The Ten Lepers

HOOK:
Bring in a pack of band-aids.  Show them to the kids and ask them if they know what they are for.  Children LOVE band-aids and will be very excited to see them and will come up with creative stories to obtain one.  Lead a controlled discussion about their latest “battle scars” and talk about how much boo-boos hurt and how a band-aid really helps to make things all better.  Tell the children that we are going to talk about a group of people in the Bible that had really bad boo-boos that a band-aid couldn’t help.  Only Jesus could heal them.  Remind the class to sit “criss-cross applesauce” and have good listening manners and after you’re done with the lesson you will give them each a band-aid.

BOOK:
Luke 17:11-19
As Jesus was walking along the road, a group of 10 men who had a really bad disease called out to Jesus and asked Him to heal them.  The disease they had is called leprosy and it eats away at your skin so much that parts of your body rot away and falls off.  It hurts a lot.  Not only does it hurt alot and looks and smells really bad, but if you had it, you weren’t allowed to be with any other people.  You had to leave your home and your town and live with other people who had this disease (other lepers).  This group of lepers was so lonely and hurt so much that they cried out to Jesus to have pity on them.  That means that they begged Jesus to see how miserable they were and asked Him to take away their pain and their shame of being put away from their family and friends.  Jesus knew how horrible it was to have this disease and He loved them and wanted them to get better.  He told the group of 10 lepers to go show themselves to the priests (a special leader of the church).  As they were going to the temple, they had a miracle!  They were healed!  The leprosy was gone!!  Jesus healed all their boo-boos and their bodies were like new.  Now they can go back to their families!!  Can you imagine how happy they were?!  One of them, when he saw that he was all better, came back and was praising God in a loud voice and he threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him.  Jesus was surprised that only one person came back to thank Him.  He knew that all 10 had a miracle and had their bodies healed and could go back to living with their loved ones.  But only one out of all ten came back to say “thank you.”

LOOK:
Wouldn’t it be horrible to have a disease that ate away at your skin?  Some lepers didn’t have fingers or noses or toes if the boo-boo got so bad that it just rotted away the flesh.  We know how much it hurts to have one boo-boo.  Can you imagine how bad it feels to have boo-boos all over your body that don’t go away and only get worse?  It also makes your skin smelly.  People didn’t want anybody like that anywhere near them and they were afraid of getting it too.  Jesus knew that people with this disease were in so much pain and were very lonely.  He loved them so much that He wanted to take all their pain away.  When Jesus healed the ten lepers, their whole lives changed!  Don’t you think all ten of them would have run back to Jesus to thank Him for this miracle?  Only one person did.  Jesus wants us to show Him thanks and praise.  We should thank God every day for our healthy bodies: that we can see, hear, run around and jump and enjoy God’s world around us.  There are a lot of boys and girls that can’t do that because they have a disease.  We need to pray for them, and we need to be very thankful to God for how wonderful He made us!

TOOK:
Every day when you wake up you should thank God for a new day and for a healthy body.  Before you even get out of bed, stretch and say, “Thank you God for making me!  Help me to think of you and thank you today!”  We have SO MUCH to be thankful for and it all comes from God.  Let’s go around the circle and say one thing we are thankful for.  Remember to thank God for these things before you fall asleep at night.  God wants us to praise and thank Him!

MEMORY VERSE:
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.”  Psalm 107:1

CLOSING PRAYER:
Thank you, God for giving us strong, healthy bodies, good families, nice homes and food to eat.  You give us so much and we want to thank you with all our hearts all the time. Please help us to remember to give you thanks and praise.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!