Tag: blood

Episode NT33 – The Empty Tomb

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 20 verses 1 to 18

The Empty Tomb

For those who loved Jesus, who followed Him, who believed that He was the Son of God, the Saviour that’d been promised for so many years, that Friday had been the darkest day of their lives. And it had been made all the more dark because they hadn’t understood or believed what Jesus Himself had told them – that He had to suffer at the hands of sinful men, that He would be crucified, that He would die and be buried but, most importantly of all, that He would rise once again to life.

And so, those who were brave enough had watched His cruel death, the agonised hours nailed to a cross. They’d seen the darkness covering the land and heard Jesus’ cries as He gave up His life. And when He’d died they’d watched a Roman soldier walk up to Him with a spear and thrust it up into His dead body. And as the soldier pulled out his spear, they’d watched a sudden flow of what looked like blood and water from the wound.

Having wondered what on earth would happen to Jesus now that He was dead, it was a surprise to them that Joseph from Arimathea had taken Jesus’ body down from the cross. And it was even more of a shock when Nicodemus, the man who’d once visited Jesus at night had helped Joseph take Jesus’ body down and quickly prepare it for burial. Some of the women had watched as the two men wrapped Jesus’ body in a long linen cloth with spices, and put another cloth over His head, to keep His mouth shut in death. Mary Magdalene had watched as the two men placed the body in an unused tomb that was in a garden close to Skull Hill, the place where Jesus had been crucified. They used that grave because they needed to get Jesus buried before the Sabbath started that evening and no more work could be done.

As evening arrived Mary went home, her eyes swollen from crying. But as she walked home she made a decision: Nothing could be done the next day as it was a Sabbath and Jesus wouldn’t have wanted her to break the Sabbath day rules, but after the Sabbath, on the Sunday, she was free to do what needed to be done. Jesus’ burial had been a rushed job, it hadn’t been done properly, the least she could do was make sure He was buried properly! He’d died the death of a common criminal, He’d died in shame, under the curse of God because He’d been hung on a tree! But now, in death, the least she could do was make sure His body was treated properly.

That was why Mary Magdalene was up so early that Sunday morning while it was still dark! She was determined to see that Jesus had a decent burial, the way things should be done! How she was going to move the massive stone Joseph and Nicodemus had rolled in front of the cave-like tomb, she hadn’t thought through! How she was going to cope with the smell of a dead body now into its third day, she had no idea, but cope she would! This was no ordinary person, this was Jesus, and she owed Him everything. (P) But as she approached the tomb, she looked in horror, unable to believe her eyes; the stone had already been moved! Jesus’ body had gone! What was she going to do? Someone had taken the body! Leaving the spices she’d brought with her where she’d dropped them, Mary turned and ran, running to the only people she could think of to help, His disciples, Peter and John.

‘Hold on,’ Peter shouted as he got up to answer the hammering on the door. And when he opened it there was Mary – and one look at tear-stained face told him something was seriously wrong.

‘It’s Jesus,’ Mary managed to get out between her heartbroken sobs. ‘They’ve taken His body away and I don’t know where they’ve put it!’

This set Peter’s head spinning. Why take the body? Was this some kind of attempt to discredit Jesus even more? But as these thoughts flashed through his mind, both he and John found themselves running as fast as their legs could carry them, running to see what’d happened to Jesus.

John was a little faster than Peter and arrived first. But he didn’t go in; instead, bending down and looking inside, he saw the linen cloth Jesus had been wrapped in – just lying there. Then Peter arrived and went straight inside and he too saw the linen cloth and the other cloth that’d been used to cover Jesus’ head – folded up and lying separately to one side. John followed Peter in while Mary waited outside, and when he saw the two linen clothes, he started to believe, to believe what Jesus had said, that He’d rise from the dead! (P)

There was nothing more to be done now, the body had gone and Jesus wasn’t there. So leaving the empty tomb, Peter and John walked passed the distraught Mary Magdalene, leaving her by the tomb side, and headed home.

What was she going to do now? Mary had no idea. But as she wept she stooped once again to look inside. But what she saw, instead of the body of Jesus, were two angels dressed in white and sitting at the head and the foot of where Jesus’ body had been. ‘Why are you crying?’ one of them asked her.

‘Because they’ve taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they’ve put Him.’ she answered.

As she said this, something caught her eye and, turning around, she saw someone standing close by. With her eyes so full of tears she had no idea who it was. ‘Why are you crying?’ the person asked. ‘Who’re you looking for?’

Thinking this must the gardener, Mary replied, ‘Sir, if you’ve taken Him away, tell me where you’ve put Him, and I’ll go and get Him.’

But then something made her stop, as she turned back towards the tomb to take a closer look. It was something that was impossible, but it was true. It was the sound of her name – spoken as she’d heard it said many times before, spoken as only one person could, spoken by Jesus! ‘Mary.’

Spinning round to see who’d spoken it, she realised it was the stranger – the stranger was Jesus! ‘Teacher!’ she said and rushed to embrace Him. He was alive and He was speaking to her, in the same way, He’d always spoken to her before, that smile in His eyes …

‘Don’t cling to me,’ He told Mary, ‘because before too long I’ll be going to be with the Father. But for now, I want you to go and find the disciples and tell that that I’ll be going up to be with My Father and your Father, to be with My God and your God.’

And so, tearing herself away from Jesus, Mary Magdalene ran and found the disciples telling them, ‘I’ve seen the Lord – He’s alive!’ And passed on His message.

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 3 – Cain & Abel

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – Old Testament

Based on Genesis chapter 4

Cain & Abel 

When God first made men and women, He didn’t intend that they should ever die. He hoped they would love Him and obey Him and live with Him in perfect harmony for all eternity. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, that all changed.

God had warned Adam and Eve of the terrible results of disobeying His simple command not to eat the fruit. And, exactly as God had warned, when they ate the fruit – death came into the world. Now one day everyone must die. But even worse than that, since Adam and Eve’s disobedience, men and women had stopped knowing God properly and doing the things that made Him happy – because of the evil that now lived inside them. (PAUSE)

During Adam and Eve’s lifetime they had many sons and daughters. But it’s not all these sons and daughters I want to tell you about, it’s their first son Cain and what happened between him and his younger brother Abel, that interest me!

As they grew up, Cain and Abel both became farmers. Cain worked in the fields, growing all kinds of grain, vegetables and fruit. While Abel decided to work with animals and became a shepherd looking after sheep.

And although Adam and Eve had broken their relationship with God, and things weren’t how they were supposed to be. God hadn’t been forgotten and He still spoke with Adam and Eve and their children. So Cain and Abel grew up knowing God and that they still needed to show respect to Him and gratitude for all He did. So when harvest time came the two of them decided that they ought to give a sacrifice to God – a special gift to show that they hadn’t forgotten Him and that they were grateful for all He’d given them.

Abel spent quite some time deciding what it was he should bring God to say ‘thank you’. And after much thought, he decided he should give something precious. Something valuable and important to show God how much He meant to Abel. (P) As a shepherd, the most important thing Abel had were his sheep, and the most valued sheep he had were the young lambs of the best sheep in the flock – healthy lambs without anything wrong with them. If Abel gave God something as important as that, surely it would show just how grateful he was. And so Abel brought several of his best lambs to God.

Meanwhile, as it was harvest time, Cain knew that he really ought to be giving something to God as a ‘thank you’ for the wonderful crops he’d just harvested. But what to bring? (P) Well – did it really matter what he brought? Wasn’t it all the same to God anyway? (P) So instead of thinking about it and making sure he brought something that would please God, Cain rummaged through what he could find easily and brought that! (PAUSE)

You know, God doesn’t just look at the gifts we bring Him, He looks at the attitude we have as we bring Him our gifts. It’s easy to give something to God that doesn’t cost much, but it’s much harder to bring something to God that costs a great deal! Abel loved God, and because of that he gave God something that cost him a lot. But Cain didn’t really care and only gave a bit of what he had. Just enough to show that he’d ‘done his duty’!

 When God saw what Abel had brought Him, He accepted both Abel and his gift. But when He saw what Cain had given – He rejected Cain – and his gift – because Cain hadn’t treated God with the respect He deserved. (P) But when Cain realised that Abel and his gift had been accepted – while he and his gift had been rejected – you could tell by his face how angry and upset he was. (PAUSE)

So God spoke to Cain.

‘Why are you so angry Cain?’ God asked. ‘Why do you look so miserable? It doesn’t have to stay like this! You can change things if you act in the right way! (P) But watch out! Because if you refuse to act in the right way, the evil desires of sin are waiting to take you captive and destroy you! You mustn’t let that happen, you must fight against these evil desires and make sure they don’t ruin your life!’

But Cain wouldn’t listen. And now everyone would see how terrible the curse of death really was!

‘Hey Abel! You up for a walk in the fields?’

‘Yeah sure Cain, I could do with a change of scene, let’s go!’

But Cain didn’t care about a change of scene – all he wanted to do was get rid of his ‘perfect’ little brother! And in his jealousy and rage he attacked and murdered Abel where he thought no one could see – leaving Abel’s lifeless body in a pool of blood in a lonely field.

Sin was beginning to show how terrible it was with the first ever murder, coming from Cain’s bitterness and jealously. It didn’t need to happen, if only Cain hadn’t been so proud and, and, asked God to help him do what was right. But Cain only cared about himself, he didn’t care about God anymore! The desires of sin, to put himself first and do exactly what he wanted, had taken him over. And now Adam and Eve, Abel’s father and mother, would really know how terrible the curse of death was – the curse they’d brought into the world by disobeying God’s command. – It’d cost them their son! (PAUSE)

But Cain had been mistaken to think no one had seen what he’d done, because God watches everything we do. (P) He spoke to Cain, ‘Where’s your brother? Where’s Abel?’

‘How on earth on should I know,’ replied Cain angrily. ‘Am I supposed to keep track of his every movement?’

But you can’t fool God. ‘What have you done Cain?’ He asked. ‘I hear the blood of your brother Abel crying out to me from the ground! (P) And now you must be punished for this evil thing you have done. (P) I hereby banish you from your home and from the ground you have made unclean with your own brother’s blood. This ground will no longer produce wonderful harvests for you – no matter how hard you work. From this time on you will become a homeless wanderer going from place to place!’

But still, even as God told Cain his punishment, Cain wouldn’t say sorry for the evil thing he’d done. He didn’t seem to care that he’d murdered his own brother! All he could do was complain about the harshness of his punishment without any concern or sorrow for the life he’d taken.

‘This is too much God! I can’t cope with this! You’ve banished me from my homeland and from your presence and now you’re making me a wandering fugitive. Surely anyone who sees me now will try ‘n kill me?’

But still God cared for poor foolish Cain even though Cain wouldn’t turn back and say sorry and be forgiven. (P) ‘They won’t kill you Cain,’ He said. ‘For I will give seven times your punishment to anyone who does.’ And then to protect Cain, and to warn anyone else who might wish to kill him – not to, God placed a special mark on Cain as a warning.

And in His love God also remembered Eve in the loss of her son Abel, and some time later gave her another son. She named him Seth which means ‘granted’, because when he was born she said, ‘God has granted me another son in place of Abel’. And it was one of Seth’s descendants who many years later found himself in very deep water! But that’s another story!