Bible Story: Day 1 - The Thankful Leper

Resources: Story Props: The Thankful Leper

You Will Need:

Introduction: Before telling the story, show the children a thank you card. Explain that people often send thank you cards to others to thank them for gifts or for helping in different ways. Encourage children to talk about times someone has thanked them or sent them a card. How did they feel?

Bible Story Time:
Before telling the story, read the scripture reference to become familiar with it. Also, review the paraphrase below. Print the Story Props (see Resources). Cut out the figure of Jesus and the finger puppets. Tape together the tabs on the Jesus prop to form a loop so that the figure will stand. Fold each finger puppet and tape the sides.

Stand the Jesus figure in front of the children. Slip the finger puppets on your fingers so that the side that shows the sick men all face the same direction and the healed men face the other. Hold the sick faces toward the children as you begin to tell the story in your own words.

One day Jesus was walking to Jerusalem. On the way, he went through a small village. In the village, there were a group of ten people who were very sick. They had a disease called leprosy. The doctors did not know how to help people with leprosy. The sick people didn't want anyone else to catch what they had, so they stayed away from other people. If someone started to get close, they called out to warn them. It was a lonely way to live.
When the sick people saw Jesus coming, they were excited. They didn't come close, but called out to him and asked him for help. Jesus told them to go and see the priests. Why would they do that? If someone was cured from leprosy, they could show the priests that their sores were all gone. The priest would tell them what to do so they could live with other people again. So when Jesus told them to go and see the priests, the sick people must have been excited. Did that mean they would be well? Yes! As they started on their way to see the priests, they looked down and their skin was healed! (Turn hands around to show the other side of the finger puppets.)

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine men hurried as fast as they could to see the priest. (Remove one finger puppet at a time as you count.) But one man stopped and turned around. Where did he go? He went back to find Jesus to say thank you. Jesus looked around. He said, "Didn't I heal ten people? Where are the other nine?" Jesus was happy that one man said thank you, but he was disappointed that the other nine forgot to say thank you.

When someone is kind to us, it's always important to say thank you. It's even more important to say thank you for all the good things that God gives us.

Story Treasure: The Story Treasure for this story is a thank you card (see Related Activities). It will remind children of the leper who remembered to thank Jesus. Place the card in the treasure box you created earlier. Continue to add Story Treasures to the treasure box as each is introduced. From time to time, show a treasure and ask the children which story it helps them remember.


Related Activities:
The Thankful Leper: Introduction and Lesson Preparation This activity provides an introduction to The Thankful Leper lesson.