Jesus, the son of God, has traveled far and wide performing miracles in order to bring as many as he can to faith. As 2020 slowly approaches, it remains clear that persuading followers is not as easy as the first time he came to earth; however, he has yet to grow weary, despite the attempts of demons and Satan. Jesus and his twelve disciples have flown via jet into New York City.
After departing from the airport, Jesus was met by a homeless man on the street in front of his AirBnB, who immediately ran towards him. The man was wearing rags, reeked of alcohol, and smelt of a stench that words cannot convey. The man dropped to his knees, begging for mercy and claiming that demons were tormenting him. Jesus asked the man his name and the man responded,
"My name is -".
The man froze, as if he had seen a ghost, and his eyes rolled back deeply into his head. Jesus sensed the presence of the demons and spoke to them calmly,
"I demand you that possess this body to speak your name."
A raspy and deep voice responded,
"Our name is ISIS and we are many. We beg of you to please not force us to leave this land."
"ISIS, I demand you all to return to the bodies of the rats, where you belong!"
Instantly, rats from the sewers and darkest corners of the streets in New York immediately ran into the roads, where they were all run over by passing cars. The man who knelt before Jesus praised him, but Jesus told him to merely spread the word of what miracle he had performed. While the man began running to spread word of the miracle, videos on social media became viral, displaying thousands of rats flooding the streets of New York and being killed by cars. Word spread quickly on a nationwide scale that Jesus had returned and was performing miracles.
Later that day, Jesus came into downtown New York and was surrounded by many attempting to simply see the savior. While being bombarded with people, Jesus heard a whisper of a prayer near a pizza shop. He stopped with his disciples and approached a women in rags that appeared to be deathly sick. The woman was so sick, she could not stand to see her savior. Instead, she lay on a blanket and continued to pray. Jesus placed his hand on her shoulder and said, "Your faith is strong, thus you are healed." The women immediately regained color to her face and stood up to praise Jesus.
Jesus began walking once again with his disciples away from the pizza shop and towards Times Square. As they approached Times Square another man approached the group. The man's name was Gerald and he was well-known to be the best doctor in New York. He told Jesus that his only daughter had grown very ill, and that without his help she would surely die. Jesus told Gerald to take him to his daughter. When they arrived at the hospital, Jesus and Gerald were told by a nurse that Gerald's daughter had died, but Jesus wanted to see her. Jesus went into the hospital with Gerald and saw his lifeless daughter lying on her death bed. Jesus turned to Gerald and said,
"My son, do not weep, for she is merely sleeping."
Jesus placed his hand on Gerald's daughter head. After a brief moment Jesus took his hand off the girl's lifeless body. Immediately the girl rose and Gerald hugged his daughter while praising Jesus. Gerald ran outside and told the crowd of the miracle Jesus performed. The crowd cheered, and all began to sing in praise of Jesus.
Author's Note: The original story was Jesus The Healer from Mark 5 in the King James Bible. The story explains how Jesus performed various miracles during this time. He and his twelve disciples are sailing over the sea into a country called "Gadarenes" (Eastern shore of Galilee) . Jesus was met by a man with an unclean spirit which means that he had demons inside of him. Jesus performed an exorcism and sent the demons into pigs that immediately ran off a cliff and killed themselves. People were initially scared of Jesus, so they asked him to leave their land and he did. Jesus returned to the other side of the sea and was met by a church leader named Jairus. Jairus' daughter was very ill and the man asked Jesus to come heal her. On their way to Jairus' home, a crowd appeared and was following them. Despite all the people touching Jesus, he felt the touch of a woman who was very sick. He healed her due to her strong faith and went towards the church. When Jesus and Jairus approached the church leaders' home, they were informed that Jairus' daughter had died. Jesus healed her and brought her back to life, performing the final miracle of this story.
This story was originally very hard to read, especially in the version presented. I wanted to create a modernized version using the same plot and protagonist. I felt that this could convey the message of Jesus' healing in a more contemporary way. I used different characters for those other than Jesus. I also transitioned from pigs into rats, as I felt it was more realistic for New York City. In addition to this, I knew that traveling by plane would be more likely in today's society than traveling by boat. Therefore, I also made that change to help with the realism. Another major change I wanted to include is the change of the church leader into a doctor. I felt like this better made the point of the people needing Jesus. It truly shows humility to me whenever an incredible doctor has to ask Jesus for his help. The main point of this is obviously in relation to faith and believing, but it also shows the miracles that Jesus has performed. With the stories in my portfolio, I want to make a more modernized version that is easier to read for people today. I’m hoping that I can incorporate some other stories that are difficult to read, as I will go out attempting to find the most confusing ones and act as a translator for the reader. I think that there are many points in these stories that are covered by heavy wording and can often be missed by the readers. I really enjoyed recreating this, hope you all enjoy reading it! In addition to this, I also made some editing changes and added paragraph spacing to make it easier to follow. Thanks for all of your suggestions!
Bibliography: Story Source: King James Bible (1611), Mark 5: Jesus The Healer
Image Source: Jesus Healing