Tag: parents

Episode NT21 – The Rich Young Ruler

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Mark Chapter 10 verses 12 to 31

The Rich Young Ruler

DISCIPLE (ANDREW)‘Look, He’s a very busy man! Everyone wants to see Him and I’m sorry but He doesn’t have time for your children. You’re just going to have to go.’

‘We’d been trying to protect Jesus from the constant stream of people wanting to come and see Him. And now it wasn’t just adults, but parents wanted to bring their little ones to Jesus so that He could bless them. Well, they had to come to us first, His disciples, and we knew how busy and tired He could get. So we started sending the parents and their children away.’

‘We saw the disappointed looks on their faces as some of the older children had really been looking forward to meeting Jesus. But Jesus was busy with more important matters, so we started to hurry them on their way.’

‘It was as we were pushing them away that we heard Jesus’ voice. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ He asked. ‘Don’t stop them, let the children come to me!’’

‘That was it, the children and their parents didn’t need a second invitation, they surged passed us and ran to Jesus. Here we were, trying to protect Jesus from the unimportant disturbances that came along and He went and ignored our efforts!’

‘As we looked at Him He picked a couple of children up in His arms and with a broad grin on His face He looked from them to us. ‘The Kingdom of God belongs to people like these,’ He called across. ‘Because I tell you unless someone has the same kind of faith these children have, they’ll never enter God’s Kingdom.’’

‘After He’d said this He carried on welcoming the children and putting His hands on their heads and blessing them.’

‘Shortly afterwards, as we started out on another trip, a young man came running to Jesus! Not many people run anywhere in our country, it’s too hot and not really the ‘done thing’. But what caught our attention was that this young man was obviously a man with money and influence! So can you imagine our surprise and joy when he ran right up to Jesus, knelt down before Him in the road for all to see – and said, ‘Good Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?’’

‘Wow, we thought, imagine what a difference this could make, having someone like him with us! We all turned to Jesus to see what He’d say to this earnest young man. ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus asked. ‘Only God is truly good.’ And then He started to answer the young man’s question. ‘Now, you know what the commandments are; don’t commit murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t tell lies. Don’t cheat. Respect your father and mother?’’

‘The young man looked closely at Jesus, his brow furrowed. And with a slight nod of his head, he said. ‘Teacher, ever since I was a child I’ve obeyed all these commandments.’ Obviously, he felt that obeying wasn’t enough – there had to be more!’

‘Jesus’ smile grew as He looked at the young man and He felt genuine love for him. ‘Well,’ Jesus answered, ‘there is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor, because then you will have treasure in heaven. And when you’ve done that, come and follow me.’’

‘I’d been listening to the conversation as the two of them spoke, and as Jesus told the young man to go and sell all he owned and give the money to the poor, I watched his face. It was painful to see his look of earnestness turn first into surprise and then to sorrow.’(P)

‘Suddenly the conversation was over. Without looking at Jesus again, the young man stood up and walked sadly away – because he had many possessions.’

‘Jesus let him leave. He’d set the standard this man had to reach and He wasn’t about to change it – even if it meant the man went away, never to return! Then, Jesus turned round to speak to us. ‘It’s so hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!’ He said. We were amazed at this – that the people with all the advantages in life: money, power, ability and talent should struggle to enter God’s Kingdom. But Jesus was continuing, ‘My Dear Children, it is very hard to get into God’s Kingdom. In fact, it would be easier for a camel to go through the little hole at the end of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s Kingdom.’’

‘To us, this was … mind-blowing … so we asked Jesus, ‘If that’s true, then is there anyone in the whole world who can be saved?’’ (PAUSE)

‘Jesus had a way of looking at us sometimes that told us we needed to listen very carefully. And as we stood there, not knowing what to think, Jesus looked at us intently. ‘From a human perspective, it’s impossible to be saved. But not when God’s involved! With God, everything’s possible!’’

‘As usual, it was my brother, Peter, who was first to open his big mouth. ‘But Jesus, we’ve given up everything to follow you.’’

‘Jesus nodded and continued to fix us with His gaze. ‘And I assure you,’ He replied, ‘everyone who’s given up their house or their brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or property for my sake and for the sake of the Good News I bring, will in this life receive in return a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and property  – along with persecution! And then, in the world to come, they’ll receive eternal life. But, many who seem to be important now will be the least important in the world to come, and those who are considered least important here will be the greatest then.’’

‘As Jesus said this, we couldn’t help thinking about the children who came to see Jesus earlier. We thought they were so unimportant but He welcomed them with open arms. And now, this rich young ruler with so much wealth and who we thought was so important, Jesus had let walk away!’

Episode NT20 – The Man Born Blind

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 9

The Man Born Blind

‘What people tend to forget when you’re blind is that you’re not deaf as well! In fact, my hearing’s a lot better than most peoples and I could hear them quite clearly as they came towards me.’

‘Jesus,’ somebody asked, ‘Whose fault is it that this man’s been born blind?’ And then, to rub it in a little more he said, ‘Was it his own sin or his parent’s sin?’ Come on, I thought, it could hardly be my sin! That would’ve meant I’d done something evil before I’d even been born. And as for my parents … well. Then I heard another voice answering their question, I guess it must have been Jesus.’

‘Neither,’ He said, ‘It wasn’t this man’s fault or his parent’s fault. This man was born blind so that the power of God could be seen in him.’ Whatever that meant! And then He added, ‘All of us have to get on with the tasks God’s given us to do because there’s little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end. But you see, while I’m still here in this world, I am the light of the world.’

‘I’d been born blind, I’d never seen any light, so I really couldn’t understand what He was talking about when He said He was the light of the world!’

‘What happened next was a little – awkward. Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with His spit and some soil. Then I felt a gooey substance being rubbed over my eyes and Jesus spoke to me. ‘Go and wash in the pool of Siloam,’ He said. And that was that! (P) I had no option but to wash to get the mud off my eyes. But something inside me seemed to tell me that I should do exactly what Jesus had just told me to do, not just find some water to wash off the mud, but to go where He’d said.’

‘It didn’t take long to go to Siloam, and when I got there I started to wash off the mud. It was good to get it off because it’d started to dry a little and was becoming uncomfortable! I put my head down to the pool, dipped my hands in and splashed great handfuls of water over my eyes. Then I washed off the mud and started to wipe the water out of my eyes.’ (PAUSE)

‘There aren’t words to describe how I felt next. It’s just not possible for you to understand but when I opened my eyes my head was filled with … with … light, colours, images, things, movement! I could see! Jesus had healed me! I could see! Not even in my wildest imagination had I dreamt that seeing would be like this! When I was young I’d often asked what it was like, and nothing anyone said had made any sense, until now. Now I understood what people meant when they tried to use words to describe a colour or the clouds in the sky.’

‘When I was young I’d pestered my parents to ask them if maybe one day I could see if the doctors could heal me. They’d tried to find out if there was any hope for me, but the doctors had soon put them straight. No one had ever been able to see who’d been born blind. It just didn’t happen. But now, this man Jesus had come along, covered my eyes with mud, told me to wash in the pool of Siloam and the impossible had happened! I could see.’ (PAUSE)

‘You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face! I made my way back home using the skills I’d learnt when I was blind but also taking in my surroundings. When my neighbours saw me, they hardly recognised me because of the stupid great grin on my face! They started looking at each other and asking, ‘Is this the same blind beggar we knew before?’ I kept telling them, ‘Yeah! It’s me, it’s me!’ But they could hardly believe their own eyes! ‘What happened?’ they asked. ‘Who healed you?’’

‘Well I told them, ‘This man called Jesus came along, spat on the ground, made some mud out of His spit and the soil and then rubbed it on my eyes. Then, He sent me to the pool of Siloam and told me to wash the mud off in that pool. I did everything He said, and when I’d done it, I could see!’’

‘’Well,’ they asked, ‘Where is He now?’’

‘’I’ve no idea.’ I replied.’ (PAUSE)

‘When I told my neighbours that Jesus had made the mud out of the spit and soil, I could tell they were uncomfortable. You see it was the Sabbath day when all this happened, and our religious experts, the Pharisees, had made up lots of extra little rules to make sure no one disobeyed the Sabbath law, which says you are to keep the Sabbath day Holy! – One of those extra rules was to do with not working something like dough or mud! So they took me to the Pharisees!’

‘’What happened?’ they asked me. And I told them about the mud making and about the washing in the pool of Siloam and then being able to see. That’s when the arguments started! ‘This man Jesus can’t be from God,’ one of them said, ‘because He’s working on the Sabbath!’ And then another asked, ‘But how could some ordinary person do such a mighty miracle?’ Neither side could agree with the other  – – so they asked me!’

‘’Who do you think this man is who opened your eyes?’ To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about it because I was so overjoyed at being able to see again, so after a moments thought I said, ‘Erm, well, I guess He must be a prophet!’’

‘You won’t believe what happened next. Completely ignoring what I’d said, they started to accuse me of never having been blind in the first place! They wouldn’t listen to a word I said. In fact, they were so adamant that I hadn’t ever been blind that they called my parents in to question them! ‘Is this your son?’ they asked. ‘Was he born blind, and if so how can he see now?’’

‘I’d never seen my parent before then, and I didn’t know what the expression on their faces meant, but I could tell from their voices they were worried. ‘Yes, he is our son,’ they said, ‘and he was born blind. But how he came to be able to see again, and who healed him we can’t say. Ask him yourselves,’ they said. ‘He’s old enough to speak for himself.’’

‘And so once again they called me in! ‘Give glory to God by telling the truth,’ they said, ‘because we know Jesus is a sinner!’ Give glory to God! I ask you! How much more glory could you give to God than healing a man born blind! ‘Whether He’s a sinner or not I don’t know;’ I said. ‘But this one thing I do know, I was blind, and now I can see!’’

‘’But what did He do?’ they asked again, ‘How did He heal you?’ I couldn’t believe it; they hadn’t been listening to a word I’d said! ‘Look,’ I insisted, ‘I’ve already told you! Didn’t you listen the first time? Why do you want me to tell you again?’ And then a little bit cheekily I asked, ‘Do you want to become His disciples too?’’

‘That did it! They nearly exploded! They started saying all kinds of rude things to me. ‘You may be His disciple, but we’re disciples of Moses!’ they roared. ‘We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don’t know anything about Him!’’

‘‘Oh,’ says I, ‘that’s very strange! Here comes a man who heals the eyes of someone born blind and you don’t know anything about Him! Well, we know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but that He hears those who worship Him and do what He wants them to do. Never before in the whole history of the world has anyone been able to heal the eyes of a person born blind. If this man wasn’t from God then He couldn’t have done it!’’

‘They’d lost the argument, and they knew it, so they started shouting at me, treating me like a fool as they spat out their nastiness! ‘You were steeped in sin since your birth!’ they screamed. ‘Are you trying to teach us?’ And then they threw me out of the synagogue! Making it very clear that I wouldn’t be welcomed back. (PAUSE)

‘The news of what’d happened to me must have spread like wildfire, because not too long afterwards – this man came up to me. When He spoke I immediately recognised His voice, it was Jesus. ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He asked. ‘Who is He sir,’ I replied, ‘because I’d like to.’’

‘’You have seen Him,’ He told me, ‘and He is speaking to you now.’’

‘’Yes Lord,’ I answered, ‘I do believe!’ And then I did what was the only right thing to do, I worshipped Him.’

‘Jesus spoke to me again, ’I have come to judge the world, to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they can see that they’re really blind.’ I understood what He meant, I could see now, but it was with more than just my eyes, I also understood who He was. But some Pharisees who’d followed me overheard what Jesus said and got all uptight again, ‘Are you saying we’re blind?’ they asked. Well, even I could tell that they had no idea who Jesus really was. But Jesus answered them, ‘If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty. But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.’’

‘I understood that! The Pharisees thought they knew all about God and had it all worked out, and yet when they were confronted with the incredible miracle that had happened to me, they refused to believe that it said anything about who Jesus is. (PAUSE) I’m so grateful to God that I can see!’