The Mystery at the Nativity

by Daniel Stanfield & Christine Christy

Part One – The Puppet Nativity

Scene:  A Puppet stage for the Nativity – there is a manger on the left and a  hill side on the right. At the back is a Narrator dressed as a press reporter, using a handheld mic.  Near front center is a long table with a large magnifying glass, a paint brush, and a Bible dictionary/encyclopedia.

Narrator: 

1. Welcome to (Name of Church) for our Christmas play, “The Mystery at the Nativity”
2. There are some clues for our mystery in the audience. If you have one of the clues please hold on to it until it is needed during the play. They each have numbered tags and we’ll ask for them by the number.
3. Our play begins with a Christmas puppet show for our children.

Enter the Cubbies and Sparks (toddlers and K-2nd graders) to watch the puppet show and sing along with the songs.

Song Narrative:

Silent Night, Christine verse, piano solo (or piano guitar solo)

Action:  Children come in and are seated.

Away in a Manger, 1^st verse (children & angels).

Action:  Puppets Mary and Joseph enter, baby pops up into manger.

The First Noel, 1^st verse (children & angels).

Action:  Angelic announcement to shepherds, shepherds go to manger.

We Three Kings, 1^st verse (puppeteers & angels).

Action:  Kings with camels/mules/elephants come across to manger.

O Come, all Ye Faithful 1^st verse (all)  

Transitions to

 Joy to the World 1^st verse (all)

Action:  All puppets face audience, puppet curtains fall at end of song.

One Sparkie to Teacher:

Why did they crucify Jesus instead of making Him King?

Teacher (leaving with children):

That’s a very good question, we can talk about that in the classroom.

Exit the Sparks and Cubbies

Part Two – The Mystery and the Search for Clues

Narrator:  After the curtain falls, and the show is over, the mystery emerges…

( Exit: Angels, saying bye to everyone.)

Piano: Plays a few seconds of “Twilight Zone” or “Mystery Theater” theme.

(Enter Puppeteers from behind stage. Christine  has one of the wise men still “alive”, other  puppeteers take their puppets off and lay them on the stage.)

 Emiline:  That went pretty good!

 Amanda: Yeah, they seemed to really like it. It was fun.

 Christine: That was fun but my arm’s exhausted!

Wise Man: I think it was a fine performance, I told you my colleagues and I were first rate!

 Christine:  Yes, you did very good – I was happy to be your supporting actress.

Wise Man: Very funny, very funny – well I must admit I couldn’t have done it without you!

(All Laugh)

 Amanda: Well the kids really got in to it – did you here that one kid’s question?

 Emiline:  Yeah, it was stupid – “Why didn’t they make Jesus king?”

 Amanda:  Well think about it, it’s not really a dumb question – why didn’t they make Jesus king instead of crucifying Him?

 Emiline: Well God didn’t plan it that way – He’s got everything planned out you know!

 Christine:  Alright WISE GUY then why didn’t God make Jesus king instead of letting Him get crucified?

Wise Man:  Oh, now he’s the wise guy?  I thought I was the wise guy!

 Amanda:  No you’re the wise Man. Now, why don’t you tell us why God didn’t make Jesus king, like he said he would, but let him get crucified instead.

 Christine: Well?

Wise Man:  Now That’s a mystery worth solving!  Let me tell you, before I became a Wise Man, I used to work for Scotland Yard as a detective – in fact, I once played Sherlock Holmes himself in a summer festival!  I’m up for the challenge. Wait! I’m forgetting something, hold on a second.

 Emiline: What is he doing?

(Ducks into puppet stage and pops back up with plaid hat and cape on.)

Wise Man: Now, what we need is some clues! Let’s look around…

 (Puppeteers begin looking around.)

Narrator:  We’re looking for Clue #1 – Who has clue #1?

( Valentine goes and gets Birthday Cake.)

 Valentine: A birthday cake! Are you serious? How can a birthday cake be considered a clue?

Wise Man: On the contrary, my dear Watson. (Pauses for reaction)

 Valentine: Alright, “Sherlock”, what is it?

Wise Man: The birthday cake reminds us that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday!

 Valentine: Jesus’ birthday. I LOVE BIRTHDAYS! Let’s sing.

(Piano starts playing “Happy Birthday”. Puppeteers sing to Jesus.)

Wise Man: (Turns to audience.) Well I’m not sure that helps our mystery, but it’s a good place to start.  

 Emiline: Let’s keep looking for clues.

Narrator:  We’re looking for Clue #2 – Who has clue #2?

( Shirae goes and gets Myrrh)

 Shirae:  Here’s a clue, Myrrh, but I don’t know what it’s good for…

Wise Man: Let’s look it up – someone look in the Bible Dictionary under “Myrrh”.

( Amanda goes to table and looks up Myrrh in the dictionary)

 Amanda:  It says that in the ancient time myrrh was used to anoint kings and for embalming the dead.

 Shirae: What does embalming mean?

 Amanda: Embalming means to put chemicals on a dead body to keep it from rotting really fast, like they usually do. The Egyptians embalmed their dead. They’d put chemicals on it to make it shrink and then they’d wrap it up to help keep it like that.

 Shirae: Oh. That’s gross.

 Christine: Can we Please continue? I want to see where he’s going with this.

 Amanda: I think I know. Christ was supposed to be king and be crucified.

Wise Man: That’s right and when He was crucified they embalmed Him with Myrrh.

 Emiline : Well we should look for more clues.

Narrator:  We’re looking for Clue #3 – Who has clue #3?

( Marcellas goes to get clue – walks back looking down and shaking head)

 Christine: That was quick we’re finding clues left and right.

 Valentine: Yeah, I had got some a Birthday cake.

 Shirae: I got Myrrh.

 Marcellas (disappointed):  I got a rock!

 Amanda: Great, Charlie Brown.

 Valentine: Let’s look with the magnifying glass.

(All go to table and examine stone)

Wise Man: Actually, this is a very good clue.

 Marcellas: My rock’s a good clue?

Wise Man: But of course. You see Jordan, back in the ancient days, they would use rocks like this one to build alters to sacrifice animals to God.

 Marcellas: Oh, yeah, they had to kill sheep whenever they got in trouble.

 Amanda: No, Where does it say that?

Narrator: Hebrews: 9:22 For without the shedding of blood there will be no remission of sins.

Emiline:  But what’s that got to do with the other clues?

Wise Man: Well, what have we got?  Cake, Myrrh, and a Rock – I think we’re making good progress on this case.

 Amanda: But that still doesn’t answer our Question why was Jesus crucified?

 Emiline:  Let’s get some more clues!

Narrator:  We’re looking for Clue #4 – Who has clue #4?

( Ashford goes to get clue)

 Ashford: Ok Wise Man, what can you do with a piece of wood?

 Valentine: I’ve got this one. Jesus died on a cross made of wood. So the wood represents Jesus’ crucifixion.

 Shirae: Remember what John the Baptist said about Jesus?

Narrator: John 1:29 “…Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

 Ashford: So Christ died for our sins so we don’t have to sacrifice anything anymore. That’s cool. Now we can all go to heaven without killing all those animals.

 Emiline: I LOVE animals! Poor things.

All: Ahhh!

 Amanda: Oh, I know I would never be able to kill any of those cute little lambs. It’s a good thing we don’t have to anymore.

 Valentine: So if that’s why God let Jesus be crucified, how can he be king? Do you think God meant he would be a king in heaven?

Wise Man: Well, back to the clue hunt…

Narrator:  We’re looking for Clue #5 – Who has clue #5?

( Daniel goes after clue)

 Daniel: Hey guys!, The clue is Fish & Chips, but they were eating them!

Wise Man:  They ate the clue?

 Daniel:  They ate part of the clue – I still have the rest, and a napkin and some ketchup.

 Amanda: Alright so why do we have fish and chips?

Wise Man: Because young one, something happened after Christ’s death, remember?

 Daniel: Oh, Yeah. Christ met the disciples on the shore after they went fishing, and He was cooking fish for them.

Wise Man: That’s right. Jesus cooked for Peter and everyone AFTER His resurrection. So obviously Christ HAD risen from the dead.

 Amanda:  But Jesus still didn’t become King did he?

 Daniel:  No, ‘cause it was only the disciples left after His resurrection – He was only around for a little while, right?

Wise Man:  We need another clue.

 Emiline:  Let’s go get one!

Narrator:  We’re looking for Clue #6 – Who has clue #6?

(Allen goes after clue)

 Emiline:  Is this a clue? – It’s kinda, you-know, kinda weird.

 Allen:  I know what that is – It’s Puppet Guts!

Wise Man:  It is NOT!  Puppet Guts – my word!  Let’s examine the clue scientifically…

(Christine, Allen, Amanda to table, use magnifying glass)

Wise Man:  This is no normal cotton, if you examine closely you’ll discover it’s a petrified cloud fragment.

 Allen – find Cloud fragment in the Bible Dictionary!

Amanda – Hey listen to this, after Jesus was resurrected, he went up in a cloud – listen to this part:

Narrator: Acts 1:11 (read verse)

Christine – so remember, He’s coming back in a cloud – that means he can be King when he returns.

 Allen:  Like – Return of the King?

 Emiline: Are there any more clues?

Narrator:  We’re looking for Clue #7 – Who has clue #7?

(Payton retrieves last clue, a fragment of ancient tablet)

Payton:  It’s a busted tile or something – it’s all dirty, but it’s got a lot of stuff written on it.

Shirae: Back to the Lab!

(Players dust off tile, and examine it in turn, looking up a few different references in the dictionary)

Payton:  Do I need to get my radio-spectrometer? I can run home for it…

Allen: Yeah, and your electron-microscope!  And a knife!

Wise Man:  Wait, wait – that won’t be necessary.  This is an ancient Babylonian calendar with some writings from the prophet Daniel.  It also has some stuff from Isaiah.  It shows that after a certain time of great trouble, Jesus will set up his kingdom. 

Amanda:  We know all this from our Bibles.

 Christine:  Ok let’s put it together – what are the clues?

Valentine:  I got birthday cake.

Shirae:  And I got myrrh.

Marcellas:  I got a rock…

Ashford:  Some wood

Daniel:  Fish, that somebody ate…

Allen:  Puppet guts – I mean, clouds

Payton:  And I got an ancient Babylonian calendar.

Wise Man:  So..

Valentine:  Christmas is Jesus’ Birthday

Shirae:  He’s going to be King, but had to die first.

Marcellas:  People used to sacrifice animals for their sins, but God sacrificed Jesus for the sin of the world. 

Daniel:  But after His death on the cross, Jesus raised from the dead – and cooked some fish.

Allen:  Then Jesus went up in the clouds, and later he’ll return in the clouds.

Payton:  And when He returns is when He’ll be King.

Wise Man:  For a thousand year reign!

Amanda:  Mystery Solved!

(Everyone high-fives and exits)

Narrator:  Thank you all for coming, that concludes our presentation.
Clues: