Bible Stories for the Young
Green triangles are narrated and fully illustrated and will have simple animation added along the way. Yellow triangles have narration, but the illustrations aren't done yet. Videos with red triangles are planned. New and updated videos will be added very often.
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The man who had been blind his whole life (but was not blind now!), started running through the streets in joy!
His neighbors and those who’d seen him before asked, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”
“Yes, it’s him!” many people said.
Others said, “No, it only looks like him.”
But he insisted, “Yes! Yes! I am that man! I AM that man!”
“Then how is it that you can see now?” they asked.
He told them, “The man named Jesus — He made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
“Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he answered.
It was a Sabbath day, so as you can imagine, the religious leaders were as mad as hornets. They asked the man how he could see, and the man told them, “The man put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”
Some of the religious leaders said, “Well, He can’t be from God, because He doesn’t obey the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “But, if He is a sinner, then how can He do such amazing things?”
So the people were divided about Jesus.
This is actually a good thing. It brings into the light where people’s hearts are. His Truth exposes what we are really thinking and draws a line. It brings people to God’s valley of decision, that valley of choosing — making people decide whose side they’re on!
One thing that Jesus brought into the world was a sword. But His sword wasn’t a shiny, metal one. It was the sword of Truth! The Truth of God cuts through our hearts and minds and motives, desires and thoughts and reasons just like a sword can cut through flesh. Because it’s not “whatever my brain thinks is right,” or “whatever my emotions feel is right.” NOT! But instead, “What does God say?” And whose side are you on anyway? His side or your own self’s side?
Jesus calls the shots and makes the rules and draws the lines. Not us. One time Jesus said, “Whoever is not with Me on My side, is against Me.” No middle ground, huh? So Jesus caused people to take sides in a right way; not in a way that was making people against other people, but in a way that made people choose just whose side they were on — Jesus’ or satan’s (because our own selfish side always partners up with satan’s).
They turned again to the blind man, “What do you have to say about Him? It was your eyes He opened.”
The not-blind man answered, “He’s a prophet.”
But some still didn’t believe, so they called in the man’s parents.
“Is this your son?” they asked them. “Is this the one you say was born blind? Then how can he see now?”
“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He’s old enough; he can speak for himself.”
(Now his parents said this because they were afraid of the religious leaders because the leaders had already decided that anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah would be kicked out of their religious building.)
Again the leaders called for the man who had been blind and said, “Tell the truth about what happened. We know Jesus is a sinner.”
The man who had been blind replied, “Whether He is a sinner or not, I don’t know. But what I do know is this: I was blind, but now I see! I used to see only darkness. There was no light. But now I see Light, Colors, Life!”
But the religious guys just would not choose to believe. So they kept asking, “But what did He do? HOW did He do it?”
At this, I think the not-blind man started to realize these religious pretenders did not really WANT to see or understand. He said, “I already told you, but you weren’t listening the first time. Do you want to become His disciple too? Is that why you’re asking again?”
But the religious guys just tried to insult him. “You are this guy’s disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know Moses is from God, but we don’t even know where this man is from.”
“Seriously?!” the not-blind man said as he shook his head in disbelief. “That’s crazy! This man healed my eyes and you don’t even know where He comes from? Just listen to yourselves! This isn’t that complicated. We know that God does not listen to sinners. God listens to people who love Him and do His Will. It’s completely unheard of that a man born blind could have his eyes opened. It’s pretty obvious this man is from God, because without God He wouldn’t be able to do a thing.”
Now that the not-blind man was onto these phonies, they were madder than ever. They threw the man out and said, “You have been full of sin since the day you were born. How dare you act like you know more than us.”
But once Jesus heard that the man had been thrown out, Jesus went looking for him. When He found him He asked the man, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The man said, “Who is He? Tell me who He is, so that I can believe!”
Jesus replied, “I am. It’s Me.”
At this the man happily fell to his knees worshipping Jesus. “Lord, I do believe!”
Then Jesus told him, “I have come into this world as a dividing line, so that the blind may see, and those who think they see will become blind.”
Some of the religious leaders overheard Jesus and jumped in, “What are You saying over there? Are You saying that we’re blind?”
Then Jesus clearly told them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But because you claim, ‘we see just fine,’ then you are still guilty of sin.”
Jesus had brought light to the man’s blind eyes, but even more than that, He brought Light to people’s Heaven-Eyes.
Jesus brought a dividing line between Light and darkness, a dividing line between those who choose to stay blind in their darkness and those who love to have Jesus light up their world.