CHARACTERS

Narrator

Jesus

Disciple 1

Disciple 2

Disciple 3

Samaritan Leper

Leper 1

Leper 2

Leper 3

Leper 4

Leper 5

Leper 6

Leper 7

Leper 8

Leper 9

The Narrator comes on stage.

Narrator: Long ago, there was a disease called leprosy that frightened people very much. When someone become a leper, the other people would make them go live away by themselves, or with the other lepers. Because most people thought that leprosy was something you could easily catch, like a cold, they were frightened of lepers and because they were frightened of lepers, they were mean to people with leprosy. There was a village between Samaria and Galilee. There were ten lepers sitting outside the village gate.

All the lepers come on stage and sit on one side.

Narrator: Even though they were all lepers and in the same bad situation, nine of the lepers picked on the tenth leper, who was from a different tribe.

Leper 1: Hey you, you’re a Samaritan.

Leper 2: We don’t like Samaritans.

Leper 3: Ya, we don’t like Samaritans – get away from us!

Lepers 4-9: That’s right, we don’t like Samaritans.

The nine lepers push the Samaritan leper away from them.

Narrator: So they sat around the entrance of the village, the nine lepers all together, with the Samaritan left out even more. It so happened that Jesus and his disciples came by that village.

Enter Jesus and the disciples

All Lepers: Jesus, Rabbi, have mercy on us! Help us!

Disciple 1: Jesus, they’re lepers. Let’s not get to close to them. We might catch it!

Disciple 2: Yuck, they’re disgusting.

Disciple 3: Jesus, do you want me to tell them to go away and leave you alone?

Jesus: No, the law of God teaches that we should be compassionate for sick people, not afraid of them.

Disciple 3: But Jesus, one of them is a Samaritan. Our people don’t like Samaritans.

Disciple 2: They are different from us, they are inferior to us.

Disciple 1: They worship God the wrong way!

Jesus: God loves all people. We should love all people, even people who are different from us.

Narrator: So Jesus said to the lepers….

Jesus: Go and show yourselves to the priests.

Narrator: He told them to do that because priests were the ones who decided whether someone had leprosy or not.

All the lepers leave the stage.

Narrator: On the way to the priests, the lepers were healed of their leprosy. Nine of them kept going. The Samaritan leper came back.

The Samaritan leper comes back and kneels at Jesus feet.

Samaritan Leper: Thank you, thank you, thank you! You healed me! Praise God, praise God! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise God! Thank you, thank you!

Jesus: Wait a minute, didn’t I heal ten lepers? Why didn’t the other nine come back to thank me? The only one who came back to give praise to God was the Samaritan.

Disciple 1: Hum, maybe we were wrong about Samaritans.

All the disciples nod their heads. Then Jesus speaks to the Samaritan.

Jesus: Get up and go on your way. Your body has been made well, but your faith has made you well.

Narrator: So the Samaritan man left, and Jesus and his disciples went on their way.

THE END

Deepening Faith: Youth Ministry Resources and Some Miscellaneous Advice

Rev. Lizann Bassham, Front Porch Spirit Press