Tag: Water

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 NT16 – Walking on Water

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 6 verses 14 to 20 & Matthew chapter 14 verses 28 to 36

Walking on Water

‘It was hard work passing out all that bread and fish to all those people! And by the time we’d each collected a basket full of leftovers, the twelve of us were exhausted!’

‘It was then that the crowds realised Jesus had just fed well over five thousand people from the contents of a child’s packed lunch, they were amazed! It was an incredible miracle and reminded them of how in the time of Moses, God had fed the people of Israel with manna from heaven when they were wandering in the desert.’

‘It was enough to convince some of the crowd that Jesus was the ‘Great Prophet’ Moses had promised would one day come, and so they decided that they were going to make Him king, even if it meant they had to use force to make it happen!’

‘Jesus was indeed the ‘Great Prophet’, but at that time we didn’t understand how the ‘Great Prophet’ Moses had promised would come us, and that His kingdom wasn’t one restricted to the earth. And so Jesus slipped away from us all and made His way higher up into the hills to be alone and pray.’ (PAUSE)

‘As the crowd melted away, going back to their home, the twelve of us, His disciples, were left waiting for Jesus. Jesus hadn’t left any instructions with us about what we were supposed to do. So after a while we wandered back to the boat and waited for Him there.’

‘The hours ticked by slowly, and when it started to get dark and we realised Jesus wasn’t going to be coming back with us, we set sail for Capernaum.’

‘The wind was against us from the start and we made slow progress through heavy waves. When we were about three or four miles out into the lake, our minds were completely absorbed in the battle against the waves and in trying to make headway through the dark seas. So when, at about three o’clock in the morning, we saw a figure walking on the water towards us out of the night we screamed in terror!’

‘But no sooner had we seen the figure and started to scream than the voice of Jesus came to us strong and loud from the figure in the darkness. ‘It’s all right,’ He said. ‘It’s me! I’m here! Don’t be afraid.’’

‘As we looked at each other, not sure what to think or do, Peter started shouting back. ‘Lord, if it really is you, then tell me to come to you by walking on the water.’’

‘The rest of us couldn’t believe what we were hearing! Peter wanted to walk to Jesus on the water – in this storm?’

‘‘Come to me Peter,’ Jesus said.’ (P)

‘It was so typical of my brother Peter! Without a second thought he leapt out over the side of the boat and, gazing at Jesus, he started to walk on the water towards Him!’ (PAUSE)

‘Maybe it was the howling winds that first caught Peter’s attention and took his eyes off Jesus. Whatever it was that broke his concentration, Peter started to notice the massive waves rolling by, and as he saw them and stopped looking at Jesus, terror grasped at his heart, and as the fear took hold so he started to slip down into the water. ‘Save me Lord,’ he screamed as he sank lower and lower.’

‘Instantly, without a moment’s hesitation, Jesus reached out His hand and grabbed hold of Peter. ‘You don’t trust me very much do you Peter?’ He said. ‘Why did you doubt me?’’

‘The two of them climbed into the boat and as they did, the wind stopped.’ (PAUSE)

‘It was then that all of us fell to our knees and worshipped Jesus. We had seen the impossible, Jesus coming to us walking on water in the midst of a storm, and then calling Peter to come to Him on the water. We had seen Jesus save Peter’s life when he called out to Him for help. And so on bended knee we all said to Jesus, ‘You really are the Son of God.’’ (PAUSE)

‘We landed at Gennesaret and it seemed that within moments the news of our arrival spread throughout the whole region. Soon crowds of people arrived, begging Jesus to heal the sick. Even the sick themselves begged just to be able to touch the fringe of His robe, and everyone who touched it was healed.’

Episode NT8 – Life-Giving Water

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 4 verses 1 to 42

Life-Giving Water

As Jesus and His disciples travelled north to Galilee they went through a part of Israel called Samaria, filled with people who weren’t pure-blooded Jews. The pure Jews looked down on the Samaritan’s and, the Samaritan’s hated the Jews. Both did everything they could to avoid each other.

As they travelled through Samaritan territory, they came to the village of Sychar. Jesus was very tired from the long walk and sat down at the side of a well – at about midday, while His disciples went on into the village to buy some food.

Now, normally, the women of the village would come at a certain times of day to collect water for their families. A woman wouldn’t usually go on her own to the well unless there was some kind of trouble – maybe the other women were being nasty about her, or there was some kind of emergency. But, for whatever reason, today, as Jesus sat beside the well, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the deep well.

As well as not liking Samaritans, Jewish men – and especially teachers and leaders – avoided contact with all women outside their house, even Jewish women. They wouldn’t even talk to a woman out on the street – it wasn’t the ‘done thing’. So can you imagine this woman’s surprise when a Jewish man looked over to where she was drawing water and actually spoke to her? A Jew talking to a Samaritan was unusual enough, but a Jewish man talking to a Samaritan woman! This was unheard of!

‘Please, would you give me a drink?’ Jesus asked.

As the woman poured a drink for Jesus she looked at Him with a puzzled look on her face. ‘You’re a Jew,’ she said, ‘and I’m a Samaritan woman! Why are you asking me for a drink?’

 ‘If you knew the gift God’s got for you – and who I am,’ Jesus replied, ‘then you’d be asking me for a drink and I’d give you living water.’

The woman laughed to herself, how could this man, without bucket or rope, draw water from the well? ‘You don’t have a bucket or rope,’ she said. ‘So where are you going to get this ‘living water’ from then?’ She asked.

‘Those who drink the water from this well end up getting thirsty again.’ Jesus replied, ‘But the water I give takes away thirst altogether. And not only that, it becomes a never-ending spring inside them, giving them eternal life!’

You see, Jesus wasn’t talking about ordinary water He was talking about the Holy Spirit who gives eternal life! But the woman still hadn’t understood, and thinking how wonderful it would be to not need to come to the well each day she said. ‘Oh, please sir, give me some of that water. That way I won’t get thirsty again and need to come here every day.’

‘Go and get your husband,’ Jesus told her.

This was suddenly getting uncomfortable for the woman. ‘I don’t have a husband,’ she replied.

‘That’s right,’ Jesus said. ‘In fact, you’ve had five husbands and the man you’re living with now you aren’t even married to!’

The woman hadn’t expected this! Who was this man? She wanted to change the topic as quickly as she could. ‘I can see you’re a prophet. Erm, tell me, why do you Jews insist on worshipping God at the Temple in Jerusalem while we Samaritans say we should worship God here at Mount Gerizim?’

‘A time’s coming soon when it won’t matter where you worship the Father.’ Jesus replied. ‘You Samaritans don’t really know much about the God you worship, while we Jews know all about Him because salvation comes through the Jews. But a time’s coming, in fact, it’s already here when true worshippers of the Father will worship Him in spirit and in truth.’

The woman was beginning to struggle with all Jesus was saying, ‘I know the Messiah will come,’ she said, ‘the one they call the Christ and He’ll explain everything to us.’

‘I am that Messiah!’ said Jesus. (PAUSE)

As Jesus spoke, the disciples returned. (P) And they couldn’t believe their eyes! Jesus was talking with a Samaritan, and to make things even more uncomfortable, a Samaritan woman! As they arrived with the food, the woman left her bucket beside the well and ran back to the village. When she got there she started talking to everyone she could find, ‘Come and meet this man down by the well, He’s told me everything I ever did! Do you think He could be the Messiah?’ At this, the people hurried out of the village to meet Jesus.

As the woman was hurrying off to the village, the disciples urged Jesus to take some food. ‘It’s ok,’ said Jesus. ‘Because I’ve food to eat you don’t know anything about.’

What could Jesus be talking about? – the disciples asked each other? Had someone already brought Him some food that they didn’t know anything about? But Jesus wasn’t talking about natural food; the food He meant was entirely different.

 ‘The food I’m talking about – is to do what God wants me to do – and finish that work,’ Jesus explained. And then, as the people from the village started to come to meet Jesus He said. ‘Just look around you, it may be four more months until the crops in the fields are ready to be harvested. But can’t you see that already vast fields are ready for the harvest?’ (He was talking about people). (PAUSE)

Many of the Samaritans from that village believed in Jesus because of what the woman had said. But when they came to meet with Him beside the well, they begged Him to stay with them in the village. And so Jesus stayed two more days, long enough for many of the people to hear what He had to say – and to believe. And after they’d met with Jesus and heard His message they said to the woman. ‘We believe in Jesus now, not just because of what you told us, but because we’ve heard Him ours tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testamentelves. And now we know that He really is the Saviour of the world.’