Reel Luke

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy

Luke 5:12–16

Intro to Reel Luke
Reel Luke Leader's Guide
More Reel Questions

Helpful Stuff to Know

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  • Leprosy is an infectious disease that affects skin, nerves, and sometimes the eyes. It can cause severe scars and disfigurement.
  • In the ancient world (and still today) leprosy carried a stigma. People with leprosy were considered “unclean” and were often pushed to the margins of society. They were very isolated and lonely.
  • People with leprosy or other skin diseases had to follow many social rules. For example, they were not allowed to touch other people for fear of “infecting” them.
  • When someone was cured of leprosy in the ancient world and when Jesus lived, they followed certain purification ceremonies to show they’d been cured or healed. These were included in the Hebrew scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) in Leviticus 14.

Be Sure Not to Miss

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  • The man with leprosy seemed to know Jesus was not an ordinary man. He worshipped him and believed he had healing power.
  • Jesus did the unthinkable: he touched the man with leprosy. Instead of being infected by leprosy himself, he “infected” the sick man with his love and healing power.
  • Jesus encouraged the man to follow the accepted religious traditions. He upheld the religious foundations of his time. He knew the man would be received back into society if he followed the proper protocol.
  • Jesus knew that once word got out about his healing power, certain leaders would come after him. That’s why he told the man to not tell anyone about what happened.
  • Even in his busy life of teaching and healing and traveling from place to place, Jesus regularly spent time alone with his Father in prayer.

Be Careful About

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  • This story doesn’t promise that Jesus will heal anyone who believes in him. During his earthly life, Jesus healed many people in order to show and prove who he was. Now we know who he is because of the evidence of the Bible and the testimony of the Spirit living in us.

1. Read Luke 5:12–16

Here's a few different ways you can read and recap the story with your group.

  • Read it through one time with people just listening to you. Then read it through a second time with people following along in their own Bibles.
  • Ask a few people to act out the story while you read it.
  • Ask one or two people to retell the story after hearing it.
  • Ask two people to retell the story in the first person, as though they were actually there. One person can do the play-by-play (tell the details of what happened), and the other can offer color commentary (add details about how they felt, what surprised them, what confused them, etc.). First-person retelling can make the story feel more real. It's also a blast.

2. Reel Questions (set the scene)

  • Where did this story happen? What do you think it looked like? Smelled like? Sounded like?
  • Make a list of all the people in the story (including "crowd" if there is one), and give a one-word description of each e.g. impatient, desperate, funny, selfish, awkward, etc.
  • List everything that happened in the story. What was your favorite moment?

3. Story-Specific Questions

  • Why do you think the man first said, “If you are willing …”?
  • Why do you think Jesus told the man to follow the traditional religious ceremonies after he was healed?

4. Wrap-Up Question

  • Why do you think this story is included in the Bible? What do you think God wants us to learn from it?

5. Pray