“If I Was Mary”

By: Jacquelyn Hardy

May 4, 2024 (Version #2)

Cast

Me/Mary – A woman over the age of 18.

*Can be performed by two women.   

(Scene: A single spotlight is focused on a chair in the middle of the stage. A small table with a Bible is on one side of the chair.)

Me

(sitting in the chair)

When I was twelve, I wasn’t thinking about marriage or having children. I wasn’t wondering who would ask my father for my hand, thus sealing my future. I wasn’t afraid of being stoned to death for carrying another man’s child who never touched me but whose Spirit washed over me and gave me the child my people have been praying for thousands of years. My options were endless. No laws or cultural norms kept me from pursuing whatever career I wanted. My parents didn’t need to rely on a man to marry me to survive a few more years with one less mouth to feed. My parents didn’t worry that I would be taken away if they couldn’t pay taxes or a debt, forcing me to work off what they owed. If I were Mary, would I have graciously stepped forward, knowing that what I was about to accept would bring shame to my family?

Mary

(Stands)

How will I tell my family that I’m not crazy or concealing the identity of the man who defiled me? I’m carrying the Christ who will bring “peace on earth and goodwill towards men.” What will I tell Joseph? Will he divorce me? Will he have me stoned? Will my child be killed before he’s taken his first breadth? Would God allow me to live, but as a girl who’s been cast out with no means to take care of my child? What can I do but go to Elizabeth? The angel said she was also with child. Will she be able to help me understand? Will she know what I must do?

Me

(Picks up the Bible)

As I look back on my childhood and the things I got to do, I wonder if Mary would’ve considered what her life could’ve been like had the angel never come. Would she still have gone to Elizabeth? Would she be the strong and courageous woman who, against all odds, laid down her life for Christ? Would she have been one of His followers? I can’t help but put myself in her place and try to imagine the stress and anxiety she must’ve felt from the moment she accepted her calling through the death of her son. Could I do that now? Would I be able to put my life on hold so that the creator of the world could save the world? If I were Mary, would I be able to watch my child suffer all the while He’s telling me that this is the only way? That He must die to bring salvation.

Mary

(Sets down the Bible)

What do you mean that you’ll be raised after three days? You performed miracles that have healed thousands. Why don’t you show them now? Show them that you are the Son of God! The Messiah! Why must your body be beaten, pierced, and bloodied? I’m your mother? Can’t you give me your suffering? I will take your place so you can live!

Me

(Sits down)

Would I be able to hold back the desire to run towards my son, who’s being nailed to a cross that he didn’t deserve? Would I have even stayed to watch? And when I went to the tomb to perfume His body, would I be praying? Would I be silent? But the joy of seeing my Lord alive and in my arms is what I look forward to the most. That will be the only time I will know how Mary felt.