David’s entire kingdom was drawn into the drama of personal passions and hatreds in the royal family. I’m sure their Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook were full of the news. Check 2 Samuel 10 . . .

I have often seen my theater students provide more drama offstage than on stage. I thought if they just did half the drama on stage that they did off stage we would have a nationally recognized program. Drama is not limited to schools and students. We see humans performing dramatically everywhere we look. It is a wonder that Hollywood or television could create programs people are willing to pay to see when the public is exposed to nonstop drama all the time.

The media, including all forms of social and news, thrive off the personal foibles the of the rich and famous. We cannot escape the stage slap, the divorce court, the political scandals, the corporate scandals, and the criminal injuries one person does to another. It is easy to complain, asking where the good news might be found. Jesus is the good news. We don’t have to live, scuba diving in the septic tank.

Stage drama at least struggles to find courage in suffering and reasons for suffering. Stephen King and his book The Dance Macabre indicated that horror movies are an attempt to deal with the harsh terrors we face in our world. Terrors, like the atom bomb, turn into radiation monsters and become a tangible reality we can fight. Isn’t that really a healthy prescription for life drama. Chris Jones says that you can’t defeat a problem until you define it. Once you define it, you must accept your part in the issue with humility and personal accountability.

Drama continues when we don’t see the healthy response to an issue. Politicians cover up until the world finally stands at their doorstep and forces them to face their wrong doing. That doesn’t mean they change. “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies” (Groucho Marx).

The sad dramas we face every day should be the signals or symptoms that call us to change. It becomes evident that many people prefer to be right than healed, king of the cage instead of set free. We can be liberated and join Jesus in liberating others.

Accepting Jesus requires humility because He is God. That gives Him the power to correct. It accepts that we need to be corrected, a pivotal point. I grew up with good parents. They never told me to do anything that would harm me. I would have lived a superlative, nearly pain free life had I followed their directions. Jesus is better than that. He speaks correction to heal and liberate. The faster we agree with Him, the sooner our suffering stops. We can pay for drama as entertainment instead of being the source of drama for the people around us.