Free Access

Object: A pair of medical gloves for each child. It is best to avoid latex gloves in case anyone has an allergy to that material.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) This morning I want to talk about gloves. Sometimes we wear gloves to help keep our hands warm, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And sometimes we wear gloves to protect our hands from things that are too hot or cold, don’t we? (Let them respond.)

I have something for each of you this morning. Let’s all put these on. (Hand out the gloves and help anyone who might need it.) Have you ever worn gloves like this before? (Let them respond.) Does anyone know when we might want to wear this kind of glove? (Let them respond.) We usually wear these gloves to protect our skin from touching things that we don’t want to touch, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we wear them to protect us from germs. Sometimes we wear them to protect our hands from chemicals. They protect us from things we aren’t supposed to touch, things that are untouchable, don’t they? (Let them respond.)

Today’s story is about things that are untouchable, but not things like germs and chemicals. It is a story about three people that no one was ever supposed to touch. Not because of chemicals or germs, but just because of who these people were. However, since they didn’t have gloves like these back then, they had other rules for how to treat untouchable people. Let’s see what they did with these three untouchables.

The first was a man who was a religious leader from the town. The religious leaders did not like Jesus and did everything they could do to stop Jesus and his disciples from helping people. They told everyone that Jesus wasn’t with God but was just a fake and was trying to trick them into doing bad things.

One day, this man came to Jesus and said his daughter was very sick, and he asked Jesus to please come to his house to help his daughter. Jesus’ friends said, “No way!” and believed that Jesus should not even talk to the man, let alone go to his house and help his daughter. They thought the man was an enemy because he was one of the religious leaders that had been fighting against them. They didn’t want to help him. They believed he was untouchable.

While they were talking, they walked passed a woman sitting on the ground who reached out and touched the bottom of Jesus’ robe. Jesus stopped and looked at her. He saw that she was very sick and had been bleeding for twelve years. That’s a long time to be sick, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) The religious leaders said the woman was unclean and that no one should ever touch her. They believed that if anyone was sick it was because God was punishing them because they had done something bad. So, they said that no one should ever touch her, and if she ever touched anyone else, that made the other person unclean, too. The laws said that if she did ever touch anyone, she should be taken out of the city and killed. They believed she was untouchable.

When they got to the man’s house, they saw a bunch of people standing outside in the yard and in the street. No one would go inside to see the man’s daughter or help her because she was sick and that made her unclean. If anyone went in the house or touched her, that made them unclean, too. The little girl was untouchable.

So, who knows what did Jesus do about those three, untouchable people? (Let them respond.)

When the untouchable religious leader asked Jesus to please come to his house and help his daughter, Jesus didn’t tell him to go away and leave them alone. Instead, he started following the man to his house. (Take off one of your gloves.)

When the untouchable sick woman touched Jesus, he didn’t have her dragged out of the city. Instead, he looked at her and said, “Your faith has healed you.” And she was healed. (Take off your other glove.)

When Jesus got to the man’s house. All of the people standing outside said that the little girl had died. But Jesus didn’t stand there with them and say how sorry he was. Instead, he went inside the house and came back out walking with the little girl holding his hand. (Toss your gloves on the floor.)

Jesus touched the untouchable.

Let me ask you, who are the untouchable people that you see? (Let them respond.) Maybe they aren’t sick, but they are just different than some other people. Most people won’t talk with them, sit with them, touch them, or even smile at them. They just make fun of them or treat them badly because they are different. They think those people are untouchable. Do you know any untouchable people like that? (Let them respond.)

Jesus did not treat anyone like they were “untouchable” because they were different, and he does not want us to do that either. Let’s take our gloves off now. (Have the children take off their gloves and toss them on the floor.) I hope you will remember that Jesus wants us all to take off our gloves and not treat anyone like they are untouchable.

Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.

Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us, and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created, and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.