The Day I Met Jesus

Written by Lee Booth of Theatre Calgary

A blind beggar sits by the road outside Jericho—the place everyone knows him but no one sees him. Rumors swell: Jesus is on the way. The man shouts over the crowd, gets shushed, and shouts again. Then a Voice: “What do you want me to do for you?” What follows is light—startling, tender, world-tilting light—and the first thing he ever sees is the face of Jesus. This intimate monologue pulls the audience close with humor, ache, and wonder, inviting each person to hear their own name in that question and to consider what mercy might look like today. (Inspired by Luke 18:34–43.)

Cast: 1 m (monolog)

Bible Reference: Luke 18:34-43

Set: standard

Sound: wireless mike if available

Song: none

Lighting: standard

SFX: none

Props: none

Costumes:

• likely, though not necessarily, traditional

Special Instructions: none

Time: 13

Sample script:

actor comes onstage

Greetings friends. . . .
May I call you friends?
After all, if you know Jesus, you are a friend.

smiles, nods head, thinking, remembering

I want to share with you the first time I saw Jesus.
Although it happened many years ago, I still recall it as if it only happened yesterday . . . because seeing Jesus for the first time was the absolute greatest day of my life.

pauses, thinks, shakes head

I will never ever forget it.

moves a few paces, smiles, remembering

I was sitting in my usual spot on the roadside just outside Jericho.
For as long as I could remember that was my spot. Since I was a child, all I could do was sit there all day and beg for any kind of help. I had to rely on the mercy of others. You have to understand—I never wanted to be a beggar, but I could never support myself because I was born blind.

shakes head, negatively

On that day the sun seemed hotter than usual for that time of year. I could hear laughter all around me, but I could not laugh. I had been there most of the day, and no one stopped to give me drink, or even just to say hello. Everyone knew who I was and what my condition was, but they didn’t care. I could hear children playing in the distance. It sounded like they were having fun. I could hear,

“Tag! You’re it!”

And lots of laughing.
It reminded me of the one and only time I tried to play tag as a boy. That was a really dumb move! Now you can’t tag something you can’t see, so I came up with a brilliant idea—if they just made noise like “lalala” or something I could catch them. The first time I tried to run, I ran straight into a sycamore tree! I laugh about this now, but you can only imagine how silly I felt. All the other kids were laughing their heads off at that, and I was hurt both physically and emotionally.

sad, looks downward

Now to be fair they did not know I was hurt and I was too proud to show them. They just thought it was funny. My mother came running in to find out what had happened and when I told her all she said was,

“What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know,” was all I could come up with, but after that I never tried to play with them again. I can’t blame them for that. After all, who wants to hang around with a blind person? I would have been more of a burden than a friend, so I backed away from trying to make friends.

shakes head, focusing

Oh I’m sorry, I got distracted.
This is something you will find out when you get older. I was telling you about the day I met Jesus.

remembering

Even though the market was in the distance, I could smell all the fruit and food that was being sold. I could practically taste all the cooking that was happening in the city, and hear all kinds of animals making noise from the market.
Friends, it can be torture to sense food all around you when you have nothing to eat. My stomach longed for the day it would be full. To be able to say to anyone, “No thank you, I couldn’t eat another thing,” that was just a dream for me.
I also recall on that day that everyone was doing their best to avoid me. Even though I was blind, I’m not stupid. I can tell when people deliberately walk on the other side of the road just to avoid me. But you know what was worse than being avoided? They would talk about me behind my back saying,

“Why is he always sitting there? Can’t he go somewhere else, so we don’t have to look at him!”

But the absolute worst was the debate some would get into on who was the greater sinner in my family that caused my blindness—me or my parents? They said this thinking I could not hear them. I have to tell you my hearing is very good, and I heard everything they said about me, and it was very hurtful. My parents were good people that worked hard to provide for me while they were alive. I would cry out . . .

“Please, I know you are there. I can hear you. Can you not spare something? A piece of bread, a drink of water, a penny?”

I would have taken anything, but I did not exist to them that day. They were as blind to me as I was to them. They did not give me anything.

I am not sure how, but suddenly I felt the strange sensation that something was going to happen. There was a feeling of excitement in the air.
Crowds of people were passing by me in a hurry. Some were running and others were shouting with excitement saying things like,

“Is that him or a disciple? He’s coming! He will soon be here!”

“What’s happening?” I shouted, but no one responded.
Finally I grabbed someone and asked again,
“Can you please tell me what is happening?”
He said, “Jesus of Nazareth is heading this way!”

“What’s that?” I thought.
Jesus was coming to Jericho? I had heard about him. He was the Messiah, the Son of God! I heard how he had performed many miracles in other cities. Did you know Jesus once fed 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and fish? The people were so full that there was actually not one or two, but twelve baskets of food left over.
Can you imagine that? I would have loved to have been there for that feast!
Jesus had also healed many from all kinds of sickness and even cast out demons. He even had command of the wind and rain!

But most importantly Jesus was coming this way. I had to get his attention, so I shouted,
“Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”

I was immediately shaken by someone and sharply told to be quiet—I was embarrassing him.
“Oh, so now I exist to you,” I thought.

Well, I had enough, and I didn’t care any more. I was not going to be ignored. I had to get Jesus’ attention. This was my chance, and I was not going to let it get by, so I just kept shouting as loud as I could above the noise.
“Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus, son of David, please have mercy on me.”

I kept shouting till my voice was almost gone.

All of a sudden everything went quiet and some people started to lead me away. I thought, this is it—they were going to take me away and beat me. But then they stopped. I then heard the most beautiful voice that I will never, ever forget.

“What do you want me to do for you?” the voice said, and I knew at that moment that this was Jesus.