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Author
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Topic: "Smurfed Behind: The Passion Of The Smurfs" -- the full story
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 03-25-2016 01:57 AM
Scriptures used for the dialog in the story come from the A Voice In The Wilderness 2008 Edition Holy Scriptures, the New King James translation, and the Today's New International Version translation, with modifications made to fit the flow of the story.
It is on a deserted road in a Middle Eastern country that the time travel vortex appeared, and the Smurfs who were traveling through time all came out through the vortex one by one until they appeared and the vortex closed itself up.
"Smurfatooties, I wonder where we are now," Grandpa Smurf asked as he looked around.
"Right now my only concern is to make sure all my little Smurfs are safe, and then we can wonder when and where are we," Papa Smurf said as he collected the chronosyte crystals.
"Seafaring seagulls, look at us," Sassette said as she looked at herself and her fellow Smurflings. "All of us are back to wearing our old clothes."
"That must mean we are back in the present," Nat said. "But why are we not back in the Smurf Village?"
"Smurfs me," Slouchy said. "Maybe the time crystals have misdirected us to another location."
"I have a feeling in my spirit that where we are now is a location that the Almighty Himself wants to smurf us to, my fellow Smurfs," Tapper said as he looked around.
"Right, this imaginary God of yours smurfed us through time to wherever it is in the world we are at this moment," Hefty said in disbelief.
Suddenly they could hear the sound of people approaching. "Quick, my little Smurfs, hide!" Papa Smurf called out. And so all the Smurfs got off the road as quickly as possible to avoid being seen by whoever it was coming in their direction.
They watched while hiding in the grasses and saw a group of humans walking together, all of them wearing robes and cloaks and sandals. One of them was a bearded man that seemed to be someone that Tapper recognized. "Great Smurfiny Crickets, it's Him...the Almighty's Son!" he called out to his fellow Smurfs. "We must have arrived outside Jerusalem during His first coming upon this earth."
"Michty me, laddie, are you sure about that?" Duncan asked. "I don't smurf anything about Him that makes Him smurf out from all the others."
"He didn't smurf to the world in a form that's supposed to make Him smurf out from anyone else, Duncan," Tapper said. "Scripture says that He has no form or splendor that we should regard Him, nor anything spectacular that we should desire Him."
"At least we know that we're still in the past, my little grandsmurfs," Grandpa Smurf said. "If this Man of yours is supposed to be important to history, Tapper, then we shouldn't smurf anything that would disrupt that history."
Suddenly they could hear Puppy growl. "What is it, Puppy?" Nat asked.
"Hey, smurf out one of those men who is in that group, and tell me who he doesn't remind you of," Tuffy pointed out as he saw a familiar face in the crowd with the Almighty's Son.
The Smurfs looked at the man Tuffy was pointing to, walking with a cat, and were surprised by his very appearance. "Just what we need, another human possibly related to Gargamel," Hefty said.
"I have a feeling that this man who smurfs like Gargamel might be Judas Iscariot, the man who would be forever known as the betrayer of the Almighty's Son," Tapper said.
"That man is Judas Iscariot?" Barber said as he looked at him. "That's impossible!"
"So the question is, why are these men all heading for Jerusalem at this time?" Sweepy asked.
"If my Bible reading smurfs me correctly, this may be the time when the Almighty's Son is going to sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world, which will be preceded by His triumphal entry into the city while riding on a donkey," Tapper said.
"So that Man is going to smurf into that city to die...so what?" Hefty said. "I don't smurf what's so big about that...that's just what humans and all creatures do."
"Papa Smurf, I feel that the Almighty want us to be here as witnesses of this historical event for His purpose," Tapper said. "So though this is something I wouldn't normally recommend for us during our time traveling, we might as well follow this group and see everything that they're going to smurf."
"I would have to see that as a reckless venture, Tapper, but somehow I trust you are smurfing the right thing," Papa Smurf said.
-----
So the Smurfs followed quietly behind the group of humans, being careful not to be seen by them or anyone else, until the group came to a stop directed by the Almighty's Son.
"Lord, why are we stopping?" one of them asked. "We are getting close to Jerusalem, which is where You wanted to go."
The Son didn't answer. Instead, He turned to two of his other disciples and said, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?', you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.'"
"We will do what you say, Lord," the two disciples said, and so they went off and entered into the village to look for the colt that He told them they would find.
"Bah, this is ridiculous," the man who resembled Gargamel said. "Why are we wasting our time waiting outside Jerusalem just to find a colt when we could be there by now already?"
"Why are you questioning what the Lord wants, Judas?" another disciple said. "If that's how He wants to enter into Jerusalem, then that's what we're going to give Him."
"And since when did you really care about what the Lord wants, anyhow?" a third disciple said. "All you do is steal from the money bag that He put you in charge of."
"I have followed this Man for about three years, and I have done everything that He has asked of me, and what do I get to show for it?" Judas said. "Where's this reward that He keeps talking of, that we will get to sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel?"
"That's what we came to Jerusalem with Him to find out, Judas, so why don't you be patient as well as silent?" a fourth disciple said.
Judas didn't look all that happy. "Ooooh, these three years with this Man from Nazareth have been a waste of time, Ashtoreth," he said to his cat. "I don't know why He's even bothered to have me as part of His little group, doing all sorts of miracles and preaching the gospel of this Kingdom of His, if we're not going to make money from all this activity."
Ashtoreth meowed as if he didn't know himself why he was following his master around while he was following the Almighty's Son.
Soon the two disciples that were sent out came back with a donkey colt. "We have found him just the way that You have mentioned, Lord," one of the two disciples said. "Come, let's place our coats upon this animal so that we may honor our Master when He sits upon it."
Judas just stood and watched his fellow disciples place their coats upon the donkey before the Almighty's Son Himself sat upon the animal. "Look at all the attention they lavish upon this so-called King of Israel, Ashtoreth," Judas said. "If I were anywhere as important as that Man of Nazareth thinks He is, I would have my disciples doing the same thing for me."
Ashtoreth made a face as if he himself didn't like seeing the Man of Nazareth being lavished upon.
"Oh, that humble Man certainly smurfs like a king sitting upon that donkey, Tapper," Smurfette said as she watched, feeling her heart being captivated by the scene.
"That's what He is, Smurfette, a King of many things," Tapper said. "He is the King of the Jews, the King of Israel, the King of Righteousness, the King of the Ages, the King of Heaven, the King of Glory, the King of Kings, and besides that, He is the Lord of Lords."
"Well, He certainly doesn't look like a king to me if He's smurfing out with these people," Hefty said.
"We might as well keep following this group if there's something that Tapper's Almighty wants us to smurf of Him, my little Smurfs," Papa Smurf said. "But all the same, I don't need to remind you all to be careful and not to smurf anything that would affect our history."
"I hate traveling through time," Grouchy said.
-----
In the city of Jerusalem, the people were just busy going about their business preparing for the coming Passover feast while two of the high priests were watching from a high place.
"Look at this city and all the people that we are in charge of," one of the high priests said. "If it weren't for that meddlesome Man of Nazareth stirring up the people with His seditious teachings, they would still be making us very profitable."
"That Man is just one crazy person trying to make people believe that He is the Messiah they have been waiting for," the other high priest said. "He is no different than the others that came before Him trying to stir up the people against the Romans."
"But people keep talking about all the miracles He performs and claim that God has finally come to visit His people," the first high priest said.
"So have the prophets that came before Him," the second high priest said. "Trust me, over time the people will see this Man for what He really is and reject Him, and then everything will be back to the way it was before He came along."
Then suddenly someone started saying, "Look...there He is, coming down the Mount of Olives on a donkey!"
"Could this be the King of Israel who has finally come?" another person asked.
"Come, let's greet Him with palms as He enters into the city," a third person said.
The high priests watched as the people gathered around the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem and laid palms on the ground as well as coats on the path that the Almighty's Son would enter the city through. And as soon as He rode through the gate, the people who gathered around cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!"
The Almighty's Son calmly received the praise of the people as He continued His entry into the city, but some of the people called the Pharisees were greatly displeased at seeing even the children gathering around to heap praise unto Him. "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples," they have called out. "They are causing such a great disturbance with this blasphemy."
"I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out," the Almighty's Son said without much of a reaction. Then He broke into tears and quietly spoke, "If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things that make for your peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and besiege you on every side, and tear you down, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
But none of the people in the crowd heard a word that the Man of Nazareth was saying, as they continued to cheer until He had passed through, and then He got off the donkey and continued on His way through the city with His group of disciples.
-----
The Smurfs managed to fly into the city using storks that were summoned, seeing everything that was going on relating to the Man of Nazareth's entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. "Boy oh smurf, look at all those people gathered around just to greet Him," Handy said.
"Big deal...it's no different than you Smurfs getting all crazy whenever Empath smurfs home from Psychelia when he was smurfing there," Hefty said.
"Jesus is just simply fulfilling Scripture, my fellow Smurfs, which says, 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous and having salvation, lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey'," Tapper said.
"He still doesn't look anything like a king to me, Tapper," Hefty said. "He's just another Man claiming to be something important, no better than Empath."
"Well, I certainly think that He will be a far better king than you ever will, Hefty," Smurfette said.
"I don't want to be a king, Smurfette...I just want to live out a normal smurfy life like the rest of you, and not have to smurf my faith in anything like this imaginary God that Tapper calls the Almighty," Hefty said.
"So what exactly is our plan, Papa Smurf?" Brainy asked.
"I still need a place where I can try to smurf another arrangement for the crystals so we can open up the portal again, Brainy," Papa Smurf said. "But for now, I am smurfing my trust in Tapper to follow this Messiah of his wherever He smurfs to see what's going to happen to Him."
"I hate following around this Messiah," Grouchy said.
"I don't smurf the point of doing so if we already know from Tapper what this Messiah's fate is going to end up smurfing, Papa Smurf," Brainy said.
"I may agree with you on that, Brainy, but it may be something that this Almighty wants us to be a witness of regardless of the outcome," Papa Smurf said.
"You mean just to watch a man die?" Brainy said. "That doesn't make any sense, Papa Smurf!"
"Sometimes putting your faith in something requires you to smurf things that wouldn't make any sense in the here and now, but will become clear to us later on, Brainy," Papa Smurf said.
"Eeewww...just the smurf of it is already making the hairs of my skin smurf up on end," Vanity said as he looked at himself in his mirror.
"I think that we should try to stop that Man from smurfing to His own death, Papa Smurf," Handy said.
"Oui, oui, Grand Schtroumpf," Painter said. "I do not wish this to be anything that I would want to smurf my next masteurpiesa from."
"Now, now, my little grandsmurfs, we can't decide for ourselves which smurfs of history we're going to respect and honor and which smurfs of history we're going to change," Grandpa Smurf said. "If this Messiah that Tapper smurfs is going to smurf His end here in Jerusalem no matter what we smurf, then we're going to make sure that it remains part of history even if we don't like it."
"I don't like what we're smurfing here, but Grandpa Smurf is right on this," Papa Smurf said. "We're here only to be witnesses of history and then we're smurfing our way back through the portal and hopefully on our way home. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Papa Smurf, I understand," Handy said.
The storks came down for a landing near a vineyard on the other side of Jerusalem. "Those grapes surely look smurf enough for us to make wine from, do they not, Tapper?" Vino asked.
"I would have to agree with you, my fellow Vino," Tapper said, sounding rather distracted.
Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs got off their mounts and looked for a safe place to set up camp that would not be detected by humans. But Tapper's mind was still on what he had personally witnessed of the Almighty's Son, seeing Him in actual person, if not meeting with Him face to face. He hoped that he would be able to see more of what would happen as he remembered it happening in the Scriptures.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 03-25-2016 02:00 AM
The next morning, Tapper woke up and left the camp to head into Jerusalem, but he didn't leave the camp alone. Smurfette and some other Smurfs such as Brainy, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Duncan saw him leaving the camp early that morning and decided to follow him. Smurfette went first because she was curious about seeing the Almighty's Son in person, and the other four simply followed because they didn't want either Tapper or Smurfette to wander off by themselves, with Grouchy not wanting to be with them but also not wanting to see Tapper in danger.
Tapper made it through the bustling crowd that arose early that morning to start their business, eager to see what would happen next according to what he remembered from Scripture. He waited near a fig tree until the Son would appear in the city when he heard somebody whispering his name. He turned and saw who it was. "Smurfette!" Tapper whispered back. "Great Smurfiny Crickets, you shouldn't be following me here all by yourself!"
"I'm sorry, Tapper, but I wanted to see the Son for myself, since I know how much He means to you and what you believe in," Smurfette said.
"That's quite all right, Smurfette, as long as we keep ourselves out of smurf around here," Tapper said. "So far I haven't seen Him arrive into the city, so He must still be in Bethany at this time."
"Bethany?" Smurfette asked. "What's so important about that place?"
"That is where He had dined at the house of Simon the leper, and while He was dining, a woman with an alabaster flask had anointed the Lord with a very costly ointment smurfed of spikenard," Tapper said.
"I can see that these places are very important to you, Tapper," Smurfette said.
"I feel very privileged to be smurfing in one of those places right now, just to see how the Almighty will smurf His plan of redemption for all mankind and creation by smurfing His Son here, Smurfette," Tapper said. "Oh, I wish that we could have been here at the time when John the Baptist was busy preaching and baptizing people in preparation for the Lord's coming. To see the heavens part and the Holy Spirit smurfing upon the Son like a dove, and to hear the voice from heaven smurfing, 'This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased'...oh, it would seem like the closest thing to heaven to me."
"It just doesn't seem right that we have to be here just to watch him die, Tapper," Smurfette said. "I mean, what has He done to deserve such a fate?"
"It isn't what He has done, but what mankind has done by committing the first sin that has made all of mankind become sinners, Smurfette," Tapper said. "The only way that mankind can be redeemed back to God is through the smurfing of blood from an innocent, and there's no one who could be more innocent than that of the Lamb of God who was born of a virgin to smurf away the sins of the world."
"Isn't there any other way that this Almighty could have forgiven His creation?" Smurfette asked.
"I'm sorry to tell you that there isn't any other way, my dear Smurfette," Tapper said. "God had smurfed it to be this way from the very beginning, and now it must happen that His Son must smurf to the cross on the hill of Calvary outside Jerusalem around the time of Passover, which will be days from now."
"Laddie," another voice called out in a whisper. "If you're going to smurf out of camp to see your Messiah, you're going to need your friends to smurf you out of danger."
Tapper and Smurfette saw that Duncan, Brainy, Clumsy, and Grouchy had also left the camp. "Duncan, you shouldn't have brought the others along with you," Tapper said as the four of them joined him and Smurfette.
"I only came along because I wanted to remind you of Papa Smurf's instructions not to interfere with history in any smurf or form, Tapper, even as much as you would want to smurf this Savior of yours in person," Brainy said. "Unfortunately, I can't get Clumsy to stay smurf in the camp for whatever reasons that he wanted to smurf along with me."
"Gosh, are we really going to see this Messiah again?" Clumsy asked, sounding curious.
"I hate seeing the Messiah again," Grouchy said.
"He should be arriving sometime today, because people will be in the Temple smurfing their merchandise that the Lord will smurf out of there," Tapper said.
"Trader certainly wouldn't like that if he was in charge of smurfing that Temple, laddie," Duncan said.
"I don't understand what's so important about the Messiah smurfing out the people from the Temple if they're using it as a market, Tapper," Brainy said.
"The high priests are in charge of inspecting the sacrifices that the Jews intend to bring to celebrate the Passover with, to make sure that there are no defects, and if there is a defect, then they can offer a whole animal to them at a higher price," Tapper said. "So essentially what they're smurfing is extorting money from people who have come to celebrate the Passover."
"I don't think the Lord would even like people smurfing such a holy place into a market," Smurfette said.
"Precisely, my dear Smurfette," Tapper said. "And the high priests will not like having Him smurf such things to their 'place of worship'."
-----
They waited until the middle of the day when they saw the Almighty's Son arrive into Jerusalem with His disciples. He stopped at a fig tree that was standing off by itself and looked at it to see if there were any figs, but seeing that there weren't any figs, He said to the tree, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."
As the Messiah moved on, Smurfette noticed something. "Tapper, look! That tree is starting to wither away!"
"Wow! He must be just like Papa Smurf or something!" Clumsy exclaimed.
The six Smurfs followed the Messiah and His disciples until they got to the Temple, where they saw people going in and out with various types of merchandise. Tapper saw a glimmer of anger in the Lord's face as He looked at the scene before Him. The disciples just stood and watched as He entered the Temple very calmly, and then suddenly started overturning tables and driving everybody out of the Temple with a tranquil fury nobody had ever seen Him in.
"Get these things out of here! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" the Messiah shouted.
"Michty me, I think your laddie's trashing the place, Tapper," Duncan said as he overheard all the activity going on inside.
"I would not call what He is smurfing in the Temple 'trashing the place', my fellow Duncan," Tapper said. "It is, after all, His Father's house, and He is showing more respect for it by smurfing out what doesn't belong in it than the high priests."
As soon as everybody had cleared the Temple, the Messiah emerged, still looking rather angry. "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations?' But you have made it a den of thieves!"
Then the Jews who were outside the Temple answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," the Messiah said, which made the crowd gasp in wonder.
Then the Jews said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He did not answer them.
"What did He mean when He smurfed them to destroy the Temple, and He will raise it up in three days?" Smurfette asked.
"The 'temple' He is talking about is His body, my dear Smurfette," Tapper answered. "Some in the crowd will misinterpret what Jesus had smurfed to them, and say to those interrogating Him that He said that He will destroy the Temple and raise it up in three days."
"That certainly makes things a bit clear, Tapper," Brainy said, sounding like he didn't believe what he was hearing.
With a heavy sigh of relief that His anger had been expended, the crowd of people gathered around the Messiah so that He could teach them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that the Messiah did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!", they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"
Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise?'"
Smurfette noticed that a lady that was standing nearby had suddenly noticed her when her attention was turned away from the Messiah. "Oh, I had no idea that the Lord would create such little people who would be watching the Messiah...or am I imagining things?" the lady said as she looked.
"We are called Smurfs, and my name is Smurfette," she introduced herself. "Who are you?"
"My name is Mary of the village of Magdala, but most people call me Mary Magdalene," the lady responded. "I have been following the Lord for a few years, ever since He had released me of seven demons that were controlling my life."
"You were controlled by seven demons?" Smurfette said. "Tapper said that there were people who believed that you were a prostitute."
"Your friend must have mistaken me for someone else among the Lord's disciples who were prostitutes before they met Him," Mary Magdalene said. "You should see the joy on their faces whenever He tells them that their sins are forgiven. All their lives they had to deal with the shame of having to become prostitutes, because that's all they felt they were ever good for, to give pleasure to men who would secretly seek them out so they could have food to eat."
"I feel sympathy for these women, even if I don't like the very thing they were smurfing, Mary," Smurfette said.
"There was one woman whom the high priests brought before the Lord, saying that she had been accused of adultery, and that according to the Law of Moses, such women should be stoned," Mary continued. "They were expecting Him to answer in a way so that they could accuse Him, but He simply told them, 'If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,' and slowly all the priests left one by one until only the woman was left with the Lord. And He then asked her, 'Where are your accusers? Has anyone condemned you?' When she said, 'No one, Lord,' He then said, 'Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.'"
"You were there to see it happen?" Smurfette asked, sounding very excited.
"There's no man like Him that I would follow wherever He would go, Smurfette," Mary Magdalene said. "He seems to love me in a way that I would never expect to be loved from any man. He makes me feel just like a little girl at my father's knee whenever he would tell me stories of our people from the days of old."
"Please, whatever you do, don't tell anyone that you've seen me or my friends here," Smurfette said.
"As the Lord lives, I shall keep your presence a secret, little sister," Mary Magdalene said.
-----
Sometime later, the six Smurfs returned to their camp to see that it was built up like a miniature version of their village, yet nobody seemed to notice that it was there near a vineyard. Tapper saw that Harmony and a few other Smurfs found an instrument shaped like a ram's horn and brought it into the camp. Tapper told them that it was a shofar, an instrument that was used by the Hebrew people for various purposes such as celebrating holy feasts. Harmony tried to blow into the instrument to see how it would sound, but unfortunately was unable to do anything but make himself gasp for air, which a few Smurfs thought was amusing since Harmony couldn't make any musical instrument he played sound good.
"There you are, my little grandsmurfs," Grandpa Smurf said as he saw the six Smurfs returning. "We were just getting ready for our dinner."
"Where's Papa Smurf?" Brainy asked.
"He's inside his house still working on a new arrangement for the crystals, and he does not wish to be dissmurfed right now, Brainy," Grandpa Smurf answered. "That includes you of all people."
"Gosh, I hope that Papa Smurf will find the correct way to smurf the crystals so that he can smurf us home," Clumsy said.
"Trust me, Clumsy, Papa Smurf will find a way, and this time it will work," Brainy said.
"I hate trusting Brainy," Grouchy said.
"One of the humans saw us, Grandpa Smurf...the lady named Mary Magdalene," Smurfette said.
"I hope you didn't smurf her anything that would cause our history to be changed," Grandpa Smurf warned.
"No, Grandpa, I didn't do that," Smurfette said. "I was just talking to her to find out why she was following the Messiah. She seemed like a very nice lady."
"Strangely I didn't see Judas Iscariot among the disciples," Tapper said. "I get the feeling that he's smurfing what Scriptures say will lead to his betrayal of the Messiah to those who will capture Him and put Him on the cross."
"If he's anything like Gargamel, I certainly wouldn't want him smurfing around anywhere near the Messiah," Smurfette said.
"I hate Judas Iscariot," Grouchy said.
"If I remember what Tapper keeps smurfing from his holy book, this Judas Iscariot is supposed to smurf his end by either falling headlong or by hanging himself, whichever of the two," Duncan said.
"Eeeuuuh...what a horrible way for a horrible man like him to die," Smurfette said as she made a face.
"That won't happen until a few days from now, my fellow Smurfs," Tapper said. "For now, let's not smurf anything that will attract his attention towards us so that he will not be distracted from what he intends to smurf in his role in history."
"I hate attracting anyone's attention," Grouchy said.
-----
Later on at night, when all the Smurfs were asleep in their houses, Tapper was on his knees praying. "O Lord God Almighty, though I know that Your presence is here through Your Son, I feel the need to pray to You, that though we are lost in time, You have smurfed us here for a purpose, that the message of Your love needs to be smurfed with the entire village. I do not wish to attract undue attention from Your Son, seeing that He needs to fulfill His destiny for the sake of redeeming all mankind and creation unto You, but my heart still cries for my friends Empath and Polaris back in the present time, that they are now without us."
"I have heard your prayer, Naomhan, and I know your heart, for your name was known to Me from the beginning of creation," a voice answered back.
"O Lord, I do not deserve to have such attention be smurfed upon me, a humble servant," Tapper said.
"You have been loved with an everlasting love, and you will see your friends again, for I will keep them safe until their time has ended according to what was been appointed by My Father, Naomhan," the voice answered again. "And I will continue to keep you and your family safe until you are reunited with your friends."
"Oh, thank you, Lord, for Your great mercy and Your everlasting love," Tapper said joyfully.
-----
Meanwhile, outside of Jerusalem in a place where the Messiah and His disciples were lodging, Judas Iscariot was sitting with his cat Ashtoreth apart from the others, looking up at the moon and feeling miserable about himself.
"Three years of serving this so-called King of Israel, Astoreth, and what is my reward? An eternal kingdom in the heavens," Judas said to his cat. "And this Messiah says that I have to die just to get my reward? Well, I want to have my kingdom here now, and if He can't give it to me, then He doesn't deserve to be King."
Ashtoreth meowed in agreement with what his master was thinking.
"Those high priests must be so envious that they want to be rid of this Jesus once and for all...well, so do I," Judas said. "It's time that the both of us got together to get the things that we both want for ourselves. At the first opportunity, I'm going to let the high priests know just what they want to know so that they could capture Jesus and put Him away forever. I just hope that there will be a handsome reward for His arrest, because I intend to be sitting on my throne here on earth, being the one who will judge all of Israel."
Both Judas and Ashtoreth laughed together at what they would plan to do together.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 03-25-2016 02:03 AM
The following morning, Tapper returned to Jerusalem to see what the Messiah would do, again accompanied by Smurfette, Brainy, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Duncan. As they made their way inside the city, avoiding being seen by the people scurrying about with their business, Smurfette noticed something. "It's the fig tree that the Messiah had spoken to," she said. "Yesterday it was starting to wither, and now it isn't even much of a tree anymore."
"Gosh, I wonder if I could smurf the same thing to a tree," Clumsy said.
"Clumsy, you wouldn't be able to smurf such a thing unless you had some sort of magical power," Brainy said.
"It isn't any sort of magic that caused this, Brainy...it's faith," Tapper said. "The Lord said that if you have faith the smurf of a mustard seed, you can go smurf a mountain to go smurf itself into the sea, and it will be done for you."
"It's too bad that we can't smurf ourselves back home with just smurfing a single word, laddie," Duncan said.
"I hate not being able to smurf back home," Grouchy said.
"We will be able to smurf back home, Grouchy," Tapper said. "The Lord has smurfed this to me during my prayer to Him last night, and anything that the Lord smurfs will come to pass."
"Really?" Brainy said, sounding like he was in disbelief. "Then how is it from your own book He smurfed that some of them standing with Him will not die until they see the Son of Man smurfing in His kingdom?"
"I honestly don't have all the explanations for everything that I smurf in Scripture, my fellow Brainy, but I do smurf my faith in the Almighty that He has all the answers and that I do not need to worry about anything, not even about tomorrow," Tapper said.
Then they saw the Lord with His disciples, except for Judas Iscariot, returning to the city, and after they entered, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. "Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which You cursed has withered away," the disciple named Simon Peter said.
"Have faith in God," the Messiah said. "For truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will be done, it will be to him, whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, Everything whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you receive, and it will be to you. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, that your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses."
The six Smurfs followed Him toward the Temple, and as He was walking inside it, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. "By what authority do You do these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?" they asked
"I also will ask you one question, and when you answer Me, I will tell you by what authority I do these things," the Messiah said. "The immersion of John...was it from Heaven or from men? Answer Me."
They huddled together as if to figure out how they would answer Him. "If we say, 'From Heaven', He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'," one of the men said.
"True, but if we say, 'From men', then we will have to deal with the people, for they all have counted John to have truly been a prophet," another man said.
So they together faced the Messiah and said, "We do not know."
"Then neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things," the Messiah said.
-----
The six Smurfs continued to watch the Messiah as He was being tested by various people. Some of the Pharisees and the Herodians decided they would try to catch Him in His words. When they had come, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give?"
The Messiah looked at them in a way that He could see their hypocrisy. He said to them, "Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it." So one of the Pharisees brought a denarius for Him to look at. He asked them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"
They said to Him, "It is Caesar's."
"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's," the Messiah said. And they looked at Him in great wonder.
Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him. They asked Him, "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up seed for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and dying, he left no seed. And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any seed. And the third likewise. So the seven had her and left no seed. Last of all the woman also died. Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife."
He answered, "Are you not therefore in error, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven. But concerning the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, how God spoke to him at the bush, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly in error."
Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"
He answered, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.' And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other besides Him. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
When the Messiah saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared question Him.
"Well, He's certainly not a bad speaker," Brainy said.
"I hate listening to speeches," Grouchy said.
"Golly, I wish I could be just as smart as He is," Clumsy said.
"Laddie, you look like you're wishing that He could smurf here longer," Duncan said to Tapper.
"Oh, if we were here for the three years that He ministered to Israel, hearing all His wonderful sermons, seeing all the miracles He had performed," Tapper said. "I do envy the privilege His disciples had of being with Him all that time while we only smurfed here for the last week of His life here on earth."
"Well, everyone except for Judas Iscariot, and who knows where he might be at this time?" Duncan said.
-----
Meanwhile, the high priests were convening together for a secret meeting led by Caiaphas. "How are we going to get our hands on Jesus to arrest him?" one of the priests asked.
"We're going to need someone who is very close to Him, one of His own disciples," Caiaphas suggested. "But who among them would dare betray Him?"
A guard entered the room. "Master, we have a visitor who wishes to speak with you."
Caiaphas permitted the visitor to enter, and it was Judas Iscariot with his cat Ashtoreth. "Hello there, your eminences. I hope that I didn't catch you at a bad time," he greeted humbly.
"Not at all," Caiaphas said. "We are looking for a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth who can help us arrange a meeting with Him."
"A meeting with the Messiah?" Judas said. "Hmmmm...sounds interesting. I wonder what the nature of that meeting might be."
"It is one that you do not need to fully know what it is about, but we are deeply concerned for His safety, and we would want to make sure that He would be escorted safely to our meeting," Caiaphas said. "We are willing to reward you handsomely...say, thirty pieces of silver."
"You hear that, Ashtoreth?" Judas said to his cat. "They're going to pay us handsomely for delivering the Messiah unto them." Ashtoreth snickered at the thought as Judas then turned to face Caiaphas. "Why, certainly, your holiness. I will even show you where you will find Him."
Caiaphas rubbed his hands with an evil smile on his face. "Excellent. Remember, that we wish to have this meeting around the time of the Passover, so don't be late."
"Oh, I certainly will make sure that the Messiah arrives on time, won't we, Ashtoreth?" Judas said while looking at his cat, who just snickered.
After Judas and Ashtoreth left, Caiaphas laughed. "We have our betrayer, gentlemen. Now all we have to do is wait for him to deliver the Man of Nazareth unto us."
-----
Back at the camp, Hefty was having trouble trying to maintain order while Papa Smurf was still busy trying to find the right arrangement for the chronosyte crystals.
Grandpa Smurf decided to check up on Hefty. "How are things smurfing along here, Hefty?" he asked.
"It's getting hard to keep these Smurfs confined to our camp when they want so much to explore this new area that we smurfed to, Grandpa Smurf," Hefty said. "And besides that, we have Tapper and those other five Smurfs smurfing back stories of this Messiah they have seen."
"He does seem like a really fascinating character to me, Hefty," Grandpa Smurf said.
"You don't think that He's really the Son of this imaginary God that Tapper believes in, do you?" Hefty asked.
"I do believe that there are powers greater than our own that direct our lives, Hefty," Grandpa Smurf said. "It may be possible that this Messiah really is who He says He is."
"Well, if He's truly this great, why didn't He stop us from smurfing on this trip through time just so we could smurf that dinosaur back home?" Hefty asked.
"I'm afraid that I can't answer that question for you there, Hefty," Grandpa Smurf said. "It's very likely that He just permitted it to happen so He could teach us something about ourselves."
"What, that I'm supposed to smurf my faith in Him?" Hefty said. "Papa Smurf's having trouble trying to smurf us home with the time crystals, and he's more real to me than Tapper's God is."
"Then this is certainly a time when we have to realize our own limitations and smurf our faith in something or Someone who truly knows what He's smurfing with us," Grandpa Smurf said, putting his hand on Hefty's shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much, though...we'll eventually smurf home sooner or later."
-----
Later on, Tapper and his five fellow Smurfs were sitting at the dinner table, with Tapper, Smurfette, and Duncan looking rather interested in what they had experienced, and Brainy, Clumsy, and Grouchy looking rather uncertain.
"Isn't that exciting, Tapper?" Smurfette asked. "Mary Magdalene wants us to join her and the other disciples for the Passover that the Lord is smurfing."
"Indeed it is very exciting, my fellow Smurfette," Tapper said. "It is almost as if we will be dining with the Almighty Himself in heaven."
"Uh, what exactly is Passover?" Clumsy asked.
"According to what Tapper has smurfed from his holy book, Clumsy, it is a feast that the Jews celebrate every year around the time of spring to remember their deliverance from Egypt by the hand of God and His servant Moses," Brainy said.
"You are correct, Brainy, and what's so important about this Passover is that the Messiah Himself will be the fulfillment of what it's really about...not just the deliverance of the Jews by God from the smurfs of the Pharaoh, but the deliverance of all who believe in God's Son from the smurfs of sin and death," Tapper said.
"Of course you know that Judas is going to smurf up at the Passover, laddie," Duncan said.
"I am expecting that to happen regardless of our being there as witnesses, Duncan," Tapper said. "Nevertheless, I want to make sure that my closest friends will be there to smurf history as it will happen a few days from now."
"I'm not sure smurfing there with Judas Iscariot and that cat of his is really a good idea, Tapper," Brainy warned.
"Uh, yeah...what if Ashtoreth starts smurfing us around like Azrael?" Clumsy asked.
"I have a feeling in my spirit that the Lord will restrain Ashtoreth's actions for that particular feast to happen, my fellow Clumsy," Tapper said. "We will have nothing to worry about as long as we are with Mary Magdalene."
"That's good, because I sure hate having something to worry about," Grouchy said.
"Oh, I forgot in all my excitement that I didn't bless the food we're smurfing," Tapper said. He then stopped his eating and bowed his head to pray. "O Lord God Almighty, we thank You for smurfing us to this point in time so that we can learn from You what it is You want us to know. Please bless the food that we eat, that it may nourish our bodies as Your Word may nourish our souls. In the name of Your only begotten Son I pray...Amen."
"Amen," Duncan and Smurfette responded together with their heads bowed.
-----
After dinner, Tapper entertained the Smurflings with stories about when Jesus first appeared at the immersion of John the Baptist, who was the prophet sent to announce the arrival of the Lord. He said that John was a man who lived in the wilderness wearing camel's hair for a garment, and that his only food was locusts and wild honey.
"Wow, this prophet of the Almighty sounds a little like Wild Smurf, Tapper," Nat said, sounding fascinated.
"But how was he able to become a prophet of the Lord if he smurfed most of his life in the wilderness?" Sassette asked.
"He was a child who was smurfed with the Holy Spirit even before he was born, my dear Sassette," Tapper said. "Many people must have smurfed that he was strange, but that was how prophets were to the people of Israel at times...they just obeyed the Lord and trusted in what He was smurfing was for the good of His people."
"But what happened to this John the Baptist after he had immersed Jesus?" Slouchy asked.
"He got arrested and smurfed into King Herod's prison...not the same King Herod who died around the time of Jesus' birth, mind you, but another King Herod...and was mostly kept around to smurf the Words of God to the king until the time of his birthday, when his brother's wife's daughter asked for the prophet's head on a platter, and that's how he smurfed his end," Tapper answered.
"And to think all this time we're smurfing that you're going to lose your head for smurfing words from you holy book, Tapper," Snappy said, feeling around his neck. "He surely lost his quite literally."
"That's the peril that believers in the Almighty must face every day, my fellow Snappy," Tapper said. "That is why His Son tells us that we must count the cost if we want to be His disciples, because it may smurf to the point where it will cost us everything we smurf dearly in this world."
Meanwhile, Grandpa Smurf went to check up on Papa Smurf, whom he hasn't seen for a few days, even for dinner. "Are you all right there, youngster?" he asked. "You haven't smurfed with your little Smurfs since we first smurfed up camp here."
"I'll be all right, Grandpa Smurf...it's just that I have work to do in smurfing the proper alignment for the chronosyte crystals, that's all," Papa Smurf said.
"The way you've been smurfing lately, it's becoming an obsession with you to smurf the right alignment for the crystals when none of us even have the Key Of Chronos," Grandpa Smurf said. "Maybe you should smurf some time away from your search, let your mind not think about the crystals for a while."
"I'm not going to abandon the search, Grandpa Smurf...not now and not ever!" Papa Smurf shouted. "My son Empath needs me! I have abandoned him in the village and I promised that I wouldn't smurf that to him again!"
"Papa Smurf, what you smurfed with Empath this time was not your fault," Grandpa Smurf gently said. "It's time you stopped blaming yourself for what's smurfed with him and let yourself have some time to relax before you resume smurfing with the crystals."
Papa Smurf sighed. "I can't help thinking that everything I smurfed with Empath was my fault. All I ever wanted was to be his Papa Smurf, not the Papa Smurf of a hundred other Smurfs. He was everything in my life to me, and I can't help feeling lost without him."
"I know that Empath is very special to you, Papa Smurf, just as you are to me," Grandpa Smurf said. "I'm sorry that life didn't smurf you what you wanted, but what you have now is greater and more important than just the life of your favorite son. Right now you're their Papa Smurf, and they also need their Papa Smurf to be with them."
Papa Smurf looked at the crystals and realized that Grandpa Smurf was right. But he still didn't know what he was going to do.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 03-25-2016 02:10 AM
It was finally the night of the Passover, and Tapper and his five fellow Smurfs joined Mary Magdalene as she and the other disciples went with the Almighty's Son to the upper room where they would have their Passover dinner together. Tapper and the five other Smurfs kept themselves out of sight as much as they could, but Duncan noticed that Judas kept spotting them being nearby, looking as if he didn't like the thought of additional guests who knew what he was about to do. None of the other disciples seemed to notice the visitors, and Tapper couldn't tell whether the Messiah noticed them or not.
As the disciples sat down to eat, the Messiah said, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." There was a bit of silence in the room as the disciples tried to reflect on what He had said to them before He continued. "Truly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me."
The disciples began to be grieved, and to say to Him one by one, "Surely not me?"
"Who is it, my Lord?" the disciple named John asked.
He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish. The Son of Man truly goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."
"Surely it is not I, is it, my Lord?" Judas asked, sounding like he was trying to hide something.
"You have said it," the Messiah said, looking straight at him without wavering. And as they were eating, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, "This is My blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."
"This is what would someday be known as holy communion, my fellow Smurfs," Tapper quietly said as he watched the Messiah blessing the bread and the wine. "Paul the apostle would smurf to the early Christians that, as long as you eat the bread and smurf this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."
"But what's with His saying that the bread is His body, and the wine is His blood?" Brainy asked.
"Those are merely symbols of the sacrifice that the Lord is going to smurf on their behalf, though most people think that the disciples are actually eating and drinking Him, Brainy," Tapper said. "He did say that unless you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you will have no life in Him."
"Still smurfs rather gruesome, if you ask me," Grouchy said.
"Ooooh, that surely sounds creepy to me," Clumsy said, shivering at the thought.
Then Jesus handed a piece of bread to Judas and told him, "Whatever it is you need to do, do it quickly."
The six Smurfs watched as Judas departed from the upper room, walking out into the night without so much as another word. "There smurfs that betrayer," Duncan said. "If only we could smurf after him to stop what he's smurfing."
"He has to smurf whatever it is he's doing, or else the Scriptures would not be fulfilled," Tapper said.
"I don't like the feeling of being here just to watch the Lord's last supper with His friends, Tapper," Smurfette said.
"I certainly bet Greedy would sure like to be here instead of us," Brainy said.
"I hate watching the Lord's last supper," Grouchy said.
"Gosh, it's making me wonder what's going to happen next after this," Clumsy said.
"The Lord will take His disciples over to the Mount of Olives, and then He will pray alone in the garden of Gethsemane, which is where He will be arrested," Tapper said.
"Oh dear," Smurfette said. "I don't like the idea of being a witness to this at all."
"I certainly don't like smurfing a Man like him smurfing to His own death, lassie," Duncan said. "But this is unfortunately a part of history that we cannot change."
Mary Magdalene went over to the Smurfs. "We are going to be leaving, my friends. Quickly, before anyone notices you."
They all hid within Mary Magdalene's hood and shawl as she carried them with her to wherever it was the Lord was leading His disciples to. None of the other disciples noticed anything about Mary as she was walking with her passengers carefully hidden from view.
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me," the Messiah said as He and His disciples walked together. "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."
Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You go, and how can we know the way?"
The Messiah said to him, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." And He continued to talk about more things as they walked with each other, as Tapper and his fellow Smurfs listened in.
As soon as they reached the Mount of Olives, the Messiah said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' But after I have been raised, I will go before you into Galilee."
Peter said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet not I."
The Messiah said to him, "Truly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."
Peter spoke more vehemently, "If I need to die with You, I will not deny You!" And they all said likewise.
Soon they arrived at the garden of Gethsemane. The Messiah looked rather weary, as if He knew that the hour was coming, and He had no strength to endure what was to come. He took three of His disciples, James, John, and Peter, to go a little further with Him while telling the others to stay. Tapper carefully hopped out of Mary Magdalene's shawl and decided to follow the Messiah to where it is He was going to pray.
After a short distance, the Messiah said to His three disciples, "My soul feels sorrowful, even unto death. Stand here and watch while I pray." Then He went on alone, with Tapper following behind Him, carefully keeping himself hidden. And then the Messiah knelt down before a rock, looked up into heaven in anguish, and said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."
Then He returned to where James, John, and Peter were standing and found them asleep. "Simon, are you sleeping? Were you not strong enough to watch one hour? Watch and pray, that you not enter into temptation. The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak."
He went back to the same spot a second time and again prayed in great anguish the same words He had spoken. Tapper could see that His sweat was coming from His head in what looked like little drops of blood.
He returned and again saw His three disciples sleeping, and then went back to pray a third time. Tapper felt a great deal of sorrow for the Messiah's anguish, realizing that the hours that would follow would be the most horrific event he would ever see.
"Oh, Lord God Almighty, I know that the cup cannot be smurfed away from Your Son at this hour of need, but please smurf Him the strength to let Your will be done," Tapper prayed.
-----
Meanwhile, Judas was approaching the garden with a group of guards, all armed with torches, clubs, and swords. His cat was following right alongside him. "Remember, gentlemen, not to do anything until I give the signal of who it is you are to arrest," Judas said to the guards.
They saw the Messiah up ahead with His group of disciples, having returned unto them after His private prayer in the garden. "We must get going," the Messiah said. "The one who will betray Me is at hand."
Soon the two groups met, and Judas said, "Hail, Rabbi," as he greeted Him with a kiss.
"Judas, son of Iscariot, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" the Messiah asked.
"We are looking for the One called Jesus of Nazareth," one of the guards said.
"I am He," the Messiah answered. "If that is who you are looking for, then let the others go."
Then as the guards came close to arrest Jesus, Peter pulled out his sword and cut off the ear of the guard that was nearest him.
"Away with your sword, Peter, for whoever lives by the sword shall perish by the sword," the Messiah said. "Do you not think that I can pray to My Father, so He can send twelve legions of angels to protect Me? But this is so that the Scriptures will be fulfilled." He then went over to the guard whose ear had been cut off and touched him, saying, "Permit Me this." And instantly, the guard's ear had been healed.
The Messiah then spoke to those who had come for him, saying, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not stretch forth your hands against Me. But this is your hour, and the authority of darkness."
"Tapper, look...the other disciples are all leaving us," Brainy called out as they saw most of them depart after the Messiah was taken by the guards.
"Peter is the only one who will follow them now, my friends," Tapper said. "We thank you for allowing us to smurf with you, Mary, but we must now follow where they are taking Jesus."
"Oh, be careful, my little brothers," Mary Magdalene said as she watched the six Smurfs now run off after the guards when Peter also started to follow them.
-----
The Messiah was then taken to the high priests, and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. The chief priests and all the council sought testimony against the Messiah to put Him to death, but found none. For there were many that bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies were not the same. Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, "We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.'" And neither in this was their testimony the same.
The high priest stood up in the midst and asked the Messiah, saying, "Do You answer nothing? What is it these men witness against You?" But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest questioned Him, saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"
The Messiah said, "I am He. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of Heaven."
The high priest tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses?. You have heard the blasphemy! What does it appear to you?"
"He is worthy of death," each of the priests have said.
Some of them began to spit on Him, and to cover His face, and to beat Him with the fist, and to say to Him, "Prophesy!" And the officers struck Him with slaps.
-----
Tapper and his group of Smurfs caught up with Peter and watched through the windows as Jesus endured the trial before the high priests. Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus of Nazareth."
"I neither know nor understand what you are saying," Peter answered. And he went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed.
And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood by, "This is one of them."
"Truly I am not who you think I am," Peter replied.
And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, "Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech agrees."
"I swear to you by God, I do not know this man of whom you speak!" Peter shouted. "And may God curse me to Hades if I..."
And a second time the rooster crowed. Peter then remembered the word that Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." And when he thought on it, he wept.
-----
Judas Iscariot looked rather uncomfortable when he returned to Caiaphas and the high priests to get his reward. "Here you are...thirty pieces of silver," Caiaphas said as he handed Judas the money bag.
"This is so wrong," Judas said. "I have betrayed innocent blood for this money. I can't accept this."
"You accepted the job of bringing Jesus of Nazareth to us," Caiaphas said. "This is what you will be remembered by...the saving of Israel from a complete madman."
"That is not what I agreed to do," Judas shouted. "I refuse to accept this money. I demand that you let this Jesus go free."
"You are in a position to demand nothing," Caiaphas said. "You did what you were paid to do, and that is all we have to do with you. As for your own guilt, you see to dealing with it."
"Here's what I think of you and your money," Judas said vehemently, throwing the money bag down on the ground before he walked out of the room with his cat.
"What will we do, Caiaphas?" one of the high priests asked. "We can't receive the money back into the treasury, for it has been used to pay for blood."
Caiaphas thought about it for a moment as he picked up the money bag. "We might as well use it to buy the potter's field, which is where we will bury strangers in."
-----
Meanwhile, Hefty led a group of Smurfs out of the camp to look for Tapper and his group. "Oh dear, I don't like the thought of smurfing out here in the middle of the night just to look for my friends," Vanity said. "My face is going to smurf terrible in the morning."
"This certainly isn't what I would smurf to have a good time around here," Jokey said.
"Grandpa Smurf wants us to make sure Tapper and the others don't smurf themselves into any trouble, since they haven't returned to the camp when they've gone to that Passover feast," Hefty said.
"Let's hope we don't smurf into any trouble ourselves, especially with that Judas Iscariot and his cat," Handy said.
"Aw, I don't have any fear of him or his cat," Tuffy said. "Just smurf me a chance, and I'll smurf them a thing or two."
"We are not going to smurf anything that will interfere with history, which is Grandpa Smurf's and Papa Smurf's orders," Hefty said. "If we do run into any trouble, we're going to have to do our best to..."
"Smurf is me, look who's smurfing," Vanity pointed out as they saw two familiar faces in their path. It was Judas Iscariot and his cat coming from the opposite direction, with Judas looking really upset and moaning to himself.
"Oh, what have I done!" he cried out. "I only wanted to be rid of Jesus, not to have Him be tortured and beaten. What can I do now? I can't go back to Him and beg for His forgiveness. Am I doomed to be the one who will be forever known as the man who betrayed the Messiah? Is there no way back for me? Have I really crossed the line?"
Then Ashtoreth smelled Smurfs nearby and hissed, until finally he raced ahead of his master to chase after them.
Judas then saw the Smurfs for himself. "It's them! I don't know who they are, but they have come to torment me in my guilt! I must be rid of these foul demons once and for all!"
"Uh oh...looks like we'd better smurf a run for it," Hefty said, with his fellow Smurfs following him as they ran to get themselves rid of Judas and Ashtoreth.
And so the five Smurfs ran through the paths outside Jerusalem until they came to a precipice that looked over a barren field with a single tree at the bottom. They realized that they had nowhere else to flee.
"You little blue demons will not escape me this time," Judas said as he and his cat saw that the Smurfs were trapped on a precipice, cutting off any hope for an escape.
But just before he could get their hands on them, he could hear the sound of a dog barking behind him. It was Puppy, who also left the camp in search for Tapper and the other Smurfs. Judas and Ashtoreth ran for their lives when Puppy chased after them, but in their flight they ran straight past the Smurfs and off the precipice. Judas screamed for help as he plummeted down toward the barren field until his body was pierced through by the single tree at the bottom of the precipice.
"Good job there, Puppy," Tuffy said as the dog joined the five Smurfs.
"Oh my, what a gruesome end for that horrible man," Vanity said as they saw what had happened to Judas.
"This certainly isn't anything for us to laugh at," Jokey said, agreeing with Vanity.
"Didn't Tapper say that was how Judas was supposed to die or something?" Handy asked.
"How should I know, Handy? I don't read Tapper's holy book for any reason whatsoever," Hefty said. "Let's just continue with our search and be smurfed from this place."
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 03-25-2016 02:16 AM
By morning, a crowd of people have gathered around the Praetorium, which is where Hefty and his group of Smurfs have found Tapper and his group of Smurfs. "Thank Smurfness you're safe and smurf, Tapper, because we've been smurfing all night just trying to find you and the others," Hefty said.
"You shouldn't need to worry about me, Hefty, because the Lord has protected me and the others while we were following the Messiah from the time of the Passover meal up until now," Tapper said.
"We had smurfed into Judas Iscariot and his cat when we were smurfing for you, and he would have smurfed us if it weren't for Puppy chasing him off a cliff to his own death," Tuffy said.
"That was supposed to happen to Judas, right, Tapper?" Jokey asked.
"Unfortunately yes, my fellow Jokey, but the Almighty will forgive you for what had happened, because that wasn't what you intended to have happen," Tapper said.
"Oh dear, what's with this crowd of people around this time of day?" Vanity asked.
"They've brought the Messiah here so that they could have Him crucified, Vanity," Smurfette said.
"Gosh, I can't even understand what that Man did to deserve this," Clumsy said.
"Frankly, I don't understand a single thing that's smurfing on here myself, Clumsy," Brainy said. "It's like certain groups of people just don't like Him for some unknown reason."
"Grandpa Smurf sent us to find you in order to tell you that you need to return to camp with your fellow Smurfs, Tapper," Handy said.
"I won't leave here until I see for myself what happens to the Messiah, Handy," Tapper said.
"Here smurfs that man that you call Pontius Pilate," Duncan said as he saw a dressed in Roman clothes emerge from within the Praetorium to address the crowd. The other Smurfs joined Duncan at the place where they could see over the crowd at the scene taking place.
Pilate looked rather uneasy as he stepped out to greet the crowd, with his wife telling him, "Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things in a dream because of Him." Pilate just shook his head, knowing that he has a job to do.
“What accusation do you bring against this Man?” Pilate asked as he saw the Messiah brought before him by the high priests.
The high priests answered, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”
“You take Him and judge Him according to your law,” Pilate said dismissively.
“It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” the high priest said. So Pontius Pilate brought the Messiah in for questioning, which none of the Smurfs could ever see or hear, but Tapper knew exactly what questions were being asked, if He was the King of the Jews. Tapper knew that the Lord would answer in a manner that suggested that He had no fear of what's going to happen to Him, that it was all going according to His Father's plan.
Pilate then emerged with the Messiah, saying, "I find no fault in Him at all."
"He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place," some of the more fierce within the crowd shouted.
"Is this true that You are a Galilean?" Pilate asked the Messiah. "Then I send You off to Herod to be judged by him for whatever crimes You are being charged with."
"We must follow Him to Herod's to see the trial for ourselves, my fellow Smurfs," Tapper said.
"You go and smurf this trial if you want to, Tapper," Hefty said. "This doesn't have anything to smurf with me."
"I hate going to smurf the Messiah's trial with Herod," Grouchy said.
So only Tapper, Duncan, and Smurfette followed the Messiah as He was taken to the man known as King Herod Antipas, who was in Jerusalem at the time. There, in the place where Herod was staying, they saw a man who looked like he was in the middle of having fun with his female servants when he was called forth to be a judge upon the Messiah's arrival.
"So here You are, the Christ, or so I have heard," Herod said as soon as he saw Him. "I have been so eager to meet with You since I heard so much news about You from the people, particularly that You are a miracle worker. Is that true?"
The Messiah just stood there and not said a word.
"Not much of a talker, eh?" Herod said. "Well, let's get down to business, shall we? Why not show us a miracle or two? Say, You turn this pot of water into wine, like You did at the wedding in Cana. How about it, huh? Or just speak the word and fill my household with enough food that will satisfy me and my servants, as You have fed the multitude. Care to give it a try?"
But the Messiah just stood there and did nothing.
"Not even one single miracle from You? I'm truly disappointed," Herod said. "I guess You really aren't the Man that I was expecting to see, are You? John the Baptist said that You would be something great before he died. I guess that I should have known better than to believe his word at anything."
"This Man claims that He is a King, your Majesty," one of the chief priests said.
"A King?" Herod said, laughing as he saw the Messiah just standing there. "This person from Galilee is supposed to be a King? Well, by all means, we should honor Him with all the honor that goes with being a King."
Herod called forth his guards, who then brought a gorgeous robe to put on the Messiah.
"Well, there you have it...the Man from Galilee is our King," Herod said as he saw the Messiah with his robe. "Come, let us worship the King in all His glory." The rest of the court just laughed at the sight and mocked Him with their salutes while the Messiah continued to stand there and do nothing.
Herod sighed, seeing that he was getting bored. "Take him back to Pilate and let him do the judging. This so-called King is nothing to me but a mere pretender."
Tapper, Duncan, and Smurfette followed the Messiah as He was returned back to Pontius Pilate, where they rejoined with the other Smurfs waiting for them.
"You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him," Pilate said. "No, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. I will therefore chastise Him and release Him"
"Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas" the crowd shouted.
Pilate then ordered Barabbas to be brought out of chains and released at once. The Smurfs saw him and realized that he looked every sort like the unrepentant criminal that he was as he emerged from the Praetorium, seemingly pleased with the idea of being released. He looked at the Messiah briefly and sneered in His face before he walked away.
Then at the crowd's insistence, the Messiah was taken into the inner court of the Praetorium where He was stripped of His clothes and given thirty-nine stripes with scourges by the Roman soldiers. Tapper, Duncan, and Smurfette bravely made their way through the crowd and entered to see this event taking place...not that Smurfette wanted to see it for herself, but she felt that she needed to be there with Tapper as he saw the beating in every excruciating detail.
"Michty me, the laddie's surely a brave one for how He's enduring the beating," Duncan said. "I can hardly hear Him crying out at all."
"I don't know how you can stand watching your own Messiah being smurfed to death, Tapper," Smurfette said, covering her eyes so that she wouldn't see it.
"I sincerely do not enjoy being a witness to this myself, Smurfette, but it is according to the Scriptures that foretold of His fate: 'But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed'," Tapper said.
Some blood splashed on the three Smurfs as they continued to stand as witnesses to the horrific beating, but after it was done, the Roman soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on the Messiah's head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they struck Him with their hands.
Pontius Pilate brought Jesus back out before the crowd, where they saw Him with the crown of thorns and the purple robe. "Behold the Man," he announced as he showed the Messiah.
"Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" the crowd shouted back.
"Then you take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault at all in Him," Pontius said.
“We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God,” the crowd shouted.
Pontius became more afraid when he heard this, so he took the Messiah back into the Praetorium again, speaking in a demanding tone. "Where are You from?” But the Messiah didn't say anything. “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”
The Messiah said in a calm voice, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
Pilate again sought to release the Messiah, but the crowd said, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, which is called in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was now the sixth hour of the day, and as the Smurfs continued to watch, Pilate then said, "Behold your King!"
“Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” the crowd shouted.
"Shall I crucify your King?" Pilate asked.
"We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests said.
Pilate realized that he had no choice but to give the crowd what they wanted in order to keep the scene from turning into a complete riot. He took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it."
"His blood be on us and on our children," the crowd said together. So Pilate ordered for the Messiah to be crucified as soon as possible.
The Smurfs continued to bravely watch as the Messiah joined two other prisoners who were made to bear heavy crosses on their backs as they were now forced on their way out of the city. The crowd stood back and many of them were spitting on the Messiah and hurling all kinds of insults at Him as He used all His strength to carry the wooden cross with Him to His destination.
"Now where they are going with this Messiah and those other two men?" Hefty asked as soon as Tapper, Duncan, and Smurfette rejoined him and the other Smurfs.
"They're going to smurf Him to the hill known as Golgotha and Calvary, which is where He will be crucified and smurfed on display for the people to watch until He dies," Tapper said.
"Oh dear, I really wish I wasn't here to smurf this happening," Vanity said.
-----
Back at the Smurfs camp, Papa Smurf was still busy with trying to find the right arrangement for the chronosyte crystals when Grandpa Smurf got his attention. "Papa Smurf, the other Smurfs seem to be smurfing a bit too smurfed up over all the excitement that's smurfing on in Jerusalem, with the people gathering to watch the execution of the Almighty's Son."
"Huh?" Papa Smurf responded, sounding he like was too preoccupied with the crystal arranging that he just now noticed it for himself as he walked out of his hut. He was seeing the Smurfs all leaving the camp and heading straight for a certain location outside the city. "Where are all the Smurfs headed to?"
"I think it's that place that Tapper referred to as Calvary, Papa Smurf," Grandpa Smurf said, showing the village leader the hill where the execution was to take place.
He tried to get his little Smurfs' attention. "Hold it right there," he commanded, which stopped them in their tracks. "What's smurfed into you that you would smurf this terrible event that the humans are engaging in?"
"We don't know, Papa Smurf," one of the Smurfs said. "It was like something in us said that we had to be there as witnesses. That's all we really know, honestly."
"Hmmm, could this be the Almighty at work within our little Smurfs, Papa Smurf?" Grandpa Smurf asked.
"I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it might, Grandpa Smurf, but I must say that this isn't the type of thing that I would want to expose my little Smurfs to," Papa Smurf said.
"Then we might as well be there with the others to make sure that they are safe and that they understand the nature of this event, if that's possible," Grandpa Smurf said.
"I would have to agree with you on that, Grandpa Smurf," Papa Smurf said. "I may not fully understand everything that Tapper believes in with his Almighty, but I want to make it clear to my little Smurfs that this is what we as Smurfs must avoid becoming."
-----
The rest of the Smurfs soon caught up with Tapper and the others as they were following behind the Messiah and the two other criminals that were made to bear crosses on their backs. Along the way, the Messiah stumbled and fell because He was losing His strength. The Roman soldiers then picked a man out of the crowd, Simon the Cyrenian, so that he would help bear the cross along with the Messiah.
"Tapper, you shouldn't be out like this in public, exposing yourself and the other Smurfs to the crowd," Papa Smurf said.
"Papa Smurf, the crowd is just too focused on the Messiah right now, either to berate Him or to mourn for Him," Tapper said.
"You seem to be right on that, Tapper," Grandpa Smurf said as he looked at all the faces in the crowd. "It's surprising how nobody seems to notice us anyway."
"Still, we must be careful, lest we get ourselves smurfed underfoot by the humans," Papa Smurf said as they continued to follow the Messiah on the road to Calvary.
It was a long and slow journey up to the hill, with the Messiah stumbling a few more times as He was carrying the cross, and the people who were heckling Him and the Roman soldiers who were beating Him not helping matters any. By the time they reached the hill, they joined the rest of the crowd that had gathered to see the three men being crucified. The Messiah was stripped of His garments, which were then handed off to the soldiers so that they could cast lots for them, as Tapper remembered from his reading of Scripture.
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," the Messiah said with some difficulty, as the nails were driven through His hands and His feet one by one, and then He and the other two men were hoisted up on their crosses until all three of them were upright. On the placard above the Messiah's head, written in Latin, Greek, and Aramaic, were the words JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS.
One of the high priests said to Pontius Pilate, "It should not have said, 'The King Of The Jews', but rather, 'He said I am the King of the Jews.'"
"What I have written, I have written," Pilate said.
Those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."
The chief priests were also mocking with the scribes and elders, saying, "He saved others, but He cannot save Himself. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
"I don't get it, Tapper," Brainy said. "Why doesn't He smurf down from the cross to prove that He is the Son of God?"
"Because the hearts of the people who don't believe in Him are so hard, they wouldn't accept the truth even if He were to come down from the cross," Tapper said. "Besides, He needs to accomplish this in order to redeem all of mankind as well as all of creation."
"He seems so helpless, smurfing up on that cross when He hasn't smurfed anything," Smurfette said.
"Well, He surely smurfed quite a beating without fighting back," Hefty said. "It's like He doesn't even look human anymore. It makes me wonder if Empath ever deserved anything like this from me."
"It's hard to look at this Man and not think about Empath," Handy said.
"Oh, Pappy, this is just too awful to watch," Sassette cried out as she held onto Papa Smurf.
"There, there, my little Sassette, it's all right," Papa Smurf said, trying to comfort her. "I know what we're watching is terrible, but there's nothing here that could harm us."
"I wish you could smurf your magic powers to save Him, Pappy," Sassette said.
"I'm afraid that we have to let this part of history smurf on without any interference from us, Sassette, as much as we don't like being here to witness it," Papa Smurf said.
"So we're just here to watch a Man die?" Snappy asked. "What is this supposed to be...some form of entertainment?"
"Some of the people around us seem to think that it is, Snappy," Nat said. "Smurf at them...it's like seeing three helpless men on the cross is supposed to be enjoyment for them."
"But this Jesus is supposed to be a miracle worker, according to Tapper," Snappy said. "He's not even smurfing anything to prove Himself to the people mocking Him."
"I only wonder why humans enjoy watching people die so much," Slouchy said.
"Who knows, and quite frankly, who cares?" Snappy said. "They'll probably enjoy watching this thing even years from now."
"There's nothing about death that's meant to be enjoyed, my little grandsmurflings," Grandpa Smurf said. "This is just the cruelty of mankind at work here, something that we as Smurfs should never emulate."
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and John the disciple standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!"
John gently took the mother of Jesus away as she wept, unable to look anymore at the scene before her.
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us."
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to the Messiah, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
The Messiah said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. As the Smurfs continued to stand there fearfully watching, Tapper had a feeling that the Messiah was looking down upon them to see those who were brought to witness this moment, and on the scarred and torn face there seemed to be a faint glimmer of a smile, as if He knew who was there with Him and wanted so very much to show that what He was doing was for their sake. It felt like a very personal moment for Tapper, as if all the beatings and bruisings the Messiah received were all for him.
Tapper fell to his knees before the sight of his Messiah. "Oh, Lord God Almighty, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word, and I shall be healed."
And about the ninth hour the Messiah cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"
"What did He say, Tapper?" Brainy asked.
"He was saying, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'" Tapper answered. "This is the only moment in the Messiah's life where He felt like the Almighty, His own Father, has smurfed His back on Him."
Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!"
In a voice that sounded like it was getting raspy, the Messiah said, "I thirst!" The soliders who heard Him filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and hoisted it up to put it to His mouth. When the Messiah had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!"
"Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him," the crowd said together.
Then finally with the last of His strength, the Messiah cried out, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." And after He said that, He breathed His last.
At the same moment, there was an earthquake that shook the ground where everybody stood. Tapper knew at in the Temple, the curtain that would separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place would be torn in two, meaning that people everywhere would now have access to God instead of just the high priests.
The centurion who saw what had happened glorified God, saying, "Truly this was a righteous Man!"
Then as the crowd drifted away, the centurion who was ordered to make sure that the men on the cross died broke the legs of the other two men, but when he got to the Messiah, he saw that He was already dead, and so he pierced a spear into His side, which caused water and blood to come out.
The Smurfs wept together as the bodies of the dead men were lowered from the crosses, and the disciples received Jesus' body so that it could be buried.
-----
By the time the Smurfs returned to camp so they could rest, Tapper noticed Papa Smurf looking like the whole event affected him deeply. He waited until Papa Smurf was alone in his house so he could talk with him.
"I smurfed at that Man on the cross and all I could keep thinking of was Empath, of what I smurfed to him when he was too young to be smurfed away from me, and I thought that he was gone forever from me," Papa Smurf finally said. "Oh, Tapper, what have I done?"
"You sacrificed an only begotten son that you loved dearly and smurfed a much greater family, Papa Smurf," Tapper said. "That's what God did with Jesus. He smurfed us His best from heaven so that we too could become part of His family through the blood of His only begotten Son."
"Empath didn't deserve what I smurfed to him back then," Papa Smurf said. "He didn't deserve what I smurfed to him now, having been smurfed behind with Polaris Psyche."
"None of us deserve anything but a fair judgment for our own lives, Papa Smurf," Tapper said. "You at least have smurfed us hope for a future when we were just young Smurflings without our parents. You continue to smurf us hope even now that we all might return home."
"Home," Papa Smurf said as he turned his attention toward the crystals he was arranging. "I could only wonder if Empath will forgive me for smurfing this to him one more time in his life."
"If he truly loves you, Papa Smurf, then I don't see how he could not forgive you," Tapper said. "You're the only one in his life who has taught him what love truly is. And if you could give the Almighty a chance, He will also forgive you of what you have smurfed to Empath, even unto now."
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 03-25-2016 02:24 AM
Early the next morning, Tapper went to the tomb of the Messiah with Smurfette, Brainy, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Duncan following behind him. When they got to the place, they saw that there was a guard standing at the entrance of the tomb, which had been sealed off with a large circular stone.
"Michty me, laddie, what are we smurfing around here for anyway?" Duncan asked.
"I have to see for myself the tomb where the Almighty's Son has been laid, from which He will rise again on the third day," Tapper said.
"But that's ridiculous, Tapper," Brainy said. "People don't rise from the dead unless they've been smurfed back from the dead through magic."
"This isn't magic that will smurf the Lord back from the dead, Brainy," Tapper said. "This is the work of the triune God, and He will have witnesses to this resurrection that will smurf on to preach the truth to those who smurf ears to listen."
"Gosh, I wonder what it will be like to smurf back from the dead," Clumsy said.
"Why would you want to smurf back from the dead?" Grouchy asked. "I think being dead is better."
"What's with the guard smurfing at the entrance of the tomb?" Smurfette asked.
"He was smurfed there at the insistence of the high priests, Smurfette," Tapper said. "They heard what the Lord said that He would rise from the dead on the third day, and believe that the disciples would smurf away His body from the tomb and say that He had risen in order to deceive the public. This is to make sure that nobody would smurf fools out of anyone."
"But He's surely not going to smurf in the grave for long, isn't He?" Duncan said.
"No, He won't, my fellow Duncan," Tapper said. "The stone will be smurfed away from the tomb, and the Messiah will smurf out of there, fully resurrected, though smurfing the scars of His earthly death to prove that He had truly been smurfed back from the dead."
"Well, I sure hope to smurf here when that happens, or else I'm not believing a single word you're smurfing about Him," Brainy said.
"I only pray that when you do smurf Him risen from the dead, that you will not think that it's anything other than the truth, Brainy," Tapper said.
"I don't smurf any of the other disciples smurfing to the tomb at this time, Tapper," Smurfette said as she looked around the area.
"This is the time of the Sabbath, when all of God's people are commanded to rest, my dear Smurfette," Tapper said. "We will see them again when it smurfs time for the Lord to be risen from the dead."
-----
The following morning, the six Smurfs were on their way to the tomb when they came across Mary Magdalene, who was going to the tomb with Peter and John while it was still dark. "Oh, thank the Lord that you are safe, my little friends," Mary Magdalene said.
"Why are you smurfing to the tomb so early in the morning?" Smurfette asked.
"We came to anoint the Lord with spices that I have prepared while He was resting, Smurfette," Mary Magdalene said. "We only need to roll away the stone and..."
They stopped as soon as they came close enough to the tomb to notice that the stone had already been rolled away, as if somebody had already come in the middle of the night to take away the body. They carefully looked into the tomb and noticed that there were two angels sitting at either end of where the Messiah's body was lain, where all that was left was the grave cloths and the napkin that was folded and left by the side.
"Why do you seek the living among the dead?" one of the angels asked those who were looking. "He is not here, for He has risen."
"Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you," the other angel said.
Peter and John were amazed at the news and thus went off to tell the other disciples what they have found, but Mary Magdalene stayed at the tomb crying. "Mary, why are you crying?" Tapper asked gently. "The angels have smurfed you the good news, that He has risen."
"No, it can't be true," Mary Magdalene said. "They must have taken the body of the Lord away. I have to know where it is in order to see it for myself."
"But if they were angels of God, then why would you not believe them?" Smurfette asked. "Surely they would not be lying if they were smurfing you the truth of what happened."
"If I were her, which I'm glad I'm not, I would feel the same way myself," Grouchy said.
"I would not belittle her faith if I were you, my fellow Grouchy," Tapper said. "The poor girl has already suffered enough with smurfing her Messiah dying on the cross. This is something that she's got to smurf for herself."
"If I know from what you smurfed me in your holy book, laddie, it's not going to smurf very long," Duncan said.
Then another voice spoke unto her, asking, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?"
Mary Magdalene thought it must have been the gardener, so she said, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
"Mary," the voice said again, and then she turned and recognized who it was, as did the Smurfs who were with her. It was the Messiah.
"Rabboni!" Mary Magdalene cried out.
"Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God'," the Messiah said.
Mary Magdalene never looked so happy in her life, as the Smurfs with her have noticed. She went on to tell the other disciples that she has seen the Lord risen and alive.
The Messiah lingered for a bit as He noticed the Smurfs now staring at Him, looking rather amazed. "Go and tell the others what you yourselves have seen, little ones," He said to them before He disappeared.
"I do not believe it!" Brainy exclaimed. "We have seen this Man die on the cross, and now He has risen from the dead?"
"Golly, He must not really have been dead after all," Clumsy said.
"Oh, He's been dead all right, Clumsy," Tapper said. "We have seen Him die a horrific death, and now He has risen from the dead, proving to us that He is truly the Messiah."
"He must truly have the spirit of the McSmurf in Him if death couldn't smurf its hold on Him, laddie," Duncan said.
"I hate death smurfing a hold on me," Grouchy said.
"Oh, what a privilege that the Lord has smurfed upon us to see Him risen, if not yet in all His glory, which will be very soon," Tapper said. "We must tell the others what we have smurfed, even if they don't believe us."
"How long is He going to smurf with the disciples now that He has risen, Tapper?" Smurfette asked.
"It will be a total of forty days, and then He will ascend into heaven to be smurfed at the Father's right hand," Tapper said. "Then in ten more days, the disciples will be smurfed with the promise of the Holy Spirit, with which they will smurf the good news unto all the nations starting in Jerusalem."
"But why doesn't He smurf Himself to the rest of the world, and not just His disciples?" Brainy asked.
"The rest of the world needs to believe for themselves through the testimony of the words from the apostles, my fellow Brainy," Tapper said. "The Almighty's Son has said blessed are those who have not smurfed and yet have believed."
"Let's smurf back to the camp and let us smurf the good news to everyone, and see if they will believe what we have smurfed for ourselves or not," Duncan said.
-----
And so the Smurfs returned to the camp and told the others what they have witnessed from the tomb of the Messiah, that He has risen from the dead. Many of the Smurfs were rather puzzled and even skeptical that such a thing could even happen, but there were a few Smurfs that did believe the words of the six Smurfs that were at the tomb to see it happen.
"So that's what Easter is really about, Tapper...smurfing the Messiah dying on the cross and then smurfing back from the dead?" Sassette asked. "Nothing about Easter bunnies that smurf colored eggs and candies and all that fun smurf?"
"Boy, what a crummy ripoff of having to smurf here for our Easter instead of back home where we could see Smurfette in a bunny suit," Snappy said.
"That's all you ever look forward to on Easter, to see Smurfette in a bunny suit?" Nat said.
"I could certainly see where Snappy's mind has smurfed to," Slouchy said in a sly quiet voice.
"I'm sorry that this isn't the kind of Easter you were hoping to celebrate here, my fellow Smurflings," Tapper said. "But you see, this is the time that we celebrate the hope of new life from death, and in the Messiah we truly have a new life, for everybody who believes on Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
"Just like a caterpillar smurfs into a butterfly every spring," Nat said, sounding fascinated.
"No offense, Tapper, but I still prefer celebrating Easter the way that the Smurfs celebrate it, with Easter egg hunts and dressing up as bunnies," Snappy said.
"If there's even a chance that Smurfette will dress up as one just for you alone," Slouchy said with a slight chuckle.
"The other boys can believe what they want, Tapper, but if you said that you saw the Messiah being smurfed back from the dead, then I will believe you," Sassette said.
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The guards who were standing at the tomb told the high priests what had happened. "I swear by God that this is the truth," they both said. "There was an earthquake that took place before dawn that morning, and an angel appeared and rolled away the stone, and that's when we fainted. When we next woke up, the body from the tomb was already gone. It must have been something supernatural that took place, because there's no other way we could explain it."
Caiaphas pondered on what to do about the now-empty tomb as he and the high priests took counsel together. "The people will believe that the Messiah has truly risen from the dead, and then our position and our nation will be taken away if we don't act to prevent this news from being spread," they all said together.
"Here's what we will do," Caiaphas said. "We will pay the guards a large sum of money to say that His disciples came at night and stole Him away while they slept. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and make the guards free from anxiety."
"Then the whole resurrection story will be nothing more than a myth," one of the high priests said. "We will allow this to be acted on at once."
So the high priests handed the guards a large sum of money and instructed them to say what they were told to say, and as recorded in history, this saying became commonly reported among the Jews to this day.
-----
Meanwhile, the disciples were able to behold the miracle for themselves when the Lord presented Himself to them privately, particularly to Thomas, who was doubting the whole thing until he could see it for himself. He was amazed to see that the Lord still had the scars of His crucifixion upon His body, which was proof enough for him to confirm that the Messiah was indeed resurrected.
The six Smurfs again met with Mary Magdalene for the next forty days that the Lord was with them to tell His disciples about the kingdom. Tapper could tell that Mary was now happier than she was before when she was watching her Messiah die on the cross.
"Your friend seems to be very wise in the knowledge of the Lord, Smurfette, almost as wise as the Messiah Himself," Mary Magdalene said.
"He is very amazing when it smurfs to what he believes in, Mary," Smurfette said. "Sometimes when I think about what the Messiah smurfs like, I think of Tapper."
"He must be a prophet if he knows what's going to happen when the Messiah will finally leave us," Mary Magdalene said.
Smurfette giggled. "I don't know if I would smurf so far as to call him a prophet, Mary. But I do know that the Almighty is always with him to smurf directly to him with whatever he needs to smurf."
"You must be very blessed to have someone like Tapper to be blessed with such wisdom and knowledge of the Almighty to bring messages from Him unto your people," Mary Magdalene said.
And then came the day about ten days before the Pentecost would take place, when the Lord would be received back into heaven. Tapper and five of his fellow Smurfs were with the disciples at the Mount Of Olives when this had happened. "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about," He said to them. "For John immersed with water, but in a few days you will be immersed with the Holy Spirit."
"Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" the disciples asked.
He said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. The disciples and the Smurfs were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven."
When the disciples departed from the scene and headed back to Jerusalem, Smurfette asked Mary Magdalene, "So what are you going to smurf now that the Lord has smurfed back into heaven?"
"I might as well join the other disciples and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit to fall upon them so that I will also be able to share the good news with my fellow Jews," Mary Magdalene said.
"You do know that you will face people who will not believe the smurfs of your testimony, my fellow sister," Tapper said.
"It doesn't matter to me whether people will believe or not, for I now know what I have witnessed, and I can't be convinced that it was anything other than the truth," Mary said. "But something tells me that we will not see each other again except in heaven."
"Aye, we will be smurfing on from here, hopefully back to our own home, lassie," Duncan said.
"I am very certain that you will be a faithful witness, even if we don't know what will happen to you when we are gone," Tapper said.
"I thank you for being here with me nonetheless, my little friends," Mary Magdalene said. "I can only pray the Lord for a safe journey home for you and the rest of your family."
-----
It was finally the day of Pentecost, when Tapper knew that the Holy Spirit would fall upon the Lord's disciples to make them powerful witnesses unto Him before all the people in Judea and to the ends of the earth, when Papa Smurf finally found the arrangement of the crystals he was looking for. The vortex opened again, and the Smurfs stepped into it in the hopes that it would finally return them straight home.
Tapper was one of the last to go through the vortex with the other Smurfs, with Smurfette and Duncan standing by him. He looked at the city of Jerusalem one last time and smiled. "If only I was with the disciples in the upper room when the tongues of fire had smurfed upon them as a sign of their baptism in the Holy Spirit, my friends," Tapper said.
"Oh, if only I was with Mary Magdalene to go and smurf the joyous news of what we had smurfed while we were here with her," Smurfette said.
"Well, the lads and lassies will certainly make history happen, that's for sure," Duncan said. "It's time we let history smurf its course without us smurfing a part of it."
Then the three of them stepped into the vortex and left the camp outside Jerusalem, with the vortex closing up behind them.
-----
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, the disciples were all with one accord in the same place when suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as being borne along by a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, being distributed, and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Even Mary Magdalene spoke in tongues as she was filled with the Holy Spirit.
There were Jews dwelling in Jerusalem, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own dialect. And they were all amazed and marveled.
"Behold, are not all these who speak Galileans?" they said to one another "And how is it that we hear, each in our own dialect in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs; we hear them speaking in our tongues the wonderful works of God."
They were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever would this wish to be?"
Others who were mocking said, "They are full of sweet wine."
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out from My Spirit upon all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will present wonders in the heavens above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that everyone who shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"
The Jews in Jerusalem heard Peter talk about Jesus, who was crucified in their city by lawless hands, and that He was raised up from the dead and is now declared both Lord and Christ. When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be immersed in the name of Jesus Christ to the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."
Then those who gladly received his word were immersed; and that day about three thousand souls were added.
And indeed history was being made.
THE END
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Redneck Smurfette
Super Smurf
Member # 5521
Member Rated:
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posted 03-25-2016 08:43 AM
Thank you so much for this wonderful story Vic George! It is a great reminder of what Jesus had done for us. I also think that you had done a terrific job of putting Smurfs and and the story of Christ together. It is a wonderful story, and if there is anyone who doesn't know The Lord, you just preached to them and told them the story of Jesus dieing on the cross for their sins.
Growing up, I figured that the point of finding the Easter eggs were a symbol of searching for disciples. Each egg is special in their own way, and some are harder to find than others, much like people.
Anyway, thank you for this wonderful story! May God Bless you!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Man...An Irish-Redneck-Lass...You guys are in trouble!;)
"The Irish gave the Scottish bagpipes as a joke....The Scots haven't figured it out yet."
Posts: 823 | From: Ireland, doing and Irish dance probably... | Registered: Mar 2015
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 03-25-2016 11:33 AM
Some notes on the story:
*The title of the story is based on the Mel Gibson movie The Passion Of The Christ, although it is not intended to be a parody of either the title or the movie itself.
*The Smurfs' clothes strangely do not change, to have them appear appropriate for the time period and geographical location.
*This would most likely be the Easter special for the EMPATH story series, although technically the holiday being celebrated is Passover.
*Judas' death in this story follows closely to the apostles' account of how it happened in Acts 1:18 rather than Matthew 27:5.
*One of Tapper's responses as to who Jesus is is taken from a portion of a sermon called "That's My King" by S.M. Lockridge.
*As in the 2011 Smurfs movie, Tapper's chosen companions to join him in following the Messiah are Smurfette, Brainy, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Duncan (Gutsy).
*Tapper's Bible quotes are mostly from Isaiah chapter 53, which according to Bible students is a prophecy of the Messiah's suffering.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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