69. Jesus Heals the Ten Lepers
Luke 17:11-19Background Scripture (read 2-3 times during the week)
Story Summary
This story is short, but here are a couple things to note.
Jesus entered a town on the border of Galilee and Samaria. Remind the children about the origin of Samaria - it was the area of the Northern Kingdom of Israel after the kingdoms divided after Solomon. The Northern Kingdom was taken over by the Assyrians, and the Israelites in those 10 tribes intermarried with the Assyrians and ceased to exist as a separate nation. The Samaritans were hated by those in the Southern Kingdom (Judah).
The people Jesus healed were lepers. Leprosy was a terrible disease that was incurable during Jesus' time. Leprosy causes the skin to become scaly and white, it causes infections, and many times fingers, toes, and limbs became deformed. Lepers were considered outcasts. First, many were afraid of getting the disease from coming in contact with the disease. Also, they were considered ceremonially unclean and would not be allowed to enter the temple.
It is important to note that the men were not healed until they were on their way to show themselves to the priests. They would only show themselves to the priests to prove to them that they were healed, and thus ceremonially clean and allowed back into the Temple area. It took faith for them to begin walking to show themselves to the priests while they were still sick.
There were 10 men Jesus healed, but the only one that came back to thank Jesus was a Samaritan. Jesus emphasizes this and he commends the man for his faith. It didn't matter to Jesus that he was a foreigner or a Samaritan. He was interested in the man's faith.
What You Will Need
- Supplies
- New Testament map (showing Jerusalem, Galilee, and Samaria)
Video Options
From Saddleback Kids
From Crossroads Kids Club
Resource Sheet
This coloring sheet depicts Jesus speaking to the 10 men with leprosy that he healed
1. Warm Up get your kids talking and engaged
Have you ever had to stay home from school because you were sick?
Today, we are going to learn about 10 men who were sick and couldn't be around others because they were afraid of getting their disease.
(Consider using the "Baby Powder Leprosy" Reinforcement Activity now as a part of the lesson)
2. Teach the Story teach a holistic story
Read story from a Children's storybook Bible for younger children.
For older children, read the story from an age-appropriate Children's storybook Bible or read directly from the Bible.
3. Bible Mastery give them basic Bible skills
Scripture for Kids to Read Aloud Luke 17:11-19
4. Comprehension Questions make sure they understand the story
First, ask the children if they have any questions about the story. What to do if you don't know the answer?
- Where was Jesus going when he came across these 10 men?
- Jerusalem
- What disease did the 10 men have?
- Leprosy
- What did Jesus tell the 10 men to do?
- Go show themselves to the priests
- When were they healed?
- On their way to showing themselves to the priests
- How many of the men came back to say thank you to Jesus for healing them?
- One
- What nationality was the man who came back to say thank you?
- Samaritan
5. Faith Questions open up a conversation about faith and the gospel; close with prayer
- In this story, only 1 of the 10 men Jesus healed came back to thank him.
- What do you have to be thankful to Jesus about?
6. Memory Verse hide God's Word in their heart
Baby Powder Leprosy
- Leprosy is an illness that caused light colored skin lesions. It was known to be painful and cause muscle weakness.
- Put baby powder on student's arms and hands prior to lesson.
- Have them wash it off at the appropriate time during the lesson.
Act out the Story
- We have used this activity regularly throughout the curriculum. It is a good way for students to actively get involved in the story. This increases the chances of them retaining the story.
Healing Relay
- Divide class into 2 (or more) teams
- Create a starting line and a turn-around line (for a relay)
- Halfway in between the starting line and turn-around line, place a bucket of water and a towel for each team
- Line up all students at the starting line, grouped by team
- Place baby powder on each of their hands so their hands are white and have the students raise their hands in the air until it is their turn to go (so they don't rub it off)
- Place a teacher at the turn-around line
- When you say "Go", students take turn running to the bucket of water, washing their hands off, and then running to the turn-around line.
- At the turn-around line, they must high-five the teacher (playing the part of the priest) and yell, "I'm clean!"
- Then, they run back to the starting line and tag the next student on their team to go.
- The first team to finish wins!
Finger Puppets
- Use a marker to draw faces on each of the children's fingers.
- Use one color for 9 faces and a different color for the 10th, to represent the one who went back to say "Thank you."
Giving Thanks Game
- Have all of the students in a circle.
- Choose one student to begin by saying one thing they are thankful for.
- The next student should repeat what the first student said and then add their own thing they are thankful for.
- Go around the circle and have each student repeat what each person was thankful for and add their own.
Act Out the Story with Popsicle Sticks
- Cut out 22 person outlines for this story.
- 1 for Jesus
- 1 for the priest
- 10 for the lepers (when they are sick)
- 10 for the lepers (when they are healed)
- Have the students help you by coloring Jesus, the priest and the lepers (both sick and clean)
- Attach the cutout of Jesus, the priest, and the 10 sick lepers to the 12 popsicle stickers
- As you are acting out the story, replace the 10 sick lepers with the 10 clean lepers
Leprosy Tag
- Choose 2 students to be the "its" - one for Jesus and one for a leper.
- On "go", the leper runs around tagging people. As they are tagged by the leper, they must sit down.
- Jesus goes around tagging those who are sitting down to "heal" them and they can get up and run again.
- The object of the game is for either the leper to get everyone sitting or for Jesus to get everyone healed at the same time.
- You can play multiple times, with different students as the leper and Jesus.