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(3) Encounters with Jesus

The Leper Who Returned To Say Thank You (solo drama all-age appropriate)

Luke chapter 17 verses 11 - 19

Outline for Leaders:

This wonderful story is about an encounter ten lepers have with Jesus, when they cry out to Him for mercy. Jesus tells the ten to go and show themselves to the priest, who is required to certify anyone claiming healing from a skin disease clean, before they can return to their homes and families. As the lepers make their way to the priest their sores and leprosy marks disappear and they are healed. In seeing this transformation one decides that he must go back and thank Jesus for this incredible miracle upon his body. In returning, he puts his faith in Jesus. Explain to the children that the following sketch is imaging how it must have felt for one of the lepers.

Props: bandages, bell, black T-shirt.

Sketch

Hi there, my name is Jacob and I used to be a leper. Actually, I had 9 friends who were all lepers. Nine of us were Jews, and then there was me, the odd one out really, a Samaritan. Did you know, Jews and Samaritans don’t get along, don’t even talk to one another? But when you’re a leper all of that stuff gets forgotten, we got along OK. Leprosy is a horrible skin disease; it eats away at your body. We tried to cover the sores up but it wasn’t much use really and there was no cure in my day, 2000 years ago.

The 10 of us used to move around together. The law said that we couldn’t go near folk, so we had to keep our distance, leprosy was very contagious. We weren’t allowed to go into the towns or villages, we were banned. Everywhere we went people were afraid of us, we were outcasts.

There were places where a few kind folk would leave food for us to go and collect. It was the only way we could get to eat as we couldn’t work or go to the market for food. It was even difficult for us to beg, as everywhere we went we would have to shout, “unclean, unclean, unclean.” Anyone around would grab their children and hurry away. Who could blame them?

Then one day, news got to us about a man called Jesus. I don’t remember exactly how we got to know about Him, but hear about Jesus we did, and we heard that He was doing miracles. Healing people, feeding thousands with a few loaves and fish. If only we could meet Him! And then, one day Jesus turned up, right on our doorstep. We were in the border country between Samaria and Galilee and there was Jesus and His disciples.

There were lots of people following Him and of course we couldn’t go anywhere near Him but we could shout across the road to Him and shout we did. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” “Louder lads” one of the guys said. ‘‘Jesus Master, have mercy on us!” And that was it! Amidst all that was going on around Him, Jesus heard us and turned to look at us across the street, and then He spoke directly to us, “Go show yourselves to the priests,” He said.

Thing was, if anyone ever got better of any kind of skin disease they had to go and show themselves to the priest and be declared clean by him, before they could return to their town, village or family.

So off we went. Oh my, I had barely taken a few steps when I felt this tingling sensation all over my body. The sores and marks of leprosy were disappearing. It was happening to the others too, we couldn’t wait to get to the priest and then on to our homes and families. As we moved, we tore the bandages off, we were awed by our new skin. “This way to the priest lads!” one of the guys shouted.

But suddenly, in the excitement a new wave of emotion came over me – JESUS! JESUS had healed me! I must go back and say thank you. I stopped and turned around, within moments the others had gone. But I just knew I had to go back. I hurried to find Jesus and fell at His feet. “Jesus, thank you so much for healing me today!”

“Where are the others?” Jesus said. “Are you the only one to come back, and you a Samaritan?”

Jesus’ face was beaming now. “Get up” He said, “Be on your way, your faith has made you well.”

I was overwhelmed by what had happened, not only because my leprosy had gone, but because I had met with Jesus.

As I rejoiced I stopped for a moment to think of the others. Why didn’t they return to say thank you to Jesus? They were Jews, His very own people. Or was that the problem? Were they afraid to go back to Jesus for fear of what the priests and religious people might say? Was it their families, yes we were all eager to return but surely they would want to say thank you? Did they simply not think to go back and look for Jesus, was He so quickly and easily forgotten?

I certainly was so grateful for all that Jesus had done for me that day, I had my life back and knew I would never be the same again.  

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