Over 2,000 years ago, a man by the name of Jesus was born
and walked the earth. He performed miracles that no one had seen before. On one
certain occasion, there was a man who was plagued with leprosy. This disease
was highly contagious. So contagious, the leper wasn’t allowed to be around any
humans. Nobody wanted to be around him and nobody wanted to help him. The leper
was full of sores and scabs that caused him great pain and no doctor could heal
the disastrous disease. One day, Jesus saw this man.
The leper had heard about the miracles Jesus was performing
and knew about the previous sicknesses he had healed. He knew that if anyone
could heal his disease, it had to be this miracle-performing stranger. When the
leper saw Jesus, he kneeled and asked if he could be made clean. Jesus then
reached out his hand to touch the leper and said, “I will; be clean.” The
leprosy immediately left the man and he was healed!
Jesus told the leper to not tell anyone about the miracle he
had just performed, but to go show the priest he was clean so that he could be
accepted socially again.
That didn’t go so well.
The leper went and told everyone about the miracle Jesus had
performed. Soon after, people were everywhere he went surrounding Jesus.
“Who is this man that performs these miracles?” people
wondered.
As Jesus’ ministry continued more and more people began to
follow him and listen to what he said. Just as some people agreed with his
teachings and lessons, Jesus also faced people who hated him and were against his
lifestyle.
Jesus went on to perform many more miracles. He even calmed
a mighty storm from a boat!
Twelve committed disciples followed Jesus. These men dropped
everything to follow him. Just before his death, one of Jesus’ disciples
betrayed him and turned him over to Jewish soldiers.
Jesus was sentenced to death for blasphemy. He called
himself the son of God.
He was crucified on a cross and hung by three nails. When he
had suffocated, Jesus was taken down and buried in a tomb. After three days,
the disciples had noticed the tomb was empty. They believed someone had stolen
the body until an angel appeared and told them the good news.
Jesus had risen from the dead and defeated the sin of the
world!
Later, Jesus descended into Heaven and sent the Holy Spirit
among the people of the earth.
Jesus healing the leper.
Photo Cred: Testimonies From Heaven
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This story is told to make a better
understanding of the King James Version of the Gospel of Mark read in class. It
only highlights a few of the events that occurred in the lifetime of Jesus and
hits a couple of the main points. This story is written from my understanding of
the Gospel of Mark. You can find the actual story of the leper here. I hope you enjoy!
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Title: The Gospel of Mark
Author: Mark
I think it's really cool that you condensed the lifetime of a person into a much shorter story than the Bible. I think the work and kindness Jesus did for the poor was really cool. I think it's interesting that you focus on one story, but also told the beginning, middle and end of the whole story of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThe story of Jesus healing the leper was moving, yet traditional. You added in a few personal comments that made it more interesting. For example, you said, “That didn’t go so well,” after Jesus told the leper to keep this miracle quiet. It gave the story a special touch and made it more dynamic.
ReplyDeleteThe way you transitioned your paragraphs was excellent. The more spaces and separated paragraphs, the better because the reader can smoothly follow the transitions and grasp the reading or specific points.
Coming from a Christian background, I have read this story before so I am familiar with the characters and setting, so one thing I encourage you to do is to add some vivid details about the story so it truly comes alive off of the page.
Another suggestion would be to add some direct speech into your story. I realize the original story was probably writing from an indirect perspective, but to make the story more original you could add some dialogue between the characters.
I think you did a good job of stating some of the miraculous things Jesus did while He was on earth. When I started to read your story I thought you were going to retell the story of Jesus healing the leper, but then I realized it was less about the leper and more about summarizing Mark. I think your story would benefit if you just focused on ONE story within the Gospel of Mark. Your story would benefit if you spent more time on retelling the story of the Leper and leave out the rest of Jesus’ life because it isn't that important to this particular story. I did really like when you said, “That didn't go so well.” This is so true to the story. I also enjoyed reading your perspective on the important events in Mark.
ReplyDeleteALSO,
“One day, Jesus saw this man.”
This is such a powerful statement because not only did Jesus see the man physically he saw him spiritually. I think it didn't quite flow with the rest of the paragraph, even though I love this line.
Great re-telling of the Gospel of Mark! While the storyline was kept in the traditional sense, it was light and really easy to understand. Like Brooke and Catherine said, I think adding little things like "That didn't go so well" really helped make the story relatable to modern times. The King James version is sometimes a little difficult to read because we don't really talk that way anymore, so you did a great job condensing and rewording!
ReplyDeleteLandon,
ReplyDeleteWow, great story. I liked the overall summary you gave of the Gospel. You seemed to have all the key parts that allow people to know what it is about. It was also really cool how that you gave a brief story example from the Gospel. The structure of your post was very good. The breaks in-between each paragraph or thought made it very easy to follow you.
The story about the leper was said pretty well, and I like the third person point of view. It is very similar to how Mark told the story in his Gospel, but still had your own touch in it. The story did a good job reeling me and making me want to read more. It was nice to have the summary right after the story, so I knew what I would be getting into if I decided to read the whole Gospel. Great Job!
Hey Landon!
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see a friend in this class. Thanks for your comment on my introduction.
I thought you did a fantastic job with your elaboration on the Gospel of Mark. I have definitely read this story and talked about it a lot when I was younger in Sunday school.
Your word choice was clear and to the point. I don't think this story needed a lot of fluff, so good job on that. I thought the phrase "That didn't go so well." was a nice way to lead into the following paragraphs. It gave the story a light-hearted feel.
Your characters in the story didn't go very deep, but I didn't think that was needed. The focus of this story was not on the characters, but the overall message. You just touched on the vital parts of the gospel, which is most important.
Your dialogue was good and I liked your use of one exclamation point in the middle of the story. It was a nice place to use it because it helps to emphasize that spectacular moment.
As for the setting, you did a good job at the beginning to set us up for where the story was taking place. I appreciated that because it's easy to forget exactly when each gospel is taking place.Your sentence structure was good and easy to follow. No fragments or run-on sentences.
Great job with this story. I look forward to reading more in the future!