Trumpets sound, the double doors along the terrace open and through them you can see a circular stone amphitheatre the tiers and central area at the bottom is packed with people. The noise in the auditorium of chattering people is deafening. You wait with Joseph at the back as the other guests enter the stone balcony. Mary appears at your side. You smile in welcome. As the noise begins to subside Mary is able to inform you, “The tiered seats around the stage area are reserved for the generations of our family. We rarely all attend, and so Joseph fills the spaces with others from history who wish to come to this festival of love and honour.” Joseph’s extravagant clothes showed he was now influential, but you know little about him from the Bible
When you step on to the narrow balcony of stone seats you sense the expectancy of those in the auditorium. You glance quickly around. On both sides of the balcony, people dressed similarly to you. Mary pulls at your hand, indicating you sit, and it dawns on you there is no hiding from the eyes of the curious crowds below and around you. And, being the last to enter you are now central to the stage and directly above the entrance where those involved will come and go.
Solemn, but beautiful music heralds the arrival of twelve big bronzed soldiers with golden helmets and rich red uniforms. They march forward carrying golden staffs and then divide, forming a line on both sides of the stage as if to protect those who will stand on it. In the brief silence when the music ends, a richly dressed woman walks on to the stage and begins to sing.
Read: “…’Tell us’, they said, ‘About this new teaching that you are bringing… You are presenting strange and astonishing things to our ears and we want to know what it all means’.” Acts 17:19-20 (TPT)
Listen: https://youtu.be/Rg2a5-XtqHE 3 mins