SermonStudio

Characters
Aaron -- middle-aged man
Jacob -- middle-aged man

Props
None required

Setting
None required

Costumes
Use period costumes -- robes, sandals, head coverings, and the like

(Jacob comes in from the aisle and Aaron comes from the side aisle to meet at the chancel area. They have not seen each other for a long time. They embrace.)

Aaron: (ironically) My old friend, it's so good to see you.

Jacob: (chuckles, then says ironically) And for me to see you, Aaron. What is it now, five years?

Aaron: Yes, and four of those since Jesus' resurrection. It doesn't seem possible. How are you?

Jacob: I'm better now than I was. After I regained my sight, I couldn't figure out what I could do for a living. What was I to do? How was I to live and where? After all, I was born blind and never learned a trade. I only learned how to beg at the gate.

Aaron: I understand. At least I had learned carpentry before I lost my sight. But what did you do?

Jacob: A new friend, one who was following Jesus, helped me learn to be a shepherd. Shepherds are treated as badly as those of us who have to beg for a living. But, being a shepherd taught me more about Jesus' teachings and more about his parables. After a while I started following some of Jesus' disciples instead of tending sheep. I still find it amazing that our Lord rose from the dead! But I know it's true.

Aaron: I've been with Paul and a few others when they went to Corinth and then back to Jerusalem. I must ask you, though, are you still amazed at so much beauty to see? The beauty of the stars at night, water droplets that magnify rainbows, flowers and cypress trees, sunrises and sunsets -- all of it is overwhelming at times.

Jacob: What amazes me all the time is the beauty in peoples' faces, each of them with such different personalities, and all the different animals. Then there is the sweetness of small children, especially when they are sleeping -- or even if the child is wide awake and crying!

Aaron: That's all true. I still remember the very first thing I saw. I saw the face of Jesus. Do you remember that?

Jacob: I could never forget. His face just reflected love and compassion. Yet, the decision of our healing was up to us, he said, and our faith and belief that Jesus was the Son of God. How could we have known when we called out to him to heal us that it wasn't just our sight he would heal?

Aaron: I've often wondered what would have happened if we had listened to the crowd yelling at us to be quiet? If we had not called out, where would we be now? We had heard of Jesus and that he was coming our way.

Jacob: Yes, and when we heard about him, we believed right away that he was the chosen one, the Messiah.

Aaron: But we couldn't keep quiet and even the crowd saw our healing. We had to go and tell everyone that the Messiah healed us -- that we could see!

Jacob: I wish some of the things we didn't have to see, like those who didn't have the chance to see Jesus as we did and those who are empty inside, who have no life within them. But the worst sight was seeing Jesus crucified. Do you remember how dark it became as he died? For a moment I thought I was losing my sight again because it was only three o'clock in the afternoon.

Aaron: I, too, thought I was losing my sight again as I stood there and watched him take his last breath. But later, the next week, I heard that Jesus had risen from the grave and once again, immediately actually, I believed it. He was, and is, my Lord. I'll travel with his other followers to tell everyone all he taught us and who he is.

Jacob: I must go. I'm meeting with some of his followers yet this afternoon and as you know, we have to be careful where we meet and who we tell about him. But I, too, can hardly contain myself about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Shalom, my friend, and may we meet again soon.

Aaron: Shalom, Jacob. God go with you!

(They leave the opposite way from where they came in.)