Episode NT32 – The Soldier’s story

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based upon the crucifixion accounts in the Bible

Episode NT32 – The Soldier’s story

‘I saw it all. You see, I was in the Roman army at the time and I lived in Jerusalem. We’d ‘eard about Jesus and many of us ‘ad seen ‘im. ‘E didn’t look anything special, but they kept telling us about the miracles’e’d done, and the things ‘e’d said about God. We thought everyone loved Jesus – but we were wrong!’

‘In the middle of the night we got ordered to go and arrest Jesus, and one of ‘is followers, a man named Judas, took us to ‘im in some kind of garden in the middle of nowhere so we could arrest ‘im! Why ‘e needed arresting I’ll never know! It’s not as if ‘e ever did anything wrong. Still, orders is orders, so me and me men went with Judas and some of the Jewish guards to this garden – and there was Jesus. (P) Judas was scum! ‘E led us right to Jesus, ‘is own friend – someone ‘e’d followed and lived with for three years, and then shows us in the darkness exactly who ‘e was by giving ’im a welcoming kiss – the kiss of a friend … becoming the kiss of betrayal!’

‘Well, at that point we arrested Jesus and took ‘im to the Jewish leaders who hate ‘im. We went back to our barracks for some sleep. But apparently, when ‘e gets to the Jewish leaders, they accuse ‘im of all kinds of rubbish – an’ no one can agree with what anyone else says! It’s a shambles. But then the ‘igh priest asks Jesus if ‘e’s the Son of God? ‘N Jesus says – Yeah, ‘e is! This makes the leaders go potty and they demand ‘is death. Mind you, I reckon they’d already decided they wanted ‘im dead before they even asked that question. – And anyway, what worried me a little was, what if Jesus was telling the truth? What if ‘e really was the Son of God?’

‘Anyway, then, we ‘ear that Jesus was kinda beaten up by the Jewish leaders and taken to our boss, Pilate and Pilate starts to question Jesus about all the false things that the Jewish leaders have said about ‘im. Pilate’s not stupid, ‘e knows that they’re just jealous of Jesus and want ‘im out the way so they can keep their own privileged positions. Then ‘e asks Jesus – ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’

‘Jesus answers that one and says that his Kingdom is not of this world! (P) And Pilate gets a little worried about that answer. And as Jesus hasn’t shown any signs of being either dangerous or guilty of anything, Pilate starts to think, ‘I better let ‘im go!’

‘Now, it was the time of a special feast in Jerusalem called Passover when each year Pilate lets one of the prisoners, who we’ve worked really hard to catch, go free! So we’re none to ‘appy about this idea, but apparently it keeps the Jews ‘appy! Anyway, Pilate doesn’t want to execute Jesus, so he goes before a ‘uge crowd and tries to make them agree to let Jesus go! But they refused! I think the Jewish leaders were down in the crowd telling the people to shout against Jesus. And then, the people start to demand that someone else, a murderer no less, called Barabbas, be set free! It made no sense to me!’

‘So Barabbas – the murdering scum that ‘e is – gets released and Pilate starts asking the crowd what ‘e should do with Jesus! At first ‘e suggests that ‘e has ‘im whipped and set free. But as I watch I see those religious leaders out in the crowd shouting as loud as they can for Jesus to be crucified! Crucified! ‘E’s innocent and they want to kill ‘im with one of the nastiest deaths that’s ever been thought of? Pilate didn’t like the idea of that, you could tell, but when the Jewish leaders started to say they’d tell the Roman Emperor that Pilate wouldn’t execute a rival king – because Jesus had claimed to be the ‘King of the Jews’ and Rome considered anyone who claimed to be a king to be an enemy of the Emperor – Pilate ‘ad no choice. It was more than ‘is job was worth to say no! So ‘e ‘anded Jesus over to us – to crucify ‘im.’ (P)

‘But all the time I was wondering, if ‘e really is the Son of God, then why is ‘e going through all this? Why doesn’t ‘e just walk away, call down a legion of angels or do … something? Why’s ‘e letting them treat ‘im like this? An’ after a while I think, well, maybe ‘e isn’t the Son of God after all? Coz surely God wouldn’t let all this ‘appen to ‘is own Son – would ‘e?’

‘Anyway, first thing we did, so that the whole crowd could see, was whip ‘im. An’ as it was Pilate’s order, we whipped ‘im good n proper. (P) Still nothing! Still no calling down of angels to help, not even after we turned ‘is back to – jelly!’

‘So then we took ‘im away to our barracks – we liked to have a little, er, fun with the condemned, remind them who’s boss so to speak. Now, one of my soldiers ‘ad an old purple cloak, the kind of thing only really important people use, an’ ‘e came up with a wicked idea. Jesus was supposed to be some kind of King or something right? So we wrapped ‘im up in the purple cloak while a couple of me men rushed outside to get some branches from a thorn bush and twist them together to make a kinda crown, which we ramed it on ‘is ‘ead and laughed as the blood flowed down ‘is face.’

‘Then, someone else gave ‘im a stick to hold, so that ‘e looked kind of like a king with ‘is royal robe, crown and sceptre! Then the lads laid into ‘im and with howls of laughter we knelt before the ‘king of the Jews’, and then grabbed the stick and whacked ‘im round the ‘ed with it. It was a laugh! And boy, did we give ‘im a good beating – we beat ‘im until we were bored! (P) And still, in the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘surely ‘e can’t be the Son of God?’ Coz as we beat ‘im up, if ‘e was the Son of God, ‘e could’ve called down angels, or struck us dead or something! And yet, ‘e just took it, like I’d never seen before. Anyway, as I said, after a while we got bored of it all and took ‘im off to be crucified.’

‘‘E was real weak by now. I guess ‘e’d already lost a lot of blood, and as we put the cross on ‘im to carry up the ‘ill to be crucified, ‘e stumbled and fell over, it was all too much. (P) Funny really, I think maybe this would ‘ave been the time to call it a day. ‘Ed proved ‘is point! ‘E could take it, ‘e was special, we could see that. So why didn’t ‘e end it now? – One of me lads got a bloke who’d just arrived in town and made ‘im carry the cross for Jesus – we certainly weren’t going to carry it for ‘im! Cross’s are for scum – the only time we touch ‘em is when we nail villains to ‘em. And so Jesus carried on up the ‘ill, along with another couple of scum bags we were going to crucify with ‘im.’

‘When we got to the top of the ‘ill, we made the bloke carrying the cross put it on the ground.  And then, we laid Jesus on it and rammed the nails through ‘is hands and ‘is feet so that ‘e wasn’t going anywhere. Then we stood the cross up and let it drop into it’s hole in the ground. We did the same to the other two criminals. – And then we waited! It takes a long time to die when you’re crucified. Some of the others started to divide up Jesus’ clothes, but when they got to the undergarment, it’s an all in one job and they didn’t want to rip it up, it was too nice for that, so they cast lots to see who’d get it. Well at least one of ‘em was ‘appy.’

‘All of this ‘appened early in the morning and the people and the religious leaders came to gloat at the death of their enemy. They kept shouting at Jesus again ‘n again, telling ‘im to come down from the cross to prove ‘e was the Son of God. Yet ‘e stayed there! Surely if ‘e was the Son of God ‘e’d ‘ave come down? Surely?’

‘Then one of the criminals started ‘aving a go at Jesus as well. Why couldn’t they just leave ‘im alone? But before I could say anything the other criminal told the first one to shut it! ‘E said something like, ‘we deserve to die coz we’ve done bad things, but Jesus, ‘e’s not done anything wrong, ‘e’s innocent’. And then ‘e looked across at Jesus and said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom.’ It sent chills down my spine. And Jesus said to ‘im, ‘Today, you will be with me in paradise.’

‘A funny thing ‘appened then. Not funny ha ha, but funny strange. At about noon, just as we were beginning to think about our lunch, it went dark – as if the sun ‘ad just stopped shining! We carried on anyway, got some torches and kept watch. But there was a lot less noise, less people passing through or saying anything. I began to feel really uncomfortable. Coz somehow I knew what Jesus had told that criminal, about paradise and all that, was true!’

‘It stayed dark till about 3 in the afternoon and then, all of a sudden, Jesus shouts out in a really loud voice, ‘My God, My God, why ‘ave you forsaken me?’ It chokes me up just to remember the pain in ‘is voice, it was enough to break your ‘eart. And then, ‘e shouted again, ‘It is finished!’ And ‘e died – just like that!’

‘But as ‘e died, there was an earthquake and the rocks split open. And I found out later that a really important curtain in the Jewish temple, the curtain that’s supposed to keep the people separated from God, was torn in two from top to bottom.’

‘’N as I saw all this, at last I knew it really was true, so I said it, coz I didn’t care who heard. ‘Truly – this was the Son of God.’                  

Episode NT31 – The Crucifixion

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Mark chapter 15 verses 16 to 47 & Luke chapter 23 verses 39 to 43

The Crucifixion

What a victory! The religious leaders could hardly believe it was true – Jesus, the One they’d hated – the One who’d been nothing but a … but a pain in the neck since He’d first arrived, showing them up and embarrassing them with all His talk about the Kingdom of God, was finally going to get what He deserved – death!

It was almost too good to be true! This Jesus, who spoke so much about God, was now going to die the most disgraceful death imaginable. He was going to be crucified! Crucified with the scum of society; a death so horrible it was reserved for the most vile villains and murderers! Surely now, everyone would see what a phoney Jesus was because, if He’d been considered even slightly important, then the very least the Romans would have done for Him was give Him a quick death by the sword – but now He’d have to face the disgrace of dying like a common criminal. He was finished, and His teaching could be forgotten along with Him. In fact, it was almost funny! Didn’t the Bible say that anyone hung on a tree was under the curse of God? Now Jesus, who claimed to be the Son of God, was to die nailed to a tree – on a rough wooden cross!

As Jesus was led away after being whipped, the Jewish leaders started celebrating. At long last they’d won, Jesus had lost – it was over! (PAUSE)

After whipping Jesus, the Roman soldiers took Him to their headquarters. They wanted to have a little fun with the condemned man! The charge had been that Jesus was ‘the King of the Jews’, so now the all-conquering Romans – who bowed the knee to no one except their own leaders – would show just what they thought of anyone who claimed to be a king.

Stripping Jesus of His clothes, the soldiers took a purple robe, the kind of thing only rulers and leaders wore, and draped it around His shoulders – laughing at how pathetic He looked. But this wasn’t enough; surely a king deserves a crown? So taking some thin branches covered in long vicious thorns, the soldiers carefully weaved a makeshift crown and rammed it on His head until the blood poured down His face. And as Jesus stood before them, weak from the whipping, a crown of thorns on His head and a purple cloak over His shoulders – they took it in turns to salute their defeated enemy, then spit in His face and beat Him on the head with a stick – on and on until they were bored, bored of the beatings and ready to get on with the execution. So, removing the purple cloak, they put Jesus’ own clothes back on Him, put a cross on His back and forced Him to start the climb to Skull Hill – or as it was known in the local language – Golgotha, where the crucifixion was to take place.

But after His whipping, beating and humiliation, Jesus was too weak to carry His cross very far. (P) A man called Simon, who was from a place called Cyrene, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and the soldiers grabbed him and forced him to carry Jesus’ cross the rest of the way to Skull Hill. (P)

The soldiers had executed many people before, they knew how to crucify, they also knew how painful it was and so offered Jesus some drugged wine to ease what was to follow, but Jesus refused to take it. Then, with a shrug of their shoulders, they laid the cross on the ground, put Jesus on top and stretched out His hands, put His feet one on top of the other and nailed His hands and feet in place. Above His head they nailed the charge He’d been found guilty of. It said simply: ‘King of the Jews’. (P) The cross, with Jesus, nailed on, was raised up and secured in place. Then, leaving Jesus for a moment, they laid out two other criminals who were to be crucified that same day and put one up on either side of Him. And then, to pass the time, they divided Jesus’ clothes into four piles, one for each of them, and tried to work out what to do with Jesus’ undergarment. It was a nice piece of clothing, and they didn’t want to rip it up and ruin it, so after some discussion, they decided to cast lots for it, which is like throwing dice, where the one who gets the highest number wins! So they cast lots for His clothes and then waited – because death by crucifixion can be a long, slow process. (PAUSE)

It was nine o’clock in the morning when Jesus was crucified, and Skull Hill was near enough to Jerusalem for many people to pass by and see what was happening. Of course, everyone already knew what had taken place and some just came to gloat over the end of this so-called Holy Man – this person who was supposed to be sent from God and yet ended up being executed under the curse of God! But it was the religious leaders who enjoyed it most, standing by the cross they shouted out for everyone to hear, ‘He SAVED others, but look at Him now! He can’t even save Himself! Let this ‘Messiah’, this ‘King of the Jews’, come down from the cross so that we can all see it with our own eyes! Only then will we believe anything He’s said!’ (P) And then, everyone was hurling insults at Him, even the criminals being executed on each side started mocking Him. At least, one of them did while the other one began to take notice of this special man nailed between them. And reading the charge nailed above Him – ‘King of the Jews’ – he began to wonder – or God began to speak to him even as he was being executed for his many crimes.

But the first criminal hadn’t seen anything special in Jesus, ‘So you’re the ‘Messiah’ are you?’ he mocked. ‘Well come on then!’ he continued, ‘Don’t just stay there, prove it to us all and save yourself! (P) Oh! And while you’re at it, you can save us too!’

At this, the other criminal could take no more. ‘Shut up, will you! Don’t you fear God even when you’re dying? We deserve what’s coming to us for what we’ve done, but this man,’ he nodded in Jesus’ direction. ‘This man hasn’t done anything wrong.’ At this, he turned his head as best he could to look at Jesus. ‘Jesus,’ he called, and Jesus looked his way. ‘When you, come into your Kingdom, please, remember me’. (P)

‘I will tell you something that’s absolutely true,’ Jesus replied as He looked into the eyes of the dying man. ‘Today – you will be with me in paradise.’ (PAUSE)

At 12 midday, it was almost as if the sun could no longer bear to look upon Jesus as He was dying on that cross, and darkness spread across the whole land until 3 in the afternoon. And then, after 6 hours on the cross, Jesus raised His head and called out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ Which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

Then Jesus let out another loud cry and died. At that moment, the large thick curtain in the temple in Jerusalem, the curtain that separated the people from the Most Holy Place where they could not go because of their sin, was torn in two from top to bottom. And the Roman officer who stood watching Jesus die exclaimed, ‘Truly, this man was the Son of God!’ (PAUSE)

As evening drew near, a member of the high council called Joseph from the town of Arimathea, plucked up the courage to go and see Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised that Jesus had died already and, after calling in the Roman officer to confirm He was dead, Pilate allowed Joseph to take the body. There wasn’t much time before the Sabbath day began because, for Jews, the day starts at sunset and sunset was close at hand. On the Sabbath day, no working could take place. So quickly taking Jesus’ body down from the cross, Joseph wrapped it in a long linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a large stone over the entrance and went sadly away. Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ disciples, saw where the body had been left.

Episode NT30 – Peter’s failure and Pilate’s Trial

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Matthew chapter 26 verse 69 to chapter 27 verse 26

Peter’s failure and Pilate’s Trial

While Jesus was being tried by the leaders of Israel, Peter sat outside in the cold courtyard. He was thinking about how Jesus had encouraged them to pray with Him on the Mount of Olives and how they’d let Him down by falling asleep. But there was something else Jesus had said that’d hurt his pride – ‘What was it?’ he thought as he waited to hear what would happen to Jesus.

As he sat there, thinking about all that’d happened, how Judas had betrayed Jesus and how Jesus had been arrested, a young servant girl walked up to him staring closely at his face in the firelight. ‘I thought so,’ she said out loud, ‘you were one of those with Jesus.’

A surge of fear rushed through Peter’s body and he felt his cheeks flush, ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.’ And he stood up and walked over to the gate.

But a little later, while he was standing at the gate, another servant girl came up and also looked at him closely. ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth,’ she told the people standing around.

Again Peter felt the surge of fear, the flushing of his cheeks and, looking nervously at the people around him who were paying him much closer attention now, he swore an oath! ‘Look, I promise, I don’t even know the man – leave me alone.’

As Peter moved away again to another part of the courtyard, some other people started murmuring to each other nearby. After talking to each other for a few moments, they came over to Peter. ‘You must have been one of His followers,’ they said, ‘we can tell from your accent.’

‘Leave me alone,’ Peter shouted, ‘I swear by God Himself that I do NOT know this man!’ (P) No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than the cockerel crowed. And Peter remembered the thing that had bothered him earlier, the thing that had hurt his pride. It was Jesus’ words to him, ‘Before the cockerel crows you will have said three times that you don’t know me.’ And so Peter went away, crying bitterly. (PAUSE)

Early the next morning all the leaders of Israel met once again to work out how they were going to persuade the Romans to sentence Jesus to death. Then they bound Jesus up tightly and took Him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

Judas had been paid thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. But early the next day, when he realised that Jesus had been sentenced to death – he was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt! Going back to the temple with the money, he went to see the chief priests. ‘I’ve sinned,’ he told them, ‘by betraying an innocent man.’

‘So what,’ they replied, ‘what do we care? That’s your problem.’ So Judas took the thirty pieces of silver, threw them onto the floor of the temple and went out and hung himself. (PAUSE)

By this time Jesus was standing before the Roman governor Pilate. Pilate wasn’t too happy about being made to work so early in the morning. And to make matters worse, the Jews refused to go into his palace to see him because it would make them ceremonially unclean and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover feast. (P) Anyway, at their insistence, Pilate went to see them. ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ he asked, looking Jesus up and down.

‘Yes, that’s right,’ replied Jesus.

Then the chief priests and the other leaders made all their accusations against Jesus as Pilate patiently listened. But all the time these lies were being told about Him, Jesus said nothing. ‘Can’t You hear what they’re saying against You?’ Pilate demanded. But to Pilate’s great surprise Jesus remained silent.

Now it didn’t take a genius to work out that the Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus out of jealousy, so Pilate decided he’d take the opportunity to use a custom that he’d set in place over the last few years. It had become his custom, once a year at the Passover celebrations, to release one prisoner to the crowds, anyone they wanted. This last year a particularly evil man named Barabbas had been caught, arrested and sentenced to death for leading a rebellion and for murder. As the crowds started to gather before Pilate’s palace he called out to them, ‘Which of these two do you want me to release to you? Barabbas or Jesus, who is called the Messiah?’

At that moment, as Pilate sat on his seat of judgement before the people, an urgent message came through to him from his wife. ‘Your wife says that you must leave that innocent man alone,’ the messenger reported, ‘because she says that she had a terrible nightmare about Him last night.’ But it was too late to back down now; Pilate had to see the thing through.

Meanwhile, while Pilate received the message from his wife, the chief priests and the other leaders urged the crowds to ask for Barabbas to be set free and for Jesus to be put to death! So when Pilate asked again, ‘Which of these two do you want me to release?’ The crowds screamed ‘Barabbas,’ and not ‘Jesus’!

‘But if I release Barabbas to you,’ Pilate called back, ‘then what should I do with the one called Jesus, the Messiah?’

And then, the same crowd who a week earlier had waved palm branches welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem as the long-awaited Messiah shouted, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’

Pilate couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The Jews hated crucifixion! It was a Roman punishment to put to death the lowest kinds of criminals! And so he called back to the crowd, ‘Why should I crucify Him? What crime has He committed?’

But the crowd’s mood started to change, and more angrily and louder than before they shouted back, ‘Crucify Him!’

Quickly Pilate realised that the situation was in danger of becoming a riot! So, with the crowd watching he called for a bowl of water, and washing his hands in front of them he said, ‘I declare before you all that I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!’

At this, the people yelled back, ‘Let the responsibility fall on us and our children!’

So Pilate released Barabbas to the crowd and ordered that Jesus be flogged with a whip that had pieces of lead and bone in its strands so that it stuck in His back and pulled the skin off. Then he turned Jesus over to the soldiers so that they could crucify Him. (PAUSE)

And so a guilty man, a man who’d murdered others – walked free, while in His place an innocent man, a man who would do no wrong – was sent to crucifixion! But that was the whole point of what was to follow, the innocent dying for the guilty.

Episode NT29 – Gethsemane

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Matthew chapter 26 verses 30 to 69

Gethsemane

DISCIPLE ANDREW ‘After we’d shared our meal together and Judas had left, we went to a place we often went to together, to a hill nearby called the Mount of Olives. As we were walking along Jesus spoke to us. ‘Tonight,’ He said, ‘every one of you will desert me. For it’s written in the Scriptures, ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’. But after I’ve risen from the dead, I’ll go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.’’

‘Once again my brother Peter was the first to speak. ‘But Lord,’ he said, ‘Even if everyone else leaves you, I never will!’’

‘Jesus stopped for a moment and looked at us. ‘Peter,’ He replied, ‘the truth is, this very night before the cockerel crows you will have said three times that you don’t know me.’’

‘’No way!’ Peter insisted. ‘Even if I have to die with You, I wouldn’t deny I knew You!’ And all the rest of us said the same thing.’

‘When we arrived at a garden full of olive trees called Gethsemane, Jesus told us, ‘Sit here while I go on ahead to pray.’ Taking Peter, James and John with Him He began to be filled with sorrow, anguish and deep distress. Turning to the three of them He said, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and pray with me.’ Then, going a little further on by Himself, He fell face down on the ground and prayed, ‘Father if it’s possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. (P) And yet, I want what You want, not what I want.’’

‘After Jesus’d prayed this prayer He got up and went back to see Peter, James and John, but they’d fallen asleep. So waking Peter up He said, ‘Peter, couldn’t you stay awake and pray with me for just one hour? Keep alert and pray otherwise temptation will overpower you! Because, even though the spirit is willing, the body is weak!’’

‘Then Jesus left the three of them and went back to pray, ‘My father. If this cup of suffering cannot be taken away until I drink it, then may Your will be done.’ Once again, after praying, Jesus returned to find His disciples sleeping. They were so tired they just couldn’t keep their eyes open. And so He went back a third time to pray, praying the same thing. ‘My father. If this cup of suffering cannot be taken away until I drink it, then may Your will be done.’

‘Then coming a third time to His disciples He woke them from their sleep. ‘Still sleeping?’ He said, ‘Still resting? Look, the hour has come and I, the Son of Man, have been betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let’s go, my betrayer has arrived!’’

‘Even while He was speaking Judas Iscariot, one of His closest disciples, one of the 12 of us, arrived with a crowd of people sent by the chief Priests armed with swords and clubs. Judas had arranged a special signal with the crowd so that they’d know who to arrest. ‘This is how you’ll know who Jesus is,’ he’d told them, ‘He’ll be the one I greet with a welcoming kiss.’ And so, walking straight up to Jesus he said, ‘Greetings Teacher,’ and gave Him a kiss.’

‘I can’t even begin to imagine how Jesus felt. One of His closest friends, a disciple, someone who’d shared His food, was betraying Him! But looking at Judas He said, ‘My friend, do what you came to do.’ And at that, others from the crowd grabbed Jesus and arrested Him.’

‘It was then that my brother Peter decided he ought to show Jesus just how ready he was to die for Him. And so, grabbing a sword, he slashed at the first person he came across who happened to be the servant of the high priest. It wasn’t a very effective blow, but it did cut off his ear!’

‘Put your sword away!’ Jesus shouted. ‘Don’t you know that those who use the sword will die by the sword? Don’t you realise that if I wanted to I could ask My Father to send twelve legions of angels to protect us and He would send them at once! (P) But if that happened, then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?’

‘Then reaching out His hand, Jesus touched the high priest’s servant’s ear and healed him. Turning to the crowd, Jesus asked, ‘Every day I sat in the Temple courts teaching and you didn’t arrest me. So why have you come to me now with swords and clubs as if I were some kind of dangerous criminal starting a rebellion? But this is happening to fulfil the words the prophets wrote as recorded in the Scriptures.’ (P) To my shame, it was then that all the rest of us, His disciples, His closest friends – ran away and deserted Him, fearful for our own lives.’ (PAUSE)

‘Jesus was led to the house of Caiaphas the high Priest where all the teachers of the Law and other leaders had gathered, even though it was the early hours of the morning. I found out later that Peter followed on behind, a long way back, and eventually made his way into the courtyard of the house, waiting to see what would happen to Jesus.’

‘There was nothing legal or right about that gathering. Such was their hatred for Jesus that they were prepared to break their own laws to make sure they got rid of Him, even if that meant meeting in the middle of the night! And so Jesus stood in the middle of this illegal court waiting to hear what they’d say as the entire council tried to find witnesses to tell lies about Him. But the law said there had to be at least two witnesses to any charge if the person was to be found guilty! The witnesses they brought against Jesus told all kinds of lies, but none of them could agree – so they were worthless. Finally, the council brought forward two men who shouted, ‘This man Jesus said He’s able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it again in just three days!’ But even these men didn’t get their stories straight!’

‘The high Priest knew he was losing the argument, but he couldn’t give up now and let Jesus go. He had to do something, anything, to get Jesus to say something that could be used against Him. And so, once again breaking the law by asking Jesus to answer a question that the law said He didn’t have to answer, the high priest shouted at Jesus, ‘I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you’re the Messiah, the Son of God – or not.’’ (PAUSE)

‘If Jesus said no, they’d have to let Him go. But Caiaphas knew He wouldn’t – or couldn’t – say no, because it would have been a lie. So raising His head to look at them, Jesus answered Caiaphas’ question. ‘Yes, it is as you say. And the day will come when you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God in the place of power – and coming back on the clouds of heaven.’’

‘At last, Caiaphas had got something he could work with. So in a show of mock horror he stood up and tore his clothes shouting, ‘Blasphemy! He has spoken blasphemy claiming to make Himself equal with God! Why do we need any more witnesses? You have all heard His blasphemy with your own ears. What’s your verdict?’ (P) It would only be blasphemy if it wasn’t true – but this court wasn’t interested in truth; its only interest was in getting rid of Jesus once and for all.’

‘’Guilty!’ came back the shouts from the crowd. ‘He is guilty of blasphemy and must die!’’

‘After this, they spat in Jesus’ face and hit Him with their fists. Some of them even slapped Him and jeered at Him, ‘prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit you this time?’

Episode NT28 – The Last Supper

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Luke chapter 22 and John chapter 13

The Last Supper

As the Passover celebration drew closer, the Chief Priests and teachers of the Law tried to find a plan to murder Jesus away from the eyes of the crowd. For if the crowd saw them acting against Jesus, they were terrified it would start a riot!

It was at this time that Satan, the devil, entered into Judas Iscariot who was one of Jesus’ disciples. It was Judas who’d objected to Mary pouring the expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet because he’d wanted to sell it and steal the money for himself. And so Judas, knowing that the chief priests and teachers of the Law wanted Jesus out of the way when the crowd wasn’t around, went to discuss with them the best way to betray Jesus. The chief Priests were delighted to find that one of Jesus’ inner circle, one of His closest friends, was ready to help them and promised him a reward. So Judas began watching for an opportunity to betray Jesus and have Him arrested when the crowds weren’t around.

And so the Passover festival arrived and Jesus sent Peter and John on ahead to make preparations for their celebrations saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together’.

‘What’re we supposed to do?’ they asked. ‘Where do you want us to go?’

‘As soon as you enter the city, you’ll see something unusual,’ Jesus told them, ‘A man carrying a water jar on his head (it was normally a woman’s job to carry water). This man will say hello to you. Follow him to the house he goes to. When you get there, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, ‘Where’s the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ The owner of the house will show you a large upstairs room already set up. That’s the place for our celebration – go ahead and prepare the meal there.’ So Peter and John did what Jesus asked and found everything exactly as He said.

When the time arrived for the meal, Jesus and His disciples reclined together at the table. Jesus already knew that the Father had put everything under His authority, and that He had come from God and would return to God. So He did something that surprised and even shocked His disciples. As they watched, Jesus got up from the table, took off His outer robe and wrapped a towel around His waist. He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and then wipe them with the towel! This was the job of the lowest servant in a house – to wash the feet of guests! No self-respecting man would do such a job – it was degrading slaves’ work! The roads at that time were dusty and dirty and because people only wore sandals, when a traveller came to your house their feet would be dirty from the road, and so the least important servant or slave would be expected to wash the visitors’ feet. And now Jesus, their Master, their Lord, was washing their feet! It wouldn’t have entered their heads to even think about washing someone else’s feet, and yet here was Jesus doing the work of a lowly slave! They couldn’t believe their eyes!

So when Peter’s turn came he said, ‘Lord! Are you going to wash my feet as well?’

As Jesus knelt down to wash Peter’s feet He said, ‘You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but later you’ll understand.’

‘No way!’ said Peter, unable to cope with the thought of Jesus, His Lord – the Messiah, doing the work of a slave. ‘You’ll never wash my feet!’

‘If I don’t wash you Peter,’ Jesus said, patiently kneeling by Peter’s feet, ‘Then you won’t belong to me.’

Still Peter struggled to understand. ‘Then Lord,’ he exclaimed, ‘Wash my hands and head as well, not just my feet.’

Jesus looked up at Peter, ‘A person who’s already had a bath doesn’t need to wash all over again, he only needs to wash his feet to be entirely clean. And you are clean, although that isn’t true of everyone here.’ Jesus already knew that Judas was going to betray Him.

After washing their feet, Jesus put His robe back on and asked, ‘Do you understand what I’ve just done? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’, and that’s right because it’s true. But now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I’ve given you an example to follow, so do as I have done to you. (P) Don’t you understand that a servant isn’t greater than his Master? Nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. So now you know these things make sure you do them, because that is the path to blessing.’ (PAUSE)

‘I have longed and longed for this hour to come,’ He continued. ‘I have been anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. Because you see, I won’t eat it again until it finds fulfilment in the Kingdom of God.’

Then Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after thanking God for it, He broke it into pieces and gave it to His disciples. ‘This is my body, given for you. Break bread together to remember me,’ He said.

After that He took a cup of wine, thanked God for it and said, ‘Take this wine and share it among you. This is my blood, which seals the covenant between God and His people. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many. I won’t drink wine again until the Kingdom of God comes.’ (PAUSE)

After this Jesus was greatly troubled and exclaimed, ‘One of you will betray me!’

The disciples didn’t know what to say and started looking at each other, wondering who Jesus was talking about. Then Simon Peter motioned to John who was reclining at Jesus’ side to find out who Jesus meant. Leaning towards Jesus, John asked, ‘Lord, who’re you talking about?’

‘It’s the one who I give this piece of bread dipped in sauce too,’ Jesus replied. And taking a piece of bread, He dipped it in some sauce and gave it to Judas Iscariot and said to him, ‘What you’re planning to do, go and do it quickly.’ No one else at the table understood what Jesus meant, thinking perhaps that Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or something. But after Jesus had said this, Judas got up and left, and it was night!

Episode NT27 – Jesus Clears the Temple

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Matthew chapter 21 verses 12 to 32

Jesus Clears the Temple

DISCIPLE ANDREW ‘Hi, I’m Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, one of Jesus’ disciples. We’d seen Jesus come to Jerusalem with crowds singing His praises and throwing their cloaks on the ground before Him as He rode a young donkey. And just like us, we knew that the crowd thought Jesus was the Messiah who’d come to rule Israel and set us free from the Romans. (P) Funny thing that He should’ve chosen a young donkey to ride on though, because a warrior king would have chosen a warhorse. A donkey spoke more – about peace! But then again, Jesus kept trying to tell us that He wasn’t going to be the kind of Messiah we expected.’ (PAUSE)

‘When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, and the donkey had been sent home, Jesus went to the temple – the most Holy place in Israel. But when He got there He kind of went crazy – or so we thought. The temple was where all the sacrifices took place, and this was very important because when normal people, like us disciples, came to the temple, we would say sorry to God for our sins, and instead of us being put to death for our sins like the law demands – for all those who break God’s laws deserve to die – the animal was put to death in our place. When this happened, when the animal died in our place, God forgave us.’

‘But the leaders in the temple had worked out how to make lots of money from this. Firstly, they said that they had to provide the animals for sacrifice and so we had to buy them in the temple and not bring our own. Then, we weren’t allowed to use our own money to buy the animals. We had to exchange our own money for special temple money which we could then use to buy the animals and whatever else we needed. This way, the leaders and the chief priests made a lot of money out of the people as they came to try and worship God.’

‘Anyway, as I was saying, when Jesus arrived in the temple, He went kind of crazy – as in He got very angry!! I guess He must have seen what was going on, that the ordinary people were being cheated, and that all that mattered to the leaders was making money. First, Jesus drove out all the merchants and their customers! Then, and we couldn’t believe our eyes when He did this, He turned over the tables of the moneychangers, scattering both the temple money and the ordinary money all over the floor! Not only that, but He also knocked over the stalls of those who were selling doves for sacrifice, and then refused to let anyone into the temple who was bringing in merchandise of any type! And as He did this He shouted, ‘The Scriptures say, ‘My Temple will be called a place of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!’’

‘We just watched – open-mouthed! This was going to cause real problems with the chief priests! But after Jesus had done this, showing how unhappy He was that the place for meeting God had become a place for making money – the blind and the lame came and found Him. They came to Him in the temple and He healed them all!’

‘The chief priests and teachers of the law saw all these wonderful miracles and, to their disgust, as Jesus healed these people, some children started shouting, ‘Praise God for the Son of David.’’

‘‘Have you heard what these children are saying?’ they asked, furiously.’

‘’Yes, I have,’ Jesus replied. ‘But haven’t you read what the Scriptures say? They say, ‘From the mouths of children and infants you have prepared praise.’ After this, we went back to Bethany and stayed there overnight.’ (PAUSE)

‘Next morning as we headed back to Jerusalem I felt sure Jesus would be in trouble with the chief priests and teachers of the law for the way He’d cleared out the temple, so when we arrived I wasn’t surprised to see a group of them waiting to talk to Him. ‘By whose authority did you drive out the merchants from the Temple yesterday? they demanded. ‘Who gave you this authority?’’

 ‘Jesus looked at the group of them but instead of answering their question, He asked one of His own. ‘I will tell you who gave me the authority to do all these things if you can answer one simple question. John’s baptism, did it come from heaven or was it merely a human thing?’’

‘The group huddled together to discuss the problem through. ‘What’re we going to say?’ they asked. ‘If we say it was a heavenly thing, then Jesus will ask us why we didn’t believe John. And, if we say it was a human thing, the crowd’ll mob us because they’re convinced John was a prophet.’ So after some more discussion they said to Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’’

‘’Well then,’ replied Jesus. ‘I won’t answer your question either! Instead,’ He continued, ‘think about this. A man with two sons told his older son, ‘Son, would you go and do some work in the field for me today?’ The son replied, ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’ But later on he changed his mind and went and did what his father had asked him to do. Then, the father went and found his other son and said the same thing to him. ‘Yes, of course, I’ll go,’ said the younger son. But in fact, he didn’t go at all. (P) Which of the two sons obeyed their father?’’

‘‘The first one of course,’ answered the group of chief priests and teachers of the law.’

‘Then looking at them closely Jesus explained the meaning of the story: ‘I’ll tell you a fact!’ He said, ‘Corrupt tax collectors and all kinds of wicked people are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you! For John came and showed you the way of being right with God, and you didn’t believe him. But the tax collectors and wicked people did, and have become right with God themselves – turning away from their sins! And even after you saw this, you still refused to turn from your sins and believe him.’’

Episode NT26 – The Triumphal Entry

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 12 verses 1 to 19

The Triumphal Entry

Once again Jesus came to Bethany. It was about six days before the important Jewish ceremony of Passover. During Passover, Jews from all around the world returned to Jerusalem to sacrifice a Passover lamb and remember how God had rescued the Israelites from Egypt!

The Passover had been the last and greatest sign God had performed in Egypt as He’d prepared for His people to be set free from slavery. On the night of that first Passover, every Israelite family had to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their house and stay inside, dressed and ready to leave Egypt. Then, at about midnight, the angel of death went through the whole land of Egypt to kill the first-born son in every household. But, whenever he came to a house with the blood of a lamb smeared on the doorposts and lintel, he would know that there had already been a death in that house, the death of a lamb in place of the first-born son, and so the angel of death would ‘pass over’ that house and go onto the next. This way, all Israel was saved from the loss of their sons by obeying God’s command to sacrifice a lamb in their place. (PAUSE)

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethany, they stayed with Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead, and a meal was served in Jesus’ honour. Jesus knew what was ahead of Him, and even though this was a celebration, the atmosphere was heavy as Jesus thought about what was to come.

While Jesus was eating His meal lying with his head towards the table and His feet pointing away as was the custom at that time, Mary, Lazarus’ sister, came to His feet with a large jar of very expensive perfume. Then, breaking the seal on the jar, Mary poured the perfume over Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair – filling the house with fragrance.

Somehow Mary understood how Jesus felt and so she did this beautiful thing for Him. But not everyone who watched understood or cared about what was happening. It was Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples, who spoke up. ‘What does that woman think she’s doing?’ he exclaimed. ‘That perfume was worth a small fortune. We – we could have sold it and given the money to the poor instead of wasting it on Jesus’ feet!’ Not that Judas cared for the poor, he was just horrified to see all that money ‘go to waste’ as he thought. You see, Judas was in charge of looking after the disciples’ funds, and as well as ‘looking after’ the money, he also made sure he ‘looked after’ himself, stealing money when he thought no one was looking!

But Jesus turned to those who were unhappy with what had just happened and replied, ‘Leave her alone. Mary has done this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but I won’t be with you much longer.’ (PAUSE)

Now Jerusalem was only a couple of miles away, and when all the people who’d come for the Passover celebrations heard that Jesus was in Bethany, they flocked to see him and to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. (P)

The next day, Jesus made preparations to go to Jerusalem. Calling two of His disciples to one side He said to them, ‘You see that village over there? I want you to go into that village and as you enter it you’ll see a young colt – a young donkey that’s never been ridden before – tied up by the side of the road. Untie it and bring it here to me. Should anyone ask you what you’re doing, tell them, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back soon.’

The two disciples did what Jesus said, and sure enough, as they entered the village they found a young donkey that had never been ridden before tied up outside a house. As they started to untie it, some of the people standing nearby demanded, ‘What do you think you’re doing untying that colt – it’s not yours.’ After the briefest glance at each other, the two disciples told them exactly what Jesus had said to say, ‘The Lord needs it and He’ll send it back soon.’ At that the bystanders let them take the donkey to Jesus. (P) Bringing the colt to Him, His disciples threw their cloaks over it, and Jesus sat on it, riding towards Jerusalem. (P)

Although people didn’t realise it at the time, Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy that said: ‘Do not be afraid, people of Israel. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.’ But it wouldn’t be until after Jesus had gone back to heaven that they’d start to understand. (PAUSE)

The crowds thought Jesus was the Messiah and expected Him to be a warrior king and to take over the country and get rid of the Romans. But Jesus wanted to show them that their ideas of what the Messiah would be like were wrong. So instead of coming to Jerusalem on a warhorse, He chose a simple colt – refusing to be the kind of Messiah the crowd wanted!

By now the crowds were very large, and as Jesus made His way to Jerusalem, they threw their cloaks on the road ahead of Him, and they went into the fields to cut palm branches to wave. And as the procession reached the place on the road where it descends from the Mount of Olives, His followers started to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for the wonderful miracles they’d seen.

‘Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ they shouted. ‘Bless the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!’ (P)

As usual some of the Pharisees had come along to find fault with Jesus. And when they heard the crowd shouting these things they couldn’t believe their ears! So shouting across to Jesus they said, ‘Teacher! Tell your followers off for saying such things!’

But Jesus shouted back, ‘If they were to keep quiet, the stones along the side of the road would burst into shouts of joy!’

And so, as the Pharisees watched the procession and saw the huge crowd that had come to see Jesus, they said to each other, ‘That’s it, we’ve lost! The whole world’s gone after Him now!’

Episode NT25 – Lazarus

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 11

Lazarus

DISCIPLE ANDREW ‘When the messenger arrived he had a serious look on his face and we could tell his message was urgent. Going straight to Jesus he said, ‘This message is from Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, who live in Bethany which is in Judea. They say, ‘Lord, the one you love is very sick.’’

‘We’d experienced a lot of trouble from the religious leaders in the area of Judea, even so, we expected Jesus to tell us to pack up and go to there. Instead, He told us, ‘Lazarus’s sickness won’t end in death. It has happened for the glory of God. And I, the Son of God will receive glory from this.’’

‘Even though we knew how much Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, we didn’t go to them straight away, instead we stayed where we were for another two days! We were all on edge, having had such a call for help and not having done anything. But when, after two days, Jesus told us that we were now going to Judea, we started to feel nervous! ‘Teacher,’ we said. ‘Are you sure about this? Only a few days ago the Jewish leaders in Judea were trying to kill you and now you want to go back again?’

‘’Our dear friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,’ Jesus told us, ‘and now it’s time for me to go and wake him up.’’

‘‘But Lord,’ we said. ‘If he’s having a good sleep then surely he’s getting better?’

‘Then Jesus spoke to us plainly. ‘Lazarus is dead. And I’m pleased I wasn’t there for your sakes, because this is going to give you another opportunity to believe in me. Come on, let’s go.’’

‘Even if we’d left as soon as the messenger had come we’d never have made it in time to help Lazarus. When we arrived, we discovered that he’d been dead and in his grave for four days already! There were lots of people there from Jerusalem, which was only a couple of miles away, who’d come to comfort Martha and Mary in their loss. We stayed a little outside Bethany, but when Martha heard that Jesus had arrived she came out to meet Him.’

‘’Lord,’ Martha cried when she saw Jesus. ‘If only you’d been here, then my brother wouldn’t have died! But even now I know that God will give you anything you ask of Him.’’

‘Jesus looked at her and said, ‘Your brother will rise again.’’

‘’Yes, I know he’ll rise when everyone does on the day of resurrection,’ Martha replied.’’

‘’I am the resurrection and the life,’ Jesus told Martha. ‘Everyone who believes in me, even though like all people they will die, yet also they will live again. Because, if they believe in me they are given eternal life and so will never perish. Do you believe this Martha?’ He asked.’

‘’Yes Lord,’ she told Him. ‘I’ve always believed that you’re the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who’s come into the world from God.’ After she’d said this she went back to Mary and calling her aside she said, ‘The Teacher’s here and He wants to see you.’ So, as quickly as she could, Mary came to where we were staying.’

‘In fact, Mary left to come and see Jesus so fast that all the mourners in the house thought she must be rushing off to the grave to weep for Lazarus there, so they followed her. When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at His feet saying, ‘Lord, if only you’d been here, then my brother wouldn’t have died.’’

‘When Jesus saw Mary’s weeping and the wailing of the other people who’d followed her, and saw how painful and evil death was – He was deeply moved in His soul – and outraged in His spirit at death itself. ‘Where have you put him?’ He asked.’

‘‘Lord, come and see,’ they told Him. And Jesus wept. (P) Some of the people standing there saw Him and said, ‘Look how much He loved Lazarus,’ while others shook their heads and said, ‘This is the same man who restores sight to the blind. So why couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?’’

‘Once again Jesus was overcome with a deep outrage in His spirit at the evilness of death. Then coming to the grave, which was a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance, Jesus ordered, ‘Roll that stone aside.’’

‘‘But Lord,’ Martha said. ‘It’s been four days since we put him in there! By now there’s going to be a terrible stink from the rotting body!’’

‘‘Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believed?’ Jesus said, turning to Martha. After He’d said this, a small group of us rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed. ‘Father, thank you that you hear me. I know you always hear me, but I have said this for the benefit of these people standing here that they may believe that you sent me.’ Then in a loud voice He said, ‘Lazarus, come out!’’ (PAUSE)

‘To be honest with you I can’t really remember how he came out of the tomb because he was all wrapped in grave clothes up with his hands and feet bound and another cloth around his head. But, as I watched the impossible happening before my eyes, I realised Jesus was speaking again, calling out to us, His disciples. ‘Untie him,’ He said, ‘take off those grave clothes and set him free.’ And so we did, and there underneath it all was the same Lazarus we’d always known!’ (P)

‘The strange thing was, it was this mighty miracle that finally turned the chief Priests and the Pharisees against Jesus. Because, while some of the people with us believed in Jesus when they saw Lazarus raised back to life after four whole days in the grave, others ran off to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done.’

‘At once a high council meeting was called. And the topic of conversation? Jesus!’

‘’What are we going to do?’ one of them asked. ‘This man Jesus certainly performs many miraculous signs. But if we leave Him to it, then what? The whole nation’ll end up following Him and then the Romans will come to put the whole thing down and at the same time take away our power – and destroy the temple!’’

‘’It was Caiaphas the high priest who spoke next. ‘You know nothing!’ he said. ‘Don’t you realise that it’s better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to perish?’ (P) Those words were given to Caiaphas from God – it was a prediction that Jesus’ death wouldn’t just be for Israel, but for the gathering together of all the children of God scattered around the world.’

‘That was the moment when the leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. And as a result, Jesus stopped His public ministry and left Jerusalem to go and stay in the village of Ephraim with us, His disciples – until the right time to show Himself came.’

 

Episode NT24 – Blind Bartimaeus

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Mark chapter 10 verses 46 to 52

Blind Bartimaeus

On the whole, life was pretty tough for Bartimaeus. Oh, it was ok when Jericho, the city where he lived had a festival or celebration. Then Bartimaeus would have more than enough to eat. But that wasn’t most days. Most days Bartimaeus would be found sitting by the side of the main road that went all the way through Jericho, and on to Jerusalem, with his begging bowl in hand, hoping and praying that somebody would give Him what he needed to make it through the day.

Of course it hadn’t always been like that. There’d been a time when Bartimaeus had worked in the fields and vineyards with everybody else.

But the day had come when the owner of the vineyard had been cross with Bartimaeus. Apparently, he’d left lots of grapes on the vine. And then … it became hard to recognise his friends. And the sun … it didn’t seem to shine as brightly as it used to! (PAUSE) The truth was – Bartimaeus was going blind. And it’s not like being blind today where there’s lots a blind person can do. In Bartimaeus’ time the only thing he could do – was become a beggar.

And so each day ended up being pretty much the same. And today, when Bartimaeus woke up, he thought it was going to be a day like any other. (P) As he woke he shivered in the cold morning air and pulled his cloak tightly around his shoulders. And then he reached to find his begging bowl. There was some bread left from yesterday. OK it was a bit stale and hard, but when you’re a beggar you can’t afford to be fussy. (P)

After he’d finished his small breakfast, Bartimaeus reached out his hand to find his stick, and then made his way slowly down to his usual spot by the side of the road, under a big tree that gave him some protection from the hot midday sun. And there he waited.

But today wasn’t going to be like any other day. There was already something different happening. You see when you’re blind, quite often your hearing seems to work much better. And Bartimaeus had learned to recognise the people of Jericho not by what they looked like, but by how they sounded.

Who was that, oh yes, he recognised those fast footsteps. That was young Miriam. But where was she off too? (P) And hang on, who was that? Ah, of course! He recognised that limp and walk with a stick. That was old Caleb! But he hadn’t heard Caleb moving so fast in years! And who were those people he was talking to? In fact, where was everybody going? It seemed as if everyone was leaving the city! He wanted to ask why, but there was nobody to ask! So there he sat, begging bowl in hand – waiting. (PAUSE)

It was quite a lot later that day when he heard it. It was the sound of a large crowd. And they were heading his way. So that’s where everybody had gone. They’d gone to see some really important person who was on their way through Jericho and on to Jerusalem. But Bartimaeus didn’t know who it was. And so as the crowd got closer and the first few people started to filter past, he called out.

‘Hey, hey, excuse me, can you tell me – what’s going on?’

 ‘What?’ said a passer-by, ‘Oh don’t you know? It’s Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth, He’s coming through town on His way to Jerusalem.’

Jesus of Nazareth! Even Bartimaeus had heard of Jesus of Nazareth, and the incredible things he’d said. People were still talking about them months after he’d said them.

And, there were all those healings! It was said that Jesus had made people who couldn’t walk, walk again! And that He’d made people who couldn’t hear, hear again. It was even said that Jesus made people who couldn’t see, (PAUSE) see again!!!’ Jesus made blind people see!

All of a sudden Bartimaeus knew what he should be doing. Oh, he just hoped he hadn’t missed Jesus. So he called out in a loud voice.

The first few people who heard Bartimaeus calling – told him to shut up! ‘Oh Bartimaeus be quiet will you. Jesus isn’t going to be interested in a blind beggar like you. Be quiet!’

But Bartimaeus wasn’t the giving up kind, and he called even louder. ‘Jesus, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me.’     (PAUSE)

There was a man in the crowd, constantly being jostled by the people. Just trying to make His way through Jericho and yet listen to and help the constant stream of people who came to Him. And as He made His way forward, He heard His name being called over and over again. ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.’

As He walked He started to look for the owner of the voice and eventually He saw a scruffy, blind beggar sitting by the side of the road shouting out for all he was worth. So Jesus stopped and said to some of His disciples, ‘Bring him to me.’

The disciples went over to where the blind beggar was still shouting his head off, and tried to quieten him down a little. ‘SSSHHH – It’s OK, you can be quiet now, the Master’s calling for you.’

When Bartimaeus heard this he leapt up, threw off his cloak, and held out his hands.  Jesus’ disciples took him by the arms and led him to Jesus. And when he arrived – he heard a voice asking him, ‘What is it? What do you want me to do for you?’

‘Oh teacher,’ said Bartimaeus. ‘I want to be able to see again.’ (P)

And then he heard Jesus’ voice again. (P) ‘Because you believed that I could make you well – you have been healed.’

At that moment Bartimaeus had to cover his eyes to cope with the light that came streaming in. And the first thing he saw – was the smiling face of Jesus- filled with love. Then Bartimaeus leapt for joy, shouting and singing praise to God, because Jesus had healed him.

And when the crowd realised what Jesus had done they were astonished, and they too started praising God, as Jesus continued, to slowly make His way through Jericho and on to Jerusalem.

 

Episode NT23 – Zacchaeus

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Luke chapter 19 verses 1 to 10

Zacchaeus

Zacchaeus was a short man, short in height and short of friends! To say he was unpopular would be an understatement because most people hated Zacchaeus. You see Zacchaeus was a tax collector – he had paid the Romans to get the job of collecting taxes from his own people, the Jews. He then gave those taxes to the Romans who used them to stay in charge!

What’s more, as Zacchaeus had paid for the job of collecting taxes and the Romans didn’t pay him anything to do the job, he had to collect extra taxes from all the people so that he had enough to live on himself – and in fact, over the years, he’d grown quite rich!

If they had any choice in the matter, no ordinary Jew would have anything to do with the likes of tax collectors unless they absolutely had to! You see, because they worked for the Romans, tax collectors were considered to be traitors!

Oh, Zacchaeus did have some friends, but they were either tax collectors like himself or else one of the many other outcasts there were in Israel at that time. (P) But even among this group of outcasts the stories about Jesus had started to circulate. Some were saying that Jesus was the friend of tax collectors! Zacchaeus listened to these stories with great interest and decided that, should Jesus come to Jericho, the city where he lived, he’d make sure to see him.

One day sometime later, Zacchaeus heard an excited voice shouting outside. Stopping what he was doing, he listened.

‘Hey, David!’ said the voice, ‘Have you heard? Jesus is heading into town. We’re just off to see him. Why don’t you come with us?’ After that, the voice lowered and Zacchaeus heard hurried footsteps as they rushed off to see Jesus.

This was his chance! As quickly as he could, Zacchaeus got up and hurried off to see Jesus. But as he came closer to where Jesus was, he found a massive crowd of people, all wanting to see Jesus for themselves! Jesus was surrounded by 100’s and 100’s of people! (PAUSE)

Zacchaeus didn’t even bother to try and push his way through the crowd. He knew that when the people realised it was him trying to push past them, they’d never let him through. But he wasn’t going to be put off. He’d promised himself he’d see Jesus and he was determined to make it happen!

As he stood there wondering what to do, suddenly a thought sprang into Zacchaeus’ mind. There was only one road through the city and Jesus would be travelling along it, so Zacchaeus ran ahead to see if there was some place he could stand that would give him a good view of Jesus. But there was nothing! What was he going to do?

Resting by a large sycamore tree, Zacchaeus thought through his options. He couldn’t push his way through to Jesus; the people wouldn’t stand for that, and, there was nowhere along the road where he could get a good view. Zacchaeus banged the back of head softly against the tree as he tried to work out what he could do, then he stopped, and looked up. The tree! Jesus would be passing right under this very tree!

As quickly as he could, for he hadn’t done this since he was a lad; Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore tree hoping the leafy branches would shield him from disapproving eyes. And then he waited as the crowd slowly made its way along the road.

As the massive crowd started to pass under the tree, they didn’t notice the little man hidden in the branches looking down. (P) There was no mistaking Jesus, Zacchaeus could tell exactly who He was – right in the middle of the crowd with people coming up to Him to talk or just look at Him!

It wasn’t the perfect way to see Jesus, but it was the best Zacchaeus could manage. Then, as Jesus moved directly underneath where he was hiding, to his surprise, Jesus stopped! Zacchaeus hadn’t expected this. Then suddenly, Jesus looked right up to where he was hiding and shouted, ‘Zacchaeus!’ Zacchaeus nearly fell out of the tree with shock! ‘Zacchaeus,’ Jesus continued. ‘Quickly, come down because I must stay in your home today.’

Jesus wanted to stay in his home? Zacchaeus couldn’t believe it – Jesus wanted to meet him! No one like Jesus had ever come to his house before. As quickly as he could, ignoring the disapproving stares from the crowd, Zacchaeus scrambled down from the sycamore tree and, with great excitement, took Jesus to his home!

However, the crowd weren’t so happy! ‘Doesn’t Jesus know who He’s dealing with?’ some of them grumbled. ‘That’s Zacchaeus – the tax collector! What possible reason could Jesus have for wanting to meet with that horrible little man?’

But something happened to Zacchaeus as he met with Jesus because as they sat in his house Zacchaeus suddenly stood up in front of Jesus and said, ‘Lord, I will give half of my wealth to the poor. And Lord, if I’ve overcharged anyone on their taxes, then I will pay them back four times as much as I’ve overcharged!’

Jesus smiled at Zacchaeus and looking round the room He said, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. You see, that’s why I, the Son of Man, have come, to seek out and save those who are lost.’