A leper said to Jesus, "If you choose, you can make me clean." As we prepare to worship Jesus today, let us ask him to make us clean.
Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, there are things in our lives which make us unclean.
Lord, have mercy.Jesus, hear our prayers and forgive us our sins.
Christ, have mercy.Jesus, give us your healing.
Lord, have mercy.
Reading:
Mark 1:40-45
A leper came to him begging
him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." [41]
Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him,
"I do choose. Be made clean!" [42] Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was
made clean. [43] After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, [44]
saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to
the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony
to them." [45] But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread
the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out
in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
Story:
Lepers were legally rejected by the whole of first century society since everyone was terrified of catching leprosy. But Jesus ignored laws that discriminated against needy people. He was the only one to accept the leper, and he healed him.
This is a story about Joe, who is rejected by most people at his new school. But one small and unpopular group of people offer him the hand of friendship...
Joe's New School
Joe was very excited and quite nervous. Today was the first day of the new term, but for Joe it was a new school as well. His family had moved into the city during the holidays, and Joe couldn't wait to start his new school and meet new friends.
But it wasn't a very good first day. Joe could instantly see who the popular kids were, and he also instantly saw that there was no way they were going to invite Joe anywhere near them. He could also spot the trouble makers and wondered whether he would get bullied on the way home.
In the end he hung around with the nerds, because they were the only ones who took any notice of him. But they were really boring. Joe had no objection to them studying and giving in their homework on time, but wished they had some other topic of conversation. He knew the city was full of clubs and bright lights, and he was longing to sample some of them, but it was very clear that the nerds just went straight home from school, did their homework and went to bed.
After a week, Joe thought he might die of boredom. Because his previous school had followed a slightly different timetable, he found himself ahead in some of his work and behind in the rest. He was so far ahead in some subjects that he didn't have to work at all, and so far behind in other subjects that he felt he'd never catch up so it wasn't worth putting in any effort.
He was also beginning to hate the popular kids, because they were so self-contained and hardly even noticed anyone else. Joe longed to be accepted. He was regarded as the new boy, and he was aware that the longer he hung around with the nerds, the less chance he'd have of ever finding a real circle of proper friends.
Then the thing he'd been dreading happened. He was accosted on the way home by the school gang. They began to punch him and push him and they grabbed his school bag and emptied all his books into a puddle. Then they tore off his new blazer and threw it into a tree where Joe was unable to reach it. Joe was really scared and didn't know what to do. He found himself praying a quick and fervent prayer, "Please God, help me!"
But the bullies just shifted into a higher gear. Grabbing Joe by the arms, they marched him to the parade of shops. "Get in there and pinch us some sweets," snarled the leader of the gang. "Cos if you don't, you're dead meat! "
Joe was terrified. He'd never stolen anything in his life, and he didn't want to start now. But he'd seen the flash of a metal blade and he knew the gang would cut him if he refused. With his heart in his mouth, he slunk into the shop. He mooched around the magazine rack, wondering if he could stay in the shop long enough for the gang to get fed up with waiting and go home. But in his heart he knew that would never happen. Then he wondered whether he could buy some sweets with his own money, and give them to the gang. But all his money was in his blazer, which was high up in a tree.
After ten minutes which seemed like ten hours, Joe saw the owner of the shop watching him. He felt desperate. The owner came over, and Joe waited to be thrown out into the street where the bullies were waiting. But to his surprise, the owner smiled at him. Joe found himself smiling back. He liked the shopkeeper immediately.
"New around here?" asked the shopkeeper.
Joe nodded. "Only been at this school a week," offered Joe.
"Thought so, " said the shopkeeper. "My son Charlie mentioned you. he's upstairs now, doing his homework. Why don't you go up for a spot of tea? My wife'll be pleased to meet you."
It was like a gift from heaven. Joe's face lit up and he bounded up the stairs at the back of the little shop. Charlie was delighted to see him, and Charlie's mother made tea and gave them both as much homemade cake as they could eat. And strangely enough, Charlie wasn't nerdy at all. Before long, Joe found himself pouring out all his troubles to Charlie and his mum. To his surprise, they both understood.
"They tried it on with all of us, too," Charlie confided. "But by sticking together and refusing to allow them to scare us, we won through. They never bother us now. You can keep with us if you like."
Charlie's dad walked Joe back to his own home and on the way collected his blazer from the tree. The bullies were nowhere to be seen. And Joe suddenly began to look forward to school next day. After all, he had been welcomed and accepted by some proper friends, and he'd discovered that under the surface, they weren't nerdy at all.
Activity:
You need:
A large sheet of paper
Coloured pens or
crayons
Counters or buttons
Dice
A shaker
Talk to the children about ways in which people might be rejected and the hurt this can cause. Some children might want to share their own experiences. Possible areas of rejection are: wrong face or shape or colour or clothes, illness such as AIDS, being different in some way, difficulty in understanding, difficulty in speaking the language.
On the paper draw a large, stylised outline map of the area and get the children to draw in areas of rejection and areas of acceptance such as church, Jesus, good friends, family. Divide the outline into sections, so that some sections have nothing in them, some sections have an acceptance, and some a rejection.
Shake the dice to see who goes first, then move round the map, jumping forward two sections when you land on an acceptance, and jumping back two sections when you land on a rejection.
Diary Time: For details of diaries, click here.
Children who are keeping diaries might like to note down or draw occasions when they've felt rejected and occasions when they've felt accepted. Make sure they all go home knowing that God accepts them and loves them.
Intercession:
God who loves us, we ask you to hold in your strong arms any who feel lost or lonely or unloved. May they know that you love them and that you hear their prayers.
God who loves us, we ask for your love to be experienced by those who make war. May they be so filled with your love that it overflows and enemies become friends. We pray for all who enjoy hurting other people, asking that they may learn to respond to your great love for them.
God who loves us, when you touched the leper he was healed. We ask you to touch those of our friends and families who are poorly, so that they too might be healed. We name them before you...
God who loves us, we remember those who are deeply sad because someone they love has died. May they know that love never dies, and that one day, they will see again those they love.
Blessing:
May Jesus, lover of any who are rejected
gather you into his arms
and pour his love upon you.
And the blessing of God almighty,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you now,
be in your homes and in your families
and with all those whom you love
and for whom you pray,
now and always.
Amen.
