| Blind, Deaf and Speechless |
| Jesus kept hiding from bad King Herod. The soldiers didn't know what Jesus looked like. But the common people did. Someone spotted Jesus up in some hills and ran and told the people in town. Then the word spread to other towns. People traveled all evening to get to where Jesus was. The next morning Jesus came out to teach them all about God and getting to heaven. But someone interrupted Jesus. He was mute, which means he could not speak. That's probably because he was deaf too, which means he could not hear. Jesus had such little time left to teach about God, he did not want to get started healing a lot of people. He took the man to where other people couldn't see what he was doing. Jesus spit on his hands and touched the man's ears. Then he touched the man's tongue. "I can hear! I can speak!" he said. "I'm going to tell everyone!" Jesus did not want the bad people to find him, so asked the man not to say anything. But the man was so happy, he shouted "Jesus healed me! Jesus healed me!" Now everyone in the crowd wanted healed. Jesus felt sorry for them. So he spent all day healing and never got a chance to teach them about God and going to heaven. He left the next day. Jesus went in another direction to keep hiding from bad King Herod. He decided to go to a big city where he could get lost in the crowd. When he got there, he walked around the city square and saw some homeless men there. They were dirty and ragged. People didn't like them to go to the synagogue like that. One of the homeless men recognized Jesus. He ran and got his friend, Aram, who was blind. Jesus took him outside the city where they would not be noticed. Once again he spit on his fingers, then touched the man's eyes. Aram could see. Jesus found out Aram was from another town and surely wanted to tell his family. Jesus told Aram not to go back into the city to tell anyone, but to go back home because now he could see and get a job. Now he wouldn't have to be homeless any more. Put your hands over your eyes. That's what it is like to be blind. Put your fingers in your ears. That's what it is like to be deaf. Thank God right now that you can see and hear. |