The Prisoner with power

Julie felt it happening. Surprising things often happened during Baha’i class that made her heart race fast. And it was happening again—ARRRGH! YAAAAAHHEE! - Julie’s heart was racing a zillion beats a minute as she struggled with some heavy chain she was trying to break apart with her bare hands!

Each of the kids in the class had a piece of chain they were trying to break. Yells and grunts filled the air as they pulled at the chain with all their might. Gradually they got tired and fell to the floor, panting and giggling.

“So, kids, who was able to break one of the chains?” asked Ms. Bates, their teacher.

The class laughed, because no one had been able to do it. “It's really hard,” Willie said to the teacher “I don’t think anyone could do it, not even a grown up like you, Ms. Bates."

Ms. Bates picked up a piece of chain and struggled to break it, but had no success either. She held the chain up for everyone to see. “You’re right, Willie, I can’t do it either; none of us can. But Baha’u’llah did do something like breaking a chain—in fact. He did something even more amazing.”

“‘Abdu’l-Baha says that one of the most important ways we can know that Baha’u’llah was a Prophet of God is that prisons and chains could not stop Him,” Ms. Bates continued. “Although He was always a prisoner to the end of His life, He was not really in prison.”

Now Julie’s heart was really racing. It was like a riddle—How could you be a prisoner and yet not in prison? Julie thought, “What is Ms. Bates talking about?”

“Although not always in chains, Baha’u’llah was a prisoner for most of His adult life,” Ms. Bates said. “In fact, the cruel king who sent Baha’u’llah to prison never wanted Baha’u’llah to go free. The king wanted Baha’u’llah to be kept in prison forever, always with a guard near Him and never having visitors. The king’s plan was for Baha’u’llah to be so locked up that everyone would forget about Him. He thought that prison and chains could stop people from loving Baha’u’llah and wanting to learn from Him.”

“But the king made a mistake, didn’t he, Ms. Bates?” Stuart said, dropping his chain with a loud chunk.

“Yes, Stuart, the king was wrong,” Ms. Bates said, smiling. “‘Abdu’l-Bahà said that although the king never changed his mind about Baha’u’llah and always insisted that He remain a prisoner, after nine years in prison at Akka, Baha’u’llah walked out of the prison and took up residence in a mansion in the countryside.”

“You mean He just walked out of prison and no one stopped Him?” Julie could not believe her ears!

“That’s exactly right, Julie,” Ms. Bates replied. “The jailers, officials, and people of 'Akka witnessed His leaving, but no one tried to stop Him. The people had come to love and respect Baha’u'llah so much that they wanted Him to be free. So, sometimes Baha’u’llah stayed at the Mansion of Bahji, at other times He stayed at Mazra'ih, and other times He stayed in Haifa or pitched His tent on Mount Carmel.”

“Baha’u’llah lived in a mansion? That’s amazing! It’s like He replaced the prison with a palace, didn’t He?”

“That’s right, Julie. What had been a life in chains became a walk in a beautiful garden. The attempt to silence Baha’u’llah and stop His teachings from spreading gave way to government officials and visitors coming to seek His advice. Nothing like this had ever happened before.”

“Ms. Bates," Julie asked, “do you know what I think?”

“No, Julie, what?”

“That if Baha’u’llah can defeat a king while He’s still a prisoner, He probably can do just about anything!”

“Yes, and we can ask Baha’u’llah to help us with our troubles, too, Julie,” Ms. Bates added.

And that really made Julie’s heart beat fast.

(Written by Rick Johnson; illustrated by Winifred Barnum-Newman; Core Curriculum for Spiritual Education’, by the United States National Spiritual Assembly)