"The Betrayal" (Judas Iscariot)
It is done! I have betrayed my very soul,.. my means of salvation. Jesus, my Master.
His eyes still haunt me. When He looked at me at the supper, when our hands dipped the sop, He knew! He knew I was the one. and yet His eyes.. full of pity and even then,. love.
"A devil" He had said. How did this come to be? When did Satan enter my heart? Was I not chosen to be one of His closest companions? And yet I lost it all. for what?
I walked with Him, we shared food,. shelter, but my selfish greed and pride kept me apart, always apart. It would torment my soul to see Him give and give, always giving. Teaching us to deny our flesh as we took on the roles of servants. Me, Judas Iscariot, a servant... to beggars and.. sinners!
He was to be our conqueror, our King, yet He delayed His role as King to serve the lowest dregs of humanity. The Samaritans, even a Roman centurion's faith would compel Him to heal, to help.
The wretched people with their hideous maimed and twisted limbs, all reaching to Him, and He the Master....yet always.. a servant!.........
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"The Cleansing" (of the Leper)
Before my affliction came, I was a happy man. I had a wonderful life with my wife and two beautiful daughters. The day I noticed a small white patch on my arm, I pretended it was nothing, and for several days I would put it out of my mind.
As the days passed, I could no longer deceive myself, and a shaft of horror pierced my heart like a knife. I had been stricken with this most dreaded disease, the living death, called leprosy.I remember wanting to die right then, because I knew what it meant,. I would have to leave my wife, and children, our home... go live in the caves with other miserable creatures. like me.
Leaving everything I loved behind, I took up residence in the most hideous of abodes.. the leper caves. The lonely days passed into endless weeks.
The physical effects of this curse were devastating. We would eventually lose our toes and fingers, sometimes an ear or even a nose. You cannot imagine the horror, the wretchedness......
There was some talk about one called Jesus. One of the lepers heard from their people, that this was a Man from God, a healer that He had healed many people of many afflictions and diseases.
........one day, a large group of people came down from the mountains.Word came to us that this Man Jesus had been there, teaching.
Could this be true, could this Man from God be almost near to us? Hope began rising in my heart, I never dreamed that He would come.....
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"The Man of Miracles" (Healing of Blind Bartimaus)
I can still hardly take it in, that I was once so blind,.. I am speaking of a darkness that most of you can only imagine. But I lived there, in that dark cavern, for 32 years,.. from my birth.
When my parents died, I had to make my own way as best I could, and being blind, the occupation that fell to me was begging . Daily I would sit on the dusty roadside, I depended on the kindness of others to have bread to eat.
But people were not always kind. I recall how the boys would run by and kick the cup out of my hand. How they would drop stones in, instead of coins.
But one day I heard some men speaking of one called Jesus, as they went their way, I caught the last few words, and it sent chills down my spine. They said that this Jesus of Nazareth had healed the blind man in Capernaum.
All I could think of that day, and every day after that, was that if this Man truly healed the sick, and restored sight to the blind, O why could it not happen for me? I kept these things in my heart and vowed that if ever, this Man came my way, I would do anything to get to Him.
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END of PREVIEWS
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