TV Show Idea

I would love to create a show like touched by an angel but rather called "Touched by the Master". Each episode would focus on a different person's life and how ONE encounter with Christ, even if brief, will change their course forever. There are so many people whose courses were altered by a simple touch. The Leper who lost all he had, the man with a dead daughter and the woman with the issue of blood, etc. This is a sort of "script" idea for how i see an episode going. You would never SEE Jesus in the show. You would simply see His garments, His hands, you would see Him from the back, etc. You would never His face though. We have tainted the view of God enough. I like to see Christ in my minds eye. Here is my first episode idea. Instead of scripting it in storyboard form i have written it like a short story.

"The Issue"

Catherine pulled herself out of bed and grunted in pain. It had been years since she got out of bed without wincing at

the cramps and feeling woozy from the loss of blood. She stumbled to the kitchen and pulled from the pantry

a large clay bowl. It was one her mother had given her, along with some other common cooking utensils, in hopes she would one day be cooking feasts for her husband and kids. That was years ago and the her mother was dead and her hopes of marrying were long gone. No body would want to marry someone with her issue of blood. They would be ceremonially unclean….perpetually. She couldn't have children and now she could barely get around the house. She never went out in public. She was ceremonially unclean. Anyone associate with her or near her would be unclean as well. She couldn't even worship at the temple. She was nothing… a nobody. She stirred vigorously the meal mixed with oil she had poured in the bowl to bake some bread. The bracelet she was wearing had flour all over it. She took a cloth and wiped the bracelet clean. The bracelet was precious to her. Maybe it was a ray of hope she still held on to. She hoped one day in the future something would change. But deep down inside she knew nothing would ever change. As she finished wiping the bracelet her mind wandered to when she received the token from the man she loved.

"Catherine, you know why I am giving you this bracelet?" He had said to her. "It is because you are the most gorgeous woman in town. Every man in this town wants to be your suitor. You are talented and beautiful and probably the most desirable women in Capernaum. I would be a fool not to try to win your heart."

Catherine stirred her bowl faster. Beating the batter as if it had wronged her. Her frustrations welled up into tears as the realization that no one would ever love her again flooded her mind. She placed the bowl down allow the dough to set and sat down in a chair by the window. She watched as people walked to and fro through the city going about their daily lives. She saw a man swing his daughter around to his back. She saw a woman buying berries from the fruit stand. Then she saw her friend Mary walking towards the door with a basket. She walked over and opened the door for Mary.

"Hello there Mary, how are you today." "I'm fine Catherine" Mary replied, "and I brought you all the things you need for this week just as you asked. Coriander, Cumin, Flour, Oil, and some fresh fish from the market near the Sea of Galilee. They were overstocked. A large number of fish came in suddenly and they need to sell them fast." Mary was putting away Catherine's things as she spoke and then she turned to find Catherine sitting with her head in her hands. "Catherine, what's wrong." "Sometimes, Mary, I just feel so defeated, like my life is over. I am always in pain and I rely on my friends for everything. I'm pretty much confined to this house most days. I'd be better off dead."

"Catherine, you can't talk like that. You can't give up hope."

"Every ounce of hope I had has left. Just like my money left to all the doctors I paid to try to help me. I could've at least lived a comfortable life alone, but now even my wealth has been robbed of me. It's this dreaded disease. I hate it." Catherine sighed. Mary looked over her shoulder almost as if to not to be overheard for what she was about to say. " Catherine, there is a man in town. He is not a…well…..not a doctor per se. But He heals people. He has healed a lot of people. People say He has a direct connection to God Himself". Catherine looked at Mary with a skeptical eyebrow. "Mary, thanks for the gesture but i am so sick of people saying they can heal me and then leaving me worse off than before." "But Catherine, He's not asking for money. He does everything in the name of the Lord. He says He performs the miracles to show that He is sent from the one true God." Catherine sighed and continued to stare out the window unresponsive. " Catherine, what can it hurt?"

"I'll think about it Mary. Thanks for always listening to me. I appreciate it." And then Mary was gone and all that was left was Catherine and her thoughts. "He's not asking for money", Catherine thought about this for a minute. "What can He hope to gain?" She walked back to her bed where the cover was still turned down and plopped down on her back. She groaned as the 12 years of sickness had deteriorated her insides until her body felt like it would tear open from the inside out. As she lay there her mind flashed to the last doctor she had seen.

"I'm sorry Catherine, I think we've reached the limit to what i can do to help you." Catherine's eyes welled up and her face turned from disbelief, to sorrow, to anger all in under a minute. She stood up. "I've been to every doctor in this region and in most of Israel. You were my last hope. I gave you all the money I had left." The doctor didn't move from the table he was sitting at. "Catherine, Im sorry, I don't know what else to tell you." Catherine looked down at her hands that were wrapped around her lower waist. She slowly let her anger resolve and then politely nodded in acknowledgment. Catherine turned around to walk out the door, then paused, turned to face the doctor and with a genuine voice that surprised him said, "Tell your wife congratulations on your new baby boy. I'm so happy for you both." Then she turned and walked out.

Her rest is disturbed by a loud commotion outside. She hears voices. Lots of them. Cheering. Laughing. Crying. Moaning. A Cornucopia of sounds that peaked her interest. She looked out the window to see a man walking through the streets. There were hundreds of people following this man. Screaming his name, reaching for him, singing his praises. What were they calling out? Jesus. Could that be who Mary was talking about? Catherine grabbed her robe and limped outside. As she walked towards the crowd she heard people talking. My son was blind and now he can see. And another person spoke, "You know Jairus, the official at the synagouge? I heard he healed his daughter." As she heard the people talking her pace quickened. Her breaths came faster. Her mind was spinning. Healer. He is connected to God. If these things are true, I can be healed as well. Yes. Yes, I have to reach Him. I have to. Catherine picked up the bottom of her garment and she started a full out sprint towards Jesus. When she got close so many people were surrounding Him she couldn't get in. "Excuse Me. Excuse Me. Please. Please I need to talk to Him. Please." Catherine was feeling desperation well up inside of her. With this crowd I won't be able to get Him alone to explain whats wrong with me. "Maybe" she thought "Maybe, if I can just touch the bottom of his robe. Then some of His power can flow to me and heal me." If He's not asking for money and He's not a doctor, he doesn't have to talk to me or even know what's wrong to heal me. Maybe, He is the healing. Catherine doubled her resolve and pushed through the crowd until she was right on Jesus's heals. She was suddenly knocked into. An elbow in the face sent Catherine tumbling down. As she fell almost as in slow motion she reached with all her might and grabbed the edge of Jesus's tunic. Then she let go. She felt a force she couldn't explain well up inside of her. As if a lighting bolt had struck her with a pleasure sensation. In one moment, her pain was gone. She felt like a teenager again. Time froze for Catherine. She stared down at her pain free body in disbelief and cried tears of joy. "Im healed" she said to herself "I just know Im healed". Then Jesus's voice pulled her out of her mental ecstasy. "Who touched me?" He asked. Jesus stopped walking and the whole crowd of people stopped as well. Someone standing close to Jesus said "Master, there are dozens of people right next to you. How can you say 'who touched me?'." Jesus said "I felt healing leave my body." The crowds slowly started to part and left Catherine exposed. She thought about running or not speaking up, but then her grateful heart couldn't remain silent. "I touched you." she said collapsed at his feet. She was trembling. "Im, sorry. I just knew… if I could just" she wiped tears between each phrase. She took a deep breath. " I just knew, if I could touch your garment, that somehow you could do what no doctor or amount of money could do for me." there was a pause. Jesus stared into her eyes. She had never seen such kind or compassionate eyes before. They were piercing. She drank them in deep. Was he searching her soul? His face broke out in a smile. A huge smile. A smile so beautiful and so warm Catherine just knew that He could tell the sun to shine and it would or the winds to stop blowing and they would listen to Him. "Take heart daughter" He said "Your faith has healed you." Then He turned and walked away with the crowd following. Catherine stood perfectly still for what felt like a lifetime. She just watched as slowly the band of people followed her savior as He walked slowly out into the distance and across the horizon. Then they disappeared. The world around Catherine buzzed and continued as normal. Everyone was back to business as usual. But Catherine just smiled and stared off into the direction of the man who, by one simple touch, changed her whole life.