Treating True Blindness

The story follows the miraculous healing of Bartholomew, a man blind from birth, by Jesus. The narrator, a witness to the event, recounts how Jesus approached Bartholomew, made a paste of mud and spit, and instructed him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. When Bartholomew obeyed, his sight was restored, causing shock and confusion among the townspeople.

The Pharisees, outraged that the healing happened on the Sabbath, interrogate Bartholomew and his parents, trying to discredit the miracle. Despite their pressure, Bartholomew boldly defends Jesus, declaring that only a man of God could perform such a healing. Enraged, the Pharisees throw him out.

Jesus finds Bartholomew and reveals Himself as the Son of Man. Bartholomew believes, and Jesus teaches, that true blindness is not physical but spiritual—those who claim to know everything yet reject the truth remain blind. The narrator reflects on how witnessing the event opened the eyes of many, including himself.

Cast: 1 m (monolog)

Bible Reference: John 9:1-41

Set: standard

Sound: wireless mics if available

Song: none

Lighting: standard

SFX: none

Props: none

Costumes: contemporary

Special Instructions: none

Time: 8

Sample of script

actor comes on stage, connects with an unseen person offstage
actor smiles, shakes head, speaks

Wow, gotta tell you, old Bartholomew, he has for sure turned into some local hero!

Done quite a 180, from the town beggar to local darling, in the blink of an eye . . no pun intended.

looks at unseen person in the audience, frowns

You mean you don’t recognize old Bartholomew over there?

pauses, nods, smiles

For a fact that is him . . .

points offstage

Old Blind Bartholomew we used to call him.

Except old Blind Bartholomew, well, fact is, he’s not blind anymore!

looks at unseen person in the audience, smiles, nods head

See old Blind Bartholomew, he was blind from birth.

Now Eli and Sarah, his parents, they were good, God fearing people. And they tried to look after Bartholomew as best they could. But Eli got laid off at work and there simply wasn’t enough money to go around. So Bartholomew he had to go out, sit at the city gates and beg for enough money to get by.

moves

Was back about a month ago, on Sabbath as I recall.

thinks

Yes of course it was Sabbath, for a fact.

It was on that day a group of travellers came walking into town, through the city gates, right past old Blind Bartholomew.

Turns out this group of travellers was Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples.

Never laid eyes on him before that day.

Claimed to be a prophet, was what I heard.

Me, I’m just not so sure about that sorta thing.

It’s just that, even way back here in the backwoods, we get someone most every month claiming to be a prophet or a sorcerer or some kind of fella who can talk to Abraham, Isaac and Moses.

So you can’t blame me, when I first see this Jesus coming down the street, I think, I wonder if this is just another one of those shady characters.

See, some actually say this Jesus is the Messiah.

I mean, it’s not that I didn’t believe in the Messiah, the Promised One. But there have been so many false messiahs come along.

Regardless, Jesus comes walking in the city gates and he sees Blind Bartholomew sitting there, begging.

And Jesus stopped and he goes closer to Bartholomew. And he looks at him.

And all his people stopped and looked as well.

One of his fellas, they called him Peter, he says to Jesus . .

“Teacher, what’s the reason this man is blind? ., . Was it his sin or his parent’s sin?”

Jesus he looked Peter right in the eye and he says:

“Peter, you’re not looking for answers, you are looking for someone to blame.

“What you are looking for is an easy comment that will solve nothing.
“What all of us have to concentrate on is showing what God can do in people’s lives, doing the work that God sent me here to do.

“Realize, Peter and all of you, there is only so much time for me here on earth.

“While I am here I will be God’s light, shining for all to see. But that light will go out.”

That’s what this Jesus said.

But you are not gonna believe what happened next!

Jesus leaned down and spit on the ground, and he made the spittle and the dust into a kind of paste, and he put the paste right on Blind Bartholomew’s eyes.

And Jesus says to Bartholomew, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.”

Now you can just guess that all of us guys that had watched these goings-on, we weren’t about to drop this one, so we all trailed after Blind Bartholomew, off to the pool.

Once there Bartholomew washed off the paste, just as Jesus had instructed.

And then , , ,

A scream of delight!

Old Blind Bartholomew was bouncing around, jumping over fences, chasing around chairs and tables.