Zacchaeus

By Anne Smith

Summary

A Broom Puppet monologue telling the story of Zacchaeus.

Note

Instructions for making a Broom Puppet: Stand a broom on its handle and fix cardboard with facial features below the bristles which becomes the hair. Cut out eye shapes and glue a casing behind them to hold drawn eyeballs with enough card to move them about. Bind a cross beam just below the head to be the shoulders. Dress the frame with a shirt, and tie if wanted. Attach a pair of gloves to the shirt's cuffs. Pin a big heart made of advertising pictures on the shirt. Have a person hold the broomstick and move it up and down when Zacchaeus acts in the story. An assistant can move the eyes when indicated and help move the hands to express the story as indicated.

Script

Narrator: What have you heard about Zacchaeus?

He was a tax collector. He worked for the enemy.

He was so hated and despised that he had few friends and always had to watch his back. (Assistant moves the eyes.)

He was VERY rich and not very honest sometimes - greedy and grasping, (Assistant moves hands appropriately) living only for himself. So he was dead in his spirit.

His heart was full of what he owned. (Hands touch heart)Everything revolved around him and his.

BUT

God had put a longing in his heart for something better. Maybe he had heard about some of the things that happened when Jesus was around.

Maybe he'd heard about
Ten lepers healed,
Children accepted,
The rich man who'd turned away from Jesus,
That Jesus even had something good to say about his kind, (Matthew 21:31,32, Matthew 9:10, Luke 18:10 if you have trouble remembering)

And then there was the man born blind.

Whatever caused it, He wanted to see this Jesus.

Now, he was short..…. So he climbed a tree (move puppet to pulpit or up a stool) and watched Jesus (have head move as if watching him moving) as he walked down the road.

Right below him, Jesus stopped. (Hands go to face in shock and body moves forward to "look")
"Come on down, Zacchaeus" he said, "I'd like to have lunch with you." WOW!

Zacchaeus clambered back down the tree. (Back to floor level.)
(Aside)What a ridiculous place for a grown man to be!

He led Jesus to his house,(Hands invite) sat him down and called his servants to serve a meal.
He probably invited some onlookers into the house too. Then he listened to Jesus.

As he listened, he wanted to be Jesus' follower and to serve him. He was sorry about how he'd been.

The life of Jesus entered his heart, and it changed him. (Assistant removes the commercial pictures and pins on a plain red heart.)

He thought about how wealthy he was and told Jesus he was going to give half of what he had to the poor.

Then he thought again about how his greedy grasping ways had got some of the money and he added, "if I've cheated anyone, overcharged them, I'll pay them back DOUBLE!"

So he was sorry, said "Sorry" and he acted sorry. He received new life, and he lived new life, and God's kingdom grew in and through him.

And it can do the same in us.

……………..

Copyright Anne Smith, all rights reserved.
This script may be used without payment, provided no charge is made for entrance to the performance. In return, the author would like to be told of any performance. She may be contacted at asmithwed@paradise.net.nz