November 27, 2005
"Overflowing with Thanksgiving "
Personal and Group Study
Getting Started
- When you were a child, what were your parents' rules about writing thank-you notes? (1) Write notes before you could play with a gift; (2) Write notes within a day or two; (3) A verbal thank-you was enough; (4) Don't worry about it.
- How important is writing thank-you notes to you as an adult? (1) I send notes often; (2) I wish I sent notes more often than I do; (3) I'm not much of a note writer.
Digging Deeper: Luke 17:11-19
- What must it have been like to be a leper? How difficult must it have been to be excluded from society and to have to call out in warning if anyone came near to where you were?
- Leprosy was seen not only as a horrible disease, but also as rejection by God in that society. What would healing mean for these ten lepers?
- God provided in the law hundreds of years earlier, a means of ceremonial purification by the priest if a person's leprosy was healed. How many opportunities before Jesus came on the scene, do you think the priests had to use this ceremony of purification?
- What indication do we have that there was strong belief that Jesus was truly a healer? Was it the calling out to Jesus to ask for healing or the decision to go see the priest, that impresses you the most?
- What do you think the priest must have thought as these ten came to him?
- If you were one of the nine who did not return to give thanks, what reason might you have for rationalizing not returning? What is significant about the one who returned to give thanks? Why is it significant?
Applying It To My Life
- How have you seen Jesus heal?
- In what ways has Jesus healed you?
- How much is James 5:13-16 part of your belief system? Have you ever done what the passage suggests?