While traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus healed ten lepers. Only one of those who were healed returned to give thanks to Jesus. This lesson can help you feel and express gratitude to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and others.
Inviting students to read carefully. Reading carefully can help students recognize important details and visualize what is taking place. This can help students build their basic understanding of the scriptures, better identify principles, and relate the scriptures to their own lives.
Student preparation: Invite students to come prepared to share a recent experience when they felt gratitude toward Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ. Alternatively, students could create a list describing what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have done for them.
Possible Learning Activities
Your current feelings about gratitude
For the following activity, consider inviting students to share their experiences of feeling gratitude before completing the self-assessment. It may be helpful to display the self-assessment for students to examine and ponder.
Using the words “usually,” “sometimes,” or “never,” evaluate yourself in the following statements:
I feel gratitude for Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and others.
I express my feelings of gratitude.
Expressing gratitude has a positive impact in my life.
As you continue your study, seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost to help you know how showing gratitude can bless your life.
Leprosy
What do you know about the disease of leprosy?
Listen carefully to students’ responses, and add any of the following information to clarify or add to what students say.
Leprosy, more common anciently than today, is a skin disease that can lead to physical disfiguration and death. In biblical times, people with leprosy were separated from the rest of society and were required to call out “Unclean!” to warn anyone approaching them (see Bible Dictionary, “Leper,” “Leprosy”).
What might have been the day-to-day feelings and experiences of a leper in biblical times?
What are some reasons why youth may experience similar feelings in our day?
Read Luke 17:11–14, carefully visualizing what you read. Reading carefully, paying attention to details, and visualizing what you read can lead to more meaningful experiences studying the scriptures. After reading these verses, try to answer as many of the next five questions about the details in Luke 17:11–14 as you can without referring to the scriptures.
Consider displaying the following questions or providing the following handout. Invite students to work in pairs or small groups to discuss the details they remember.
How many of the lepers had the faith to do what the Savior asked?
What were the lepers doing when they were healed?
Visualize what you read
Imagine yourself as one of the lepers who were cleansed.
What might it have been like to be healed from leprosy? How would you have felt?
Why do you think healing in this account happened “as they went”? (verse 14).
What do you think you would have done once you realized the Savior had healed you?
Read Luke 17:15–19 carefully, continuing to practice visualizing what you read and looking for important details.
What details from these verses seem most important to you?
What did you learn about showing gratitude and the blessings it can bring?
What do we learn about Jesus Christ from His response to the one who returned?
Heavenly Father loves to bless us and does so in many ways. He also sent the Savior Jesus Christ and blesses His children through the Savior. One truth we learn from this account is that as we express gratitude for blessings we receive from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we can be made whole.
It may be helpful to know that if lepers were ever cured of leprosy, they were required, under the law of Moses, to show themselves to the priest in order to be pronounced clean and return to their homes and society (see Leviticus 14). We don’t know the reasons why each of the other nine men did not return to give thanks. They showed faith in the Savior, were obedient, and were healed, but the Savior told the one who returned and gave thanks, who was a Samaritan, that his faith had made him “whole” (Luke 17:19).
What might be the difference between being healed of leprosy and being made whole?
What did you learn from this account that could affect your relationship with the Savior?
How did reading carefully, noticing details, and visualizing these verses affect your learning experience?
Read the following prophetic statements, considering how these teachings about gratitude apply to the one leper and to your own life. President Thomas S. Monson taught:
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President Thomas S. Monson
Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love.
President Russell M. Nelson emphasized the value of feeling gratitude to the Lord. Watch the video “President Russell M. Nelson on the Healing Power of Gratitude” from time code 3:42 to 4:28 or read the text below.
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President Russell M. Nelson
Over my nine and a half decades of life, I have concluded that counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems. No matter our situation, showing gratitude for our privileges is a fast-acting and long-lasting spiritual prescription.
Does gratitude spare us from sorrow, sadness, grief, and pain? No, but it does soothe our feelings. It provides us with a greater perspective on the very purpose and joy of life.
To help recognize and improve your expressions of gratitude for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, copy the following chart in your study journal.
Blessings I have received from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ:
Ways I could express gratitude for these blessings:
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have blessed you in meaningful and personal ways. Carefully ponder these blessings, and write them in the first column. It may be helpful to say a silent prayer asking for Heavenly Father to help you realize the many ways He has blessed you. Then write a few ways in the second column you could show gratitude for these blessings. The following verses may help you generate ideas: Mosiah 2:20–22; Matthew 25:40; Philippians 1:1–3; 1 Chronicles 16:29.
How did taking time to ponder these blessings personally affect you?
Examining your list of ways to express gratitude, which one would you specifically like to improve on or start doing? Why? How might you begin?
Help students share about their experiences from learning and studying today. Consider allowing them to teach one another by sharing their lists of blessings, ways to express gratitude, and their goals for improvement and application. Testify, or invite a student to testify, of the power of expressing gratitude.
Commentary and Background Information
Luke 17:14. Does it matter that the leper that returned was a Samaritan?
Samaritans were those who lived in Samaria whose “religion was a mixture of Jewish and pagan beliefs and practices” (see Guide to the Scriptures, “Samaritans”). They were often looked down on by most Jews. Think about why Luke mentioned that the grateful leper was a Samaritan. What does this detail add to your understanding of this account? What does it teach you about the Savior?
How is gratitude different than saying thank you?
President David O. McKay taught of gratitude and thankfulness:
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President David O. McKay
Gratitude is deeper than thanks. Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.
(David O. McKay, “The Meaning of Thanksgiving,” Improvement Era, Nov. 1964, 914)
How can gratitude affect my life?
The following videos illustrate the impact of gratitude.
Supplemental Learning Activities
Compare and contrast
To help students learn more about Jesus Christ, invite them to examine the similarities and differences from the healings in Luke 5:12–15 and Luke 17:11–19. What do these different accounts highlight and teach about Jesus Christ?
Expressions of gratitude
Consider inviting students to write a letter to Heavenly Father expressing their gratitude for the blessings He has given them, especially through His Son, Jesus Christ. What would be most helpful to include in this letter? What difference might writing this letter make? Who else might the Lord want you to reach out to and express gratitude to?