What Do You Say?

Downloadable Now!A CMT Exclusive!

Thanks for Sharing!

Text (Luke 17:11-16) Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him and he was the Samaritan. (New International Version)

Thought Starters
(Begin today’s talk with telling the children the story of "The Ten Lepers.")

There is a saying that you can say the word "yes" fifty thousand different ways. It also says you can say the word "no" five hundred different ways. But there is only one way to write down those words. So when you read certain words you have to imagine how the word was said.

How do you think the one leper who returned to thank Jesus, thanked him?

I have a way for us to figure this out. When you are out with your parents and someone you or they know gives you a piece of candy or some money what do your parents say? They say, "What do you say?" Why do they say that? Because they want you to say "thank you".

When the leper came back to Jesus you don’t hear Jesus asking, "What do you say?" Jesus went on to ask him, where are the other nine?

Let’s learn some ways to say "thanks." If I gave you this penny what would you say? How about this quarter? How about his dollar bill? How about this five-dollar bill? What about this fifty-dollar bill? What reaction would you have if I gave you this one hundred dollar bill?

Was there a difference in "thank you" between the penny and the quarter? How about the penny and the five-dollar bill? What was the difference between the penny and the one hundred dollar bill? How do you think the healed leper sounded to Jesus? I’m sure the one hundred dollar bill was the closest we have but probably not near the excitement.

The next time you hear "what do you say?" Or maybe before you hear those words think about what level of thanks you are showing.

The hardest words for us to say sometimes are "Thank you" and "I’m sorry." Today we not only are reminded to thank Jesus, we are reminded to say thank you to him and to others with true levels of joy. Let’s practice with our prayer

Hymn-"Give Thanks To God The Lord" – Susan H. Peterson

Prayer-Dear Lord, THANK YOU for this story of thanks, remind us to thank others too! Amen

Prop-A penny, a quarter, a dollar bill, a five dollar bill, a fifty dollar bill, and a one hundred dollar bill

by William Bode