Skip to main content

In addition to this public lesson and idea forum, be sure to visit our Writing Team's extra special lesson set: "Grace and Gratitude: Jesus Heals the Ten Lepers. Written by and for supporting members, its lesson summaries and Bible background are open to all. Related forum: Stewardship, Giving, Thankfulness.

Jesus Heals 10 Lepers

Lesson Set

Summary of Workshops:

  • Games Station: The students will play games to understand the impact of leprosy (Leper’s Tag; Stay Away). They will also answer questions from the Story Cube and the Memory Verse Cube to help them understand the story better.
  • Music/Puppets Station: The students will decorate paper plate puppets to represent the 10 lepers. They will think about the reasons why the lepers did or did not come back and give thanks. They will use these reasons as their lines in a simple musical.
  • Science Station: The students will be watching and/or performing a variety of experiments involving visible and hidden substances.

Scripture Reference:
Luke 17: 11-19

Key Verse/Memory Verse:
Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever. –Psalm 136:1

Main Idea
There are 2 kinds of healing in this story. The first healing—the physical healing—happened for all 10 lepers. The second healing—the spiritual healing—happened for just the one man who returned to Jesus. This man received salvation—eternal life with Jesus!

Goals: By the end of this rotation, the students will

  • Be able to retell the story
  • Tell the memory verse in their own words.
  • Learn what it meant to have leprosy in Bible times
  • Know that we are sinners in need of a Savior, even when our sins are not visible.
  • Realize that God loves us even when we sin and loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.
  • Realize that the “thankful” leper received physical AND spiritual healing
  • Be aware of the different responses to Jesus’ gift of healing
  • Think of how they can respond to the generosity of God



A lesson set from St. John Lutheran Church

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Last edited by Luanne Payne
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Jesus Heals 10 Lepers

Music/Puppets Workshop

 

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Performing a puppet musical.

Workshop-specific Goals:

  • Be able to retell the story
  • Realize that the “thankful” leper received physical AND spiritual healing
  • Be aware of the different responses to Jesus’ gift of healing
  • Think of how they can respond to the generosity of God

Scripture Reference:

Luke 17: 11-19.


 

Preparation:

  • Review Background notes.
  • Gather the materials.

Materials List:

  • Bibles (supplied in teaching box)
  • Bible storybook (for PreK class): Jesus Loves Me Bible Storybook (p 331)
  • Copy of memory verse written large (take from Bible Background)
  • Puppet stage (rope and sheet) from the puppet box
  • One of our regular puppets (to represent Jesus)
  • Paint sticks or wooden dowel rods about a foot long (10)
  • Paper plates (20 per class)
  • Markers, crayons
  • 10 slips of paper (to write the excuses on)—new set for each class
  • Another set of 10 slips of paper which are labeled with various singing styles: high-pitched voice, low-pitched voice, loud voice, soft voice, squeaky voice, scary voice, voice like an opera singer, monotone voice, quivery voice, voice in your favorite music style
  • Camcorder (optional)
  • TV to play back the camcorder (optional)

Advance Preparation:

  • Refer to schedule and decide how you will make adjustments for the different ages.
  • Print out the memory verse
  • Prepare the 2 sets of paper slips
  • Create the beginning of the 10 puppets you will need for each class: staple 2 paper plates together and place over the stick to create a puppet. Number the puppets from 1-10; write the number on the puppet’s “forehead”—write the number on both sides.
  • Set up the puppets stage before class


 

Presentation

 

Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction:
Introduce yourself to the students.

Open with a prayer .

We would like to have a consistent opening and closing to each class, especially since the teacher and station changes each week. Please start the class by having everyone make the sign of the cross and say: “We make our beginning in the name of God the Father—and God the Son—and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:
Please make sure that the students hear and “get” the Bible story as well as the application of that story to their lives. The Bible story is the MOST important part of the lesson—it is much more important than the activity associated with this station!
(For the first part of the month, go ahead and read the story from the Bible. For the latter part of the month—when the children should be familiar with the story—have them tell you the story)

Say: What are some things that you are thankful for? Do you always say “thank you” for those things? In our story today, we are going to hear about 10 men who were healed by Jesus—but only 1 came back to say thanks. These 10 men had leprosy. When the Bible talks about leprosy, it means a skin disease—some sort of sores or rash on the skin. People with leprosy had to be isolated so that the disease would not spread. They were not allowed in the town and they couldn’t be with their family. They had to stay outside of the town and find whatever food and shelter that they could. It was a pretty miserable way to live. The only way that they could become a part of society again was to be healed. The priests had to examine them and say that they were healed, and then they could go back to their families.

Have the class open their Bible to Luke 17: 11-19. Read the story. Ask the following questions:

  • What did Jesus say to the 10 men after they asked Him to take pity on them? (Go, show yourselves to the priests)
  • Why did Jesus tell them to go to the priests? ( so the priests could check them out and make sure that the leprosy was gone)
  • How many men were healed of their leprosy? (10). How many came back to say thanks to Jesus? (just one)

At the end of the story, Jesus says to the man “your faith has made you well”. But he was already healed of his leprosy. Actually, there are 2 kinds of healing going on here. The first healing—the physical healing—happened for all 10 men. The second healing—the spiritual healing—happened for just the one man who returned to Jesus. This man received salvation—eternal life with Jesus!

For our activity today, we are going to put on a puppet musical. Part of the musical deals with the reasons why the men did not come back to give thanks. So we need to come up with 9 excuses. Have the class quickly brainstorm 9 reasons and write these reasons down on the 9 slips of paper. For the 10th slip of paper, have the class come up with a reason for why the 10th man came back to give thanks. Each slip of paper should start with the phrase “I was …..”. Each statement should be short, as they will be singing this as their line later.

Activities:


Finishing the Puppets
Give each student 1 puppet (if there are less than 10 students you can give a second puppet to some students, or the guide/teacher can finish the puppets). Explain to the students that 1 side of the puppet is the man WITH leprosy; the other side of the puppet is the man after he is healed. Give them crayons or markers so that they can draw a face on one side with various blotches and spots. They can draw a face without any marks on the other side. The decorations should be very simple—only give them a few minutes to do this.

Practicing the Music
Now, I said this was going to be a musical. So we are going to spend a few minutes working on the music. Each of the 10 puppets will be singing his excuse with a different kind of voice. We are all going to practice those voices so that you will be ready for your part. Use a simple line to have the children practice, such as “Jesus loves me this I know” or “Mary had a little lamb”. Pull out the slips of paper with the 10 different singing styles. Call out each singing style and have the entire class recite the line using that style (you may need to lead them at first until they get the hang of it). Go through all 10 styles. Have them really ham it up, so that they are comfortable doing this.

We will all be singing one other song together during our musical—it is to the tune of “10 little Indians”. Teach them the 2 verses of this song:

“One little, two little, three little lepers. Four little, five little, six little lepers. Seven little, eight little, nine little lepers. Ten lepers healed by Jesus.”

Ten little, nine little, eight little lepers. Seven little, six little, five little lepers. Four little, three little, two little lepers. One leper came back and gave thanks.”

The Musical
Now it is time to assign parts. If there are fewer than 10 students, then some may need to take on 2 roles. If there are more than 2, then some students could pair up, or take the role of narrator. Each student should draw one slip of paper from the “excuses” they you created earlier—this is their “line”. They should also draw a slip of paper from the “singing styles” set of papers, so that they know how to sing their lines. Let them spend a minute or two figuring out how they will do their lines. Each student should also have the puppets that they decorated earlier. Have them line up in order (the “thankful” leper should be puppet number 10). Briefly explain the script (see end of lesson--next post). Make sure they know that the “leprosy” face shows at the start of the story and then switches to the “healthy” face when they are healed by Jesus. Now it is time for the musical (you can camcord if you would like).

 

Reflect/Closure:

What are some of the things that God has given you? In reality, Jesus gives us everything that we need. What were some of the excuses that the puppets gave for not saying thanks? It is pretty easy to take His gifts for granted. What are some things we can do to remember to thank Jesus every day for all these wonderful gifts?

Read the memory verse. Ask the students to tell what the verse means to them.

If time allows (and if you videotaped the performance), you could show the video to them.

The students may take their puppet faces home, but keep the sticks to use for the next class.

Closing:
We would like to have a consistent opening and closing to each class, especially since the teacher and station changes each week. Please end the class with this benediction from Numbers 6: 24-26 (CEV). Make the sign of the cross and say:
I pray that the LORD will bless and protect you, and that He will show you mercy and kindness. May the LORD be good to you and give you peace. Amen.


 

A lesson from: St. John Lutheran Church

 

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

 

Last edited by Rotation.org Lesson Forma-teer

Script for Puppet Musical


Parts: Narrator (could be the teacher or guide); 10 leper puppets; Jesus puppet

The story begins with the narrator speaking—the puppets are not visible at this time.

Narrator: Our story comes from the Bible in the book of Luke. Ten lepers stand outside the village [10 leper puppets appear with “leprosy” faces showing]. When they see Jesus [Jesus puppet appears], they cry out “Jesus, master, have pity on us”. Jesus replies “Go, show yourselves to the priest”.

Entire cast: Sings verse 1 of the “10 Little Lepers” song. [leper puppets move away from the Jesus puppet—they spin the puppet so that the “healthy” faces shows and then disappear; Jesus puppet remains].

Narrator: Ten lepers were healed by Jesus. However, nine of the lepers never came back to thank Jesus. I wonder why?

Leper Puppets 1-9: Each puppet (with healthy face) pops up one-by-one to sing his excuse. After singing its line, the puppet again disappears.

Entire Cast: sings verse two of “10 little Lepers”.

Narrator: Only one of the men returned to give thanks to Jesus [puppet 10—with healthy face-- appears].

Puppet 10: He sings his line and continues to stand by Jesus.

Narrator: Jesus said: Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Rise and go, your faith has made you well. You are now a part of God’s family. [Jesus puppet and leper 10 puppet both exit the stage]

The End

Last edited by Rotation.org Lesson Forma-teer

Jesus Heals 10 Lepers

Science Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Uses a number of science demonstrations to tell the story.

Scripture Reference:

Luke 17: 11-19

Workshop-specific Goals:

  • Know that the thankful leper also received spiritual healing and salvation.
  • Know that we are sinners in need of a Savior, even when our sins are not visible.
  • Realize that God loves us even when we sin and loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.

Leader Preparation:

  • Review Background notes.
  • Gather the materials.

Materials List:

  • Bibles (supplied in teaching box)
  • Arch book about the 10 lepers (for PreK)
  • Copy of memory verse written large (take from Bible Background)
  • Disappearing Coin: 3 coins, 3 clear glass jars or clear drinking glasses; pitcher of water with 3 disposable cups
  • Hidden Iron: magnet, several paper clips, piece of paper, several nails, 2-3 cups of IRON-FORTIFIED cereal, blender, water, bowl, spoon, white napkin
  • Invisible writing: Sheets of paper prepared beforehand (see lesson--requires baking soda, cup of water, bowl, Q-tips), an iron, dish towel, clean sheet of paper, cup of cranberry juice and some paper towels
  • Black light: black light, pieces of fabric of various patterns prepared beforehand (see lesson—requires dirt, ketchup, tonic water with quinine, ammonia, petroleum jelly), petroleum jelly for the class, paper towels

Advance Preparation:

  • Refer to schedule and decide how you will make adjustments for the different ages.
  • Print out the memory verse
  • PERFORM THESE EXPERIMENTS AT HOME SO THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THEM CORRECTLY!
  • See lesson for further advance preparations


Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Introduce yourself to the students.

Open with a prayer .

We would like to have a consistent opening and closing to each class, especially since the teacher and station changes each week. Please start the class by having everyone make the sign of the cross and say: “We make our beginning in the name of God the Father—and God the Son—and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Introduction & Bible Story:
Please make sure that the students hear and “get” the Bible story as well as the application of that story to their lives. The Bible story is the MOST important part of the lesson—it is much more important than the activity associated with this station!
(For the first part of the month, go ahead and read the story from the Bible. For the latter part of the month—when the children should be familiar with the story—have them tell you the story)

Has anyone ever cut themselves so that they bled? How about fallen down and scraped their knees or hands or face or whatever? Or gotten a black eye? If someone looked at you, they would be able to tell that something was wrong—something was injured. Our story this month is about 10 men with leprosy. When the Bible talks about leprosy, it means a skin disease—some sort of sores or rash on the skin. People with leprosy had to be isolated so that the disease would not spread. It was pretty easy to keep lepers separated because you could look at them and see the disease. These lepers also had a problem that you couldn’t see by looking at them—although Jesus could see that they had this problem. This problem is the fact that they were sinners—just like you and me. In our story, we will see what Jesus did about these problems—physical and spiritual.

Have the students open their Bibles to Luke 17: 11-19. Read the story aloud. Ask the following questions:

  • What disease did these 10 men have that you could see? (leprosy)
  • Leprosy often caused people to be crippled and to look deformed, so they might not have been very nice to look at. Did Jesus turn away from them because of their disease and appearance? (No) What did he do instead? (He healed them)
  • How many of the 10 men were healed from their leprosy? (all 10)
  • When Jesus looked into their hearts, what other problem did He see? (He could see their sins). We may think we are keeping our sins hidden, but God can still see them.
  • Our sins are very disgusting to God—He could have just turned away from us. But He didn’t do that. What did He do instead about our sins? (He sent Jesus to be our Savior, to die on the cross to save us from our sins)
  • How many of the 10 men came back to Jesus to thank and praise Him? (just one)
  • This man received something that none of the other lepers received. When Jesus said “your faith had made you well”, He was not talking about the physical healing—that had already happened. He was talking about the man’s spiritual healing—this man now had salvation and was a part of God’s family. Are you a part of God’s family? Why? (because we believe that Jesus is our Savior)

Say: The men’s leprosy was very visible. Their sins were there as well, but could not be seen. We will be doing some experiments about things visible and things hidden.

Activities:

Disappearing Coin:
Place the 3 coins on the table. Place a glass jar ON TOP OF the coin. Put a glass of water by each glass jar. Make sure all the students are close to a jar so that they can see. Have them look through the SIDE of the glass at the coin (this will not work if they look down in to the jar). Either you or the guide or some of the students can pour the water into the glass jar. They should keep their eyes focused on the coin while the water is being poured.

Ask: What are you seeing as the water is being poured? (looks like the coin disappears)
Say: Light goes straight from the coin to your eyes when you look through the empty glass. When the glass is filled with water, it makes the light bend away from your eyes so that you don’t see the coin.
Ask: In this experiment, the coin seems to disappear. What did Jesus make disappear from the 10 lepers? (their leprosy) What did Jesus make disappear from the one leper who came back to praise and thank Him? ( Jesus took his sins away)

Hidden Iron
Hold up the magnet. What type of material sticks to a magnet? (metals). Let’s see what our magnet will attract. Will it pick up these paper clips (Yes) or this piece of paper (No) or these nails (Yes). How about this cereal? (No) In this experiment, we will discover that there IS something in this cereal that will be attracted by the magnet—and it is not just the spoon.

(As an option, you could call on helpers to help pour ingredients and to stir). Pour 2-3 cups of water in to the blender. Pour enough water in to the blender just to cover the cereal. Blend the cereal until it is very finely ground up (easier to get the iron out that way). Pour the crushed up cereal in to a bowl and stir it up with the spoon—make sure you get everything out of the blender. Stir the magnet through the cereal—focus on getting the magnet to the very bottom of the bowl since iron is heavy and will drop to the bottom. You should see some black fuzz on the magnet (this is the iron). Wipe the fuzz on to the white napkin. Ask: Did the magnet pick up anything from the cereal? (this black fuzz) Magnets only pick up metal—what could this be? (it is iron—many cereals are fortified with vitamins and minerals, including iron).

Say: You could see the paper clips or nails that the magnet picked up. You couldn’t see the iron in the cereal--it was hidden, but it is still there. In our story, the men’s leprosy was quite visible—their sins were not. Even though you couldn’t see their sins, they were still there. Jesus knew that the lepers needed healing from their sins, just like we do. How does He heal us from our sins? (died on the cross for our sins) Who does he heal from their sins? (everyone who has faith and believes that Jesus is their Savior)

Invisible Writing
[Advance Prep: Make several sheets of paper with writing visible in a variety of ways such as magazine page, printed out, marker, etc. Prepare several other white sheets of paper with “invisible” writing. Mix together an even amount of water and baking soda. Dip a Q-tip into the mixture and use it to write on several pieces of paper. Be generous with the “ink” so that the words you write will be visible later on. For this part, use words like sin, Jesus, and symbols like a cross, a heart. Let dry. There will be a little bit of white residue on the paper, but it shouldn’t be visible. Make enough so that there are enough papers for you to demonstrate and also one for each student]

Plug in the iron several minutes before you do this experiment. Caution the children to stay away from the iron.

Hold up several sheets of paper that you have prepared beforehand—some will have visible writing and some will not. As you pick up each sheet of paper, ask the class if they can see any writing on it. Once again, we have something hidden that we will now reveal. Place the dish towel on the table. Place one of your prepared pieces of paper on the towel and cover it with a clean piece of paper (so you don’t get baking soda on your iron—I learned that the hard way!) Iron the paper for a few moments. The words you made should show up in brown. Show them to the class and ask them what is written on the paper now. Repeat this process with the other “blank” papers. An alternative technique that the students can now use to discover some writing is cranberry juice. Give each student a paper towel and one sheet of prepared paper. Have them place the sheet of paper on top of the paper towel. Go around the room and give each student a piece of paper towel dipped into the juice—should be pretty moist but not dripping. Have them dab—not rub—the wet paper towel onto their sheet of paper. Writing should appear. Have the students share what they are seeing.

Say: Our sins are hidden, but are visible to Jesus. These sins didn’t turn Him away from us—He loves us so much that He died to take away these sins.

Black Light
[Advance Prep: Take several pieces of fabric, some with a pattern on them. Place a visible stain on several of them with things like dirt or ketchup. Have several pieces without any visible or invisible stains. Put an invisible stain on several other pieces of cloth. These stains should be clear items that will show up under a black light—some possibilities are: tonic water with quinine, ammonia, petroleum jelly. Use a goodly amount of these so that the stain will really show up. Let dry.]

When police are investigating a crime scene, one thing they look for is evidence they can see like footprints or blood. Which of these pieces of cloth have a visible stain on them? Hold up the fabric pieces. The police also look for hidden evidence which will only show up under a black light. Let’s use this black light to see which pieces of cloth have some hidden evidence. Turn off the lights. Then turn on the black light. Hold the fabric by the black light to see which ones have a hidden stain. [Optional—if the students want to “glow”, you could have them dip a finger into some petroleum jelly, which should make their finger glow]

Ask: When Jesus looks at our hearts, what kind of evidence does He see?

Reflect/Closure:
We have all done a lot of naughty or even bad things in our lives. Are we off the hook if no one else notices what we have done wrong? Why or why not? What can be done about all these hidden sins? (confess them to God and ask for forgiveness—we can’t get rid of them by ourselves)

Read the memory verse with the class. Let’s do a group prayer. We will go in a circle and everyone can say a thank you sentence to God.

Closing:
We would like to have a consistent opening and closing to each class, especially since the teacher and station changes each week. Please end the class with this benediction from Numbers 6: 24-26 (CEV). Make the sign of the cross and say:
I pray that the LORD will bless and protect you, and that He will show you mercy and kindness. May the LORD be good to you and give you peace. Amen.


Resources/Bibliography


 

A lesson from St. John Lutheran Church

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability and updated links.

Last edited by Luanne Payne

Jesus Heals 10 Lepers

Games Workshop

 

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Uses 3 games to tell the story.

 

Scripture Reference:

17: 11-19


Workshop-specific Goals

  • Be able to retell the story
  • Tell the memory verse in their own words.
  • Learn what it meant to have leprosy in Bible times
  • Know that the thankful leper also received spiritual healing and salvation.

 

Leader Preparation:

  • Review Background notes.
  • Gather the materials.

Materials List:

  • Bibles (supplied in teaching box)
  • Copy of memory verse written large (take from Bible Background)
  • Strips of cloth marked all over with big spots
  • Piece of rope about 10 feet long
  • Pieces of paper for signs. Label the signs as follows: The Temple, The Town Well, Food Market, My Family’s House, My Friend’s House, Leather-maker’s House, Clothing Market, Carpenter’s Shop, Heaven
  • Large six-sided dice to use for the Story Cube and the Memory Cube—see advance preparation

Advance Preparation:

  • Refer to schedule and decide how you will make adjustments for the different ages.
  • Print out the memory verse
  • Prepare the Story Cube. Tape the following 6 questions to the 6 sides of the large dice: What happens in the story?; Where is this story found in the Bible?; Name the people in the story; What is your favorite part of the story?; What lesson is God teaching us with this story?; What does this Bible story mean to you?
  • Prepare the Memory Verse Cube (if you only have one cube, then tape these questions on with a different color paper so that you can tell the difference when using the cube). Tape the following 6 questions to the 6 sides of the large dice: Where is this verse found in the Bible?; Act out the verse; Put this verse in your own words; When can you use this verse in your life?; Say any part of the verse; What does this verse tell you about the Lord?


 

Presentation

 

Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction:
Introduce yourself to the students.

Open with a prayer .

We would like to have a consistent opening and closing to each class, especially since the teacher and station changes each week. Please start the class by having everyone make the sign of the cross and say: “We make our beginning in the name of God the Father—and God the Son—and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

 

Introduction & Bible Story:
Please make sure that the students hear and “get” the Bible story as well as the application of that story to their lives. The Bible story is the MOST important part of the lesson—it is much more important than the activity associated with this station!
(For the first part of the month, go ahead and read the story from the Bible. For the latter part of the month—when the children should be familiar with the story—have them tell you the story)

Have you ever been sick before? What happened when you were sick? (variety of answers) Did you have to stay home from school so that you didn’t make the other kids sick? Did you stay in your bedroom or the living room while your mom or dad took care of you?

Well, that is NOT how it worked when the men in our Bible story got sick with leprosy. There is a specific illness of the skin called leprosy—we hardly ever see it here in America. Leprosy is an infection of the skin. It can cause sores and bumps and swelling, which can really change how a person looks (and not for the better). Leprosy can also affect the person’s nerves, so that part of their body may be weak or crippled—they might even go blind. Nowadays, we could give someone antibiotic pills to make the leprosy go away—they didn’t have these pills way back then. In Bible times, a variety of skin diseases were called leprosy. These diseases could have been as simple as a rash, or it could have been open sores that were draining yucky stuff. Sometimes they would get better (and not have leprosy any more), and a lot of times they would not get better.

In Bible times, when someone had leprosy, they were not allowed to be in contact with other people in their family or their town. They couldn’t stay at their house or even in town because people did not want the disease to spread. They had to stay a certain number of feet away from healthy people, so they couldn’t even get close to their family and friends. Many times, they would live in caves or cemeteries outside the town. They couldn’t go in to town to get food and clothes, so they would have to rely on the charity of others—or go digging through the garbage dump. The only people that they could be with were other people with leprosy.

If they were healed, which didn’t always happen, they would have to go to the priest to be inspected. If the priest said that they were healed, then they would go through a cleaning ceremony. And then they could go back to their families and live as a part of society again.

Have the students open their Bible to Luke 17: 11-19. Read the story. Ask the following questions:

  • Where were the lepers in our story—were they in town? (outside the village)
  • Why do you think they asked Jesus to have pity on them? (variety of answers about how miserable it was to have leprosy)
  • Being healed by Jesus really changed their lives for the better. How did they respond to Jesus after they were healed? (9 of them never came back to say thanks—only 1 said thank you and praised Jesus)

These men had a nasty physical illness that needed to be treated—and it was. They also had a nasty spiritual sickness—called sin. Sin affects the whole person, just like leprosy did. Sin caused people to be separated from God, just like leprosy caused them to be separated from other people. Sin can spread and grow, just like leprosy did. All ten men received healing for their leprosy. Only one man received healing for his spiritual sickness. When Jesus said “your faith had made you well”, He is not talking about the physical healing—that had already happened. He is talking about the man’s spiritual healing—this man now has salvation and is a part of God’s family. Only this one man received the most important healing.

We are going to play a variety to games now to explore what it was like to have leprosy and to understand the story a little more.

Activities:


Leper Tag
Appoint one or two people to be “it” and give each of them a handful of the “spotted” strips of cloth. These cloths stand for the disease of leprosy. The people who are “it”/ have leprosy then chase after the other students—if they tag them, then the person who is “it” gives them several spotted cloths—so that person now has leprosy. That person also become “it” and chases after other people. By the end, most people will have received a spotted cloth/have leprosy.

The spotted cloths stand for the disease of leprosy. What happened when the person who was “it” (and had leprosy) got close to another person? (that person became “it” and got leprosy as well). In Bible times, people were afraid of catching leprosy, so they made lepers stay far away. They wanted to make sure the disease didn’t spread.

Stay Away!
Assign 2 or 3 people to be lepers—they will hold the strips of spotted cloth. Have them stand on one side of the room. Assign 2 people to hold the rope (if the class is small, you could tie one end of the rope to something so that only 1 person is needed to hold the other end of the rope). The remainder of the other children are on the other side of the room—in the “town”. Give them the various signs to hold. DO NOT GIVE ANYONE THE HEAVEN SIGN—the teacher holds on to that sign.

Tell the children that the rope signifies the only entrance to the town. It is the job of the rope person to guard the town—to raise the rope whenever someone tries to enter who should not (like the lepers). Read a number of scenarios to the lepers. The townsperson with the sign that applies should wave their sign around. The lepers try to enter town and go to the location relating to the scenario, but the rope person should raise the rope to keep them away. Remind the lepers that they can not go around the rope as it is the only entrance to town and that they can not break through the rope. Read the follow-up question(s) that goes with each scenario. You may want to change the roles around after every few scenarios.

Scenarios to read to the lepers:

  • You are feeling kind of lonely and want to go talk to your friend. [Lepers try to go to Friend’s house and are turned away] Ask: Would you ever be able to see your friends again?
  • Your sandals are falling apart. You want to go to the leather-maker’s shop and get your sandals repaired. Ask: What could you do if your sandals needed fixing and you couldn’t go in to town to the shop?
  • You are really thirsty and would really like a cool clean cup of water from the well. Ask: Where would you get your water if you couldn’t go to the well?
  • You have just heard that your grandmother is very ill and might die. You want to see her before this happens. Ask: How would you feel if you couldn’t see your family members when something bad like this was happening?
  • One of the big religious festivals is coming up. You would really like to go to the temple and celebrate this festival. Ask: Do you think it would help or hurt your faith if you could never go to church and worship with other people? Why?
  • You are hungry. You would really like to buy some fresh food. Ask: Where would you get your food if you couldn’t go into town to buy it?
  • The weather is getting colder and you need a new outer robe to keep warm. Ask: How would you get new clothes when your old clothes wear out?
  • It has been raining a lot and you are tired of being wet. You just want to go home and sleep in your bed in your nice comfortable house. Ask: Where would you live if you could not go to your house?
  • You had a job as a carpenter before you became sick. You are bored and would really like to do something—like work at your old job. Plus, you don’t have any money anymore. Ask: Is there any job that a leper could do, if he or she couldn’t be close to people? How would you support yourself without a job?

After you have done this, read a new scenario to the class, after assigning one of the “lepers” to be the “thankful leper”: The lepers meet Jesus. Jesus tells them to go to the priests. The lepers realize that they have been healed. They rush off [have them throw their spotted leprosy cloths down]. Where do 9 of the lepers go? [lepers should head to the temple—the keeper of the rope should not raise the rope] Where do you think these 9 lepers went after the priests said they were healed [lepers head to a variety of the places with signs].

Where did the thankful leper go, even before going to the priest? (He went to Jesus—have that “leper” come and stand by you) What did this leper do? (praised Jesus and gave thanks). Jesus had already healed the man of his leprosy. What else did Jesus say was going to happen to this man who came back? (also healed of his sins—part of God’s family). SHOW THE HEAVEN SIGN. This man won’t just be going to his house or the market or the well, he will also be going to heaven one day.

Story Cube
Have the students take turns rolling the story cube and answering the question that comes up.

Reflect/Closure:
Read the memory verse together. Have the children take turns rolling the memory verse cube and answering the question that comes up.

Closing:

We would like to have a consistent opening and closing to each class, especially since the teacher and station changes each week. Please end the class with this benediction from Numbers 6: 24-26 (CEV). Make the sign of the cross and say:
I pray that the LORD will bless and protect you, and that He will show you mercy and kindness. May the LORD be good to you and give you peace. Amen.

 


A lesson from: St. John Lutheran Church

 

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

 

Last edited by Rotation.org Lesson Forma-teer

Add Reply

Post a New Topic
Lesson or Resource
Rotation.org Inc. is a volunteer-run, 100% member supported, 501(c)3 non-profit Sunday School lesson ministry. You are welcome to borrow and adapt content for non-commercial teaching purposes --as long as both the site and author are referenced. Rotation.org Inc reserves the right to manage, move, condense, delete, and otherwise improve all content posted to the site. Read our Terms of Service. Get a free Registered Membership or become a Supporting Member for full access to all site resources.
Rotation.org is rated 5 stars on Google based on 51 reviews. Serving a global community including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, S. Africa, and more!
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×