An Added Blessing

TEXT: Luke 17:11-19

It was going to be another sad day for the ten men. Nothing to look forward to. No place to go. All of their families and friends lived inside the village. The ten men got very lonesome for the people they loved.

These ten men had a very bad disease called leprosy. Any person that had leprosy could not live inside the cities or villages. They had to live apart so that other people would not become sick with leprosy. The people who lived in the cities would stay away from them and go another way when they saw them coming. This made the ten men very sad.

One day they were standing together and they saw Jesus entering their village. They had heard about Jesus and what He had done for other people who were sick. They wanted Jesus to do the same for them. Would He make them well? Should they ask Him? It was worth a try.

They all called out, "Jesus, have mercy on us. Jesus, have mercy on us." They wanted Jesus to hear them. They wanted Jesus to make them well.

Jesus saw them and heard their cries. He called out to them and told them to go and show themselves to the priests. The priests were the ones who could tell them the disease was gone and they could go back to their families.

They hurried to get to the priests as fast as they could. As they went, one of the men looked at his skin, and he could hardly believe what he saw. The leprosy was gone! They all looked at their skin. They were healed! They were so happy. Now they would be able to live with their families.

Nine of the men ran on into the village. They wanted to tell everyone! But one of the men was so thankful that he ran back to Jesus. He fell down at Jesus' feet and said, "Thank You, Jesus." Jesus was so happy that the man had come back to thank Him. He asked the man where the other nine men were. Jesus was sad because they didn't say thank you.

The one man that did thank Jesus was extra happy. Jesus gave him the greatest blessing of all—He took the sin out of his heart. Oh, he was so glad that he had come back to thank Jesus.

Did you know that Jesus wants us to thank Him too? When we have a need and ask Jesus to help us, He is always there. He likes for us to thank Him when He helps us. When we pray, Jesus wants us to thank Him for all the many blessings He gives us.

PARENT'S CORNER

This Bible story is a specific example of one man who was thankful. One leper, from among ten who were healed, came back to thank the Lord. Your child will learn that the one leper received a special blessing from God because he was truly thankful, and expressed his gratitude.

Spend some time with your child this week to help him learn his memory verse for this lesson. Talk about ways we can make a "joyful noise" unto the Lord.

There are many good tapes and records of religious music for children. Choose a song from one of these to learn together, and at the end of the week let your child sing it for the whole family.