Rotation.org Writing Team

JESUS HEALS TEN LEPERS

COMPUTER

PASSAGE

Story - Luke 17:11-19

Key/Memory Verses - Luke 17:15; Psalm 136:1

PURPOSE

Children will explore the themes of relationships/outsiders and outcasts/inclusion/lepers and leprosy

Objectives

Children will

See Bible Background.

PREPARATION

Materials List

• Bibles
  
• Computers
  
• Internet access
  
• Software – Cal and Marty and Kid Pix Deluxe 3
  

Advance Preparation

Pray for the children you will be teaching and for God to guide your preparation with them in mind.

Read Bible Background.

Know programs used and read additional teaching tips (available through http://www.sundaysoftware.com)

For “Cal and Marty” option, install abridged (simplified) version of verses for younger children, direct scripture and/or place holders for older children. Place holder option allows older ones to either type in the verses, or their version of them, themselves.

For American Leprosy Mission website option, make sure internet access is allowed for this site. Visit this site and be thoroughly familiar with the content before class.

PRESENTATION

Open - Introduction

Welcome all the children by saying something like “I want to welcome all of you to our class today! I am so glad you all are here! We have a really great story today about Jesus and some friends of his I can hardly wait to share with all of you. But before I do, there are some things we need to understand about some of the people in the story, and some things we need to understand about people in general. First, I need to know how many brown eyed people we have in here. If you have brown eyes, raise your hand.”

If there are no brown eyed children, then go on to ask for green or blue eyed children. You are going to recreate a temporary caste system based on eye color, to demonstrate exclusion. Tell the children that the brown eyed children are going to be in a special group today, one that will have special privileges and get more computer time than the others. Wait for a reaction. If there is none invite the excluded children to talk about what they think about that plan and how they feel about it. Also ask the included children to talk about how they feel.

After a few minutes of discussion about what’s right/wrong with the plan you proposed, ask them if they remember how you greeted the class when they first came in. If they can’t come up with it, remind them that you greeted everyone and stressed how happy you were that ALL of them came to class. Ask them if the two things -- greeting everyone and telling them how happy you are that ALL are there, and then making “special groups” that exclude some people -- go together.

After brief discussion, SAY: “You’re right … they don’t go together, do they? We can’t all be one big group if we do things that leave some people out. That’s a very important lesson that God and Jesus wanted us to learn, and it’s one we still have a hard time learning, sometimes.” Ask if any of them are aware of individuals or groups of kids at their school that get left out of things, like games, or other kids or groups that think they’re way better than somebody else. SAY: “Grown ups have problems with that sometimes, too. We ALL need a reminder sometimes that it’s not God’s way to leave people out. Jesus came so we could ALL be with God forever. Our story today tells us about what Jesus did to help a special group of people. These people were ones that were put into a group that had to stay outside of where all the other people lived because they had a disease called leprosy. We’ll learn more about that in a minute. Right now, let’s get out our Bibles so we can hear the story.”

Distribute Bibles.

Dig – Main Content
Have the children find the story in Luke. Have them follow along in their Bibles while the story is told/read. You can tell the story or read it for younger ones, or have the older ones take turns reading. Take lots of breaks (in between verses is good) to make sure the children understand what is going on. You will probably need to explain at this point what leprosy is, why the men were outside the village, why they were calling to Jesus (instead of coming up to him), why Jesus told them to go to the priests, and the significance of the one returning leper also being a Samaritan.

ACTIVITIES

Cal and Marty

The children will use the program to help them reconstruct and remember the story.

FOR YOUNGER children (K-2nd grade): Direct them to the version of the program you have preloaded with the abridged/simplified scripture.

Suggested version:

One day Jesus walked to Jerusalem. (Luke 17:11)
On the way he met ten lepers. (Luke 17:12)
The men called to Jesus for help. (Luke 17:13)
Jesus told them to go to the priests. (Luke 17:14a)
The men were healed as they went. (Luke 17:14b)
One man came back. (Luke 17:15a)
He praised God with a loud voice. (Luke 17:15b)
He fell at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (Luke 17:16a)
He was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:16b)
Jesus said, “Where are the other nine?” (Luke 17:17)
Jesus asked, “Is this the only one to come back to praise God?” (Luke 17:18)
Jesus told the man “Get up and go. Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:19)

FOR OLDER children (2nd-5th grade): Preload “place holders” for each verse of the story, then have them enter the text into each section.

You may wish to add additional information or include questions in the “quiz” section.

For further instructions on how to do all this, go to http://www.sundaysoftware.com and access the “Teaching Tips” for this software.

Kid Pix Deluxe3

Use this program to allow the children to interact with the story in a creative way. Some suggestions:

Assign each station a portion of the story to illustrate. When all are finished, have the class take a “tour” of each station, following the illustrated story in order.
Ask each station to design a graphic presentation of what the story means to them. When all are finished, view as a class and discuss.

Discuss the “before Jesus/after Jesus” aspect of the story. Have the children illustrate their own “before/after Jesus” scenes. Discuss how their scenes are similar to/different from the healed Samaritan in the story.

Internet Mission Activity

Before class, make sure your internet access allows American Leprosy Missions, the site for American Leprosy Missions (ALM). This site is an excellent resource that explains the physiological, psychological, emotional, and spiritual ramifications of this disease in simple, understandable terms. Once there, key areas to explore include “About Leprosy” (provides photos and illustrations of the physical manifestations and effects of the disease), “Child of the Month” (gives a case study, focusing on one child), and “Church and Sunday Schools” (provides information on how children can help).

Allow the children some time to explore each portion of the site on their own before bringing them back together as a group to discuss their findings and answer any questions they may have.

Be prepared … some of the pictures are quite graphic. You may want to consider their impact on very young children and adjust your lesson accordingly.

Reflect – Closure

Return the children to a larger group. Review the story and their findings from their work. Discuss their level of interest in participating in the suggested mission project from the ALM site (this can be done even if you don’t use this option in your lesson), and how this kind of effort aims to bring those still seen as “outcasts” because of the disease back into the fold.

Closing prayer:

Awesome God, Your love is so big and so broad that it knows no boundaries. There are no outcasts in your eyes. Help us to remember that and to be more like you. Help us to bring those on the outside back in. Help us to remember to pray and do what we can for those that are hurt or need help. Help us to remember that you love us all, even when we don’t really deserve it. Thank you for loving us so much. AMEN

REFERENCES

Opening exercise based on Jane Elliot’s video documentary “Eye of the Storm,” Elliott & .Elliott Eyes, Inc., 26 minutes, 1970

CONTRIBUTOR: Ruth Wilcox