It's now November and my thinking goes to Thanksgiving. I love the thought of remembering all of the blessings in our lives. We get too stuck in thinking that we don't ever get what we want. That's when I think of one of my favorite Bible stories, the one man that was thankful.
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Do you remember that story? It's a very short story, only 8 verses long. However, there is so much meaning that we can pull from this little story.
Jesus was walking to Jerusalem when he was approached by 10 men who were lepers. I'm going to stop there for a second. Lepers were kept out of the city away from people. Leprosy, as is written in the dictionary, was (is) an extremely contagious disease that affects the skin, mucous membranes, and nerves, causing discoloration and lumps on the skin. It caused body parts to fall of and it eventually killed the person. It scared people and they wanted nothing to do with anyone who had this terrible disease. The people were sent out of the city and they were to live their lives alone, unless there were other lepers in the same area.
That has got to be a very lonely and scary way to live. These men had no hope and then...Jesus arrived in their area. Can you believe it? The Son of God was coming near to them. They have one chance to be saved - literally - today. Of course, they shouted out to Him to save them. Wouldn't you?
Jesus says one thing, "Go and show yourselves to the priest." That's it. Really? Well, that's all He had to do. Actually, he didn't even have to do that, but He did it so they would know what to do. They were not healed at that moment, they were healed "...as they were going".
These men, who have had leprosy for who knows how long, have Jesus tell them to go see the priests? Why? That was the custom of that time. If someone had a disease, they had to go to the priests so that they could be pronounced "clean" and they could go back to their life from before they were sick.
So, picture this. These men with leprosy are following the command of Jesus, because, why not? What could hurt? Did they have faith that Jesus healed them? We don't know that. But they follow and I'm sure that they were glad that they did. Why? As they were on their way to see the priests, they were healed. What! Yep. They were walking, or running, to the priests when, all of a sudden, their body stopped hurting. A miracle has taken place. They knew it and they knew who did it. Jesus, of course!
What did the men do? Well, 9 of them went on their way to the priests, but one man, one-tenth of the men, went back to thank the one who saved him that day. What was Jesus' response? "Where are the others? I'm pretty sure that I healed 10 of you." (I'm paraphrasing, of course).
I don't know about you, but I want to be the one. I want to be that one who goes back and thanks God for what He has done in my life.
I wanted to start putting some Bible skits on our site and I thought that this one would be the best one to start with - One Man Was Thankful. Skits are a great way for our own children as well as the children in our churches and co-ops to learn the stories of the Bible. I have taken this directly from the NASB version of Luke 17:11-19. I just put it into a skit form with characters and a narrator. This can be used with your Sunday school classroom, puppet ministry, or even with your own kiddos at home. Adapt it for your own needs, just don't change the story, as it's from the Bible.
Click on the picture below, to print it out
(it works best on a laptop or desktop computer).
We are looking to add more biblical skits on our site. Please email us at and let us know if there is a story from the Bible that you would like put into a skit form. We love to help you in your ministry in your church or your home.
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