I thought he was a fisherman; what is all this about?
Solo 2: Shhhh!
Solo 5: But as soon as the sun came up they were scorched, and not having any roots they withered away. Others fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Solo 4: I like the way he tells stories, It's like they're about me.
Solo 3: I hope you're luckier than that at farming.
Solo 2: Shhhh!
Solo 5: Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen! Anyone who has ears.
Solo 4: Listen?
Solo 3: Listen to what? I don't get it.
Solo 1: He sure tells good stories [Sarcastically].
Solo 2: I'm not sure I understand.
Solo 4: I don't think you ever will; it's just a story, that's all.
Solo 3: Maybe it's a riddle.
Solo 4: He sure tells good stories. Ha!
Solo 2: I think it's too far above me.
Solo 4: It's just a story, let's go.
Narrator: Then the disciples went up to him and asked,
Solos 1-2-3-4: Why do you talk to them in riddles?
Solo 5: Because the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you but they are not revealed to them.
Solo 1: The mysteries of the kingdom revealed to me?
Solo 2: I don't think I understand.
Solo 5: For anyone who has, will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled:
Solo 3 [Isaiah]: You will listen and listen again, but not understand; see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse; their ears are dull of hearing and they have shut their eyes for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart and be converted and be healed by me.
Solo 1: Then why do they come?
Solo 2: Why do they listen?
Solo 4: Why don't they hear?
Solo 2: Why be afraid?
Solo 1: To listen,
Solo 2: To hear,
Solo 4: To see,
Solo 1: To be converted,
Solo 1-2-4: To be healed.
Solo 5: Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear; I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
Solo 1: But what will it mean?
Solo 2: To have listened,
Solo 3: To have seen,
Solo 4: To be converted,
Solo 1: To be healed.
Solo 5: So you, therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: This is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path.
Solo 3: It really didn't take root, Lord!
Solo 1: I just didn't understand what I was supposed to do with the seed.
Solo 4: I let it lay there hoping something would happen to it.
Solo 2: But then he came and grabbed it away.
Solo 5: The one who received it on the patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy, but he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word and he falls away at once.
Solo 4: I really wanted that seed to grow.
Solo 3: I watered it with joy and I listened eagerly for it to grow.
Solo 2: But then I had this problem with my neighbor - they didn't like me always talking about this ... this great new seed.
Solo 2: I got discouraged ... covered it up ... it never did grow.
Solo 5: The one who received the seed in the thorns is the man who hears the word but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing.
Solo 2: I really listened, I wanted that seed to grow.
Solo 4: But I had so many other things to look after.
Solo 3: And so many places to go.
Solo 1: Got to pay for that new car; new carpet ... takes time to work that off.
Solo 2: Put the wife to work too ... we just didn't have time to take care of that seed.
Solo 5: And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.
Solo 1: Praise God for allowing me to hear.
Solo 3: And understand.
Solo 4: For giving me the Holy Spirit who fills my heart!
Solo 2: Send me forth to sow more seed.
Solo 1: Lord, grant a bountiful harvest.
All: Amen.
Narrator: Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside.
Solo 1: To enjoy the peace of the waves,
Solo 2: Away from the city,
Solo 3: Away from the crowds,
Solo 4: Peace, by the waters.
Narrator: But such crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.
Solo 4: They found him,
Solo 2: Surrounded him,
Solo 3: And begged for a story.
Solo 1: Give us a story!
Solo 4: Make us want to live!
Solo 3: Entertain us!
Narrator: So Jesus said to them:
Solo 5: Imagine a Sower going out to sow.
Solo 2: A man like me?
Solo 4: A common man?
Solo 1: A man of the soil,
Solo 3: Whose hands are rough from work?
Solo 1: Who sweats from laboring?
Solo 2: Who is bronzed by the sun,
Solo 4: Who scratches a living from the soil,
Solo 3: Who prays for rain,
Solo 2: A man like me?
Solo 5: As he sowed some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of soil, but as soon as the sun came up ...
Solo 4: I thought he was a fisherman; what is all this about?
Solo 2: Shhhh!
Solo 5: But as soon as the sun came up they were scorched, and not having any roots they withered away. Others fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Solo 4: I like the way he tells stories, It's like they're about me.
Solo 3: I hope you're luckier than that at farming.
Solo 2: Shhhh!
Solo 5: Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen! Anyone who has ears.
Solo 4: Listen?
Solo 3: Listen to what? I don't get it.
Solo 1: He sure tells good stories [Sarcastically].
Solo 2: I'm not sure I understand.
Solo 4: I don't think you ever will; it's just a story, that's all.
Solo 3: Maybe it's a riddle.
Solo 4: He sure tells good stories. Ha!
Solo 2: I think it's too far above me.
Solo 4: It's just a story, let's go.
Narrator: Then the disciples went up to him and asked,
Solos 1-2-3-4: Why do you talk to them in riddles?
Solo 5: Because the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you but they are not revealed to them.
Solo 1: The mysteries of the kingdom revealed to me?
Solo 2: I don't think I understand.
Solo 5: For anyone who has, will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled:
Solo 3 [Isaiah]: You will listen and listen again, but not understand; see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse; their ears are dull of hearing and they have shut their eyes for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart and be converted and be healed by me.
Solo 1: Then why do they come?
Solo 2: Why do they listen?
Solo 4: Why don't they hear?
Solo 2: Why be afraid?
Solo 1: To listen,
Solo 2: To hear,
Solo 4: To see,
Solo 1: To be converted,
Solo 1-2-4: To be healed.
Solo 5: Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear; I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
Solo 1: But what will it mean?
Solo 2: To have listened,
Solo 3: To have seen,
Solo 4: To be converted,
Solo 1: To be healed.
Solo 5: So you, therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: This is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path.
Solo 3: It really didn't take root, Lord!
Solo 1: I just didn't understand what I was supposed to do with the seed.
Solo 4: I let it lay there hoping something would happen to it.
Solo 2: But then he came and grabbed it away.
Solo 5: The one who received it on the patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy, but he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word and he falls away at once.
Solo 4: I really wanted that seed to grow.
Solo 3: I watered it with joy and I listened eagerly for it to grow.
Solo 2: But then I had this problem with my neighbor - they didn't like me always talking about this ... this great new seed.
Solo 2: I got discouraged ... covered it up ... it never did grow.
Solo 5: The one who received the seed in the thorns is the man who hears the word but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing.
Solo 2: I really listened, I wanted that seed to grow.
Solo 4: But I had so many other things to look after.
Solo 3: And so many places to go.
Solo 1: Got to pay for that new car; new carpet ... takes time to work that off.
Solo 2: Put the wife to work too ... we just didn't have time to take care of that seed.
Solo 5: And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.
Solo 1: Praise God for allowing me to hear.
Solo 3: And understand.
Solo 4: For giving me the Holy Spirit who fills my heart!
Solo 2: Send me forth to sow more seed.
Solo 1: Lord, grant a bountiful harvest.
All: Amen.
