This week’s story is Ten Healed of Leprosy (Luke 17:11-19). Many aspects of this story are incomprehensible without a basic understanding of the relationship between the Jewish culture based in the temple in Jerusalem and the Jewish culture based in Samaria. Yes, the Samaritans were Jewish!

Here are some questions you may wish to look into in order to better understand the story:

• Why was Jesus “walking along the border between Galilee and Samaria” instead of walking straight through Samaria in the direction of Jerusalem?
• Why were the ten keeping their distance? (This may have been because of their leprosy, but address this question assuming it wasn’t.)
• What is the significance of the ten calling Jesus “Master”?
• Why does Jesus send them to the priests?
• What does Jesus mean by calling the man a foreigner? Is there contempt in this statement?
• Does Jesus’ question imply that some of the others who were healed were not Samaritans?
• How does Jesus relate to the man physically? Does he crouch down or remain standing? Does he touch the man?
• Didn’t the man who came back disobey Jesus by doing so? Wasn’t he supposed to go to the priests as the others apparently did?
• Do you think any of the others, after going to the priests, came back looking for Jesus in order to thank him? (They would have known to look for him “along the border between Galilee and Samaria.”)
• Do you think the man who came back then went on to the priests as Jesus originally instructed or simply went on his way?

Ten Healed of Leprosy (Luke 17:11-19)
adapted by Don Falkos

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. He was walking along the border between Galilee and Samaria when he encountered a group of ten men. These men all had leprosy, a terrible skin disease. They kept their distance, but they cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

Jesus looked at them and said, “Go. Show yourselves to the priests.”

While they were on their way to find the priests, they were healed. The leprosy was gone. One of them, when he saw what had happened, turned around and went back shouting praises to God. When the man found Jesus, he fell to his knees and thanked Jesus again and again. This man was a Samaritan.

Jesus said, “There were ten who were healed. Where are the other nine? Has no one come back to praise God and offer thanks except this foreigner? Get up and go on your way. Your faith has healed you.”

Today we look at Death in the Pot (2 Kings 4:38-41). This little 4-verse story is packed with problems for the storyteller to overcome. A quick read leaves you thinking that this is a simple, straightforward story. That is not the case. From the beginning we have questions. Here are a few.

Who are these prophets? And what are they called? Look in five different translations of the Bible and you are likely to find five different names for this group of prophets. Which name will you use? Someone went out to collect something for the stew. Was he looking for herbs or vegetables? Where did he go — into a field or into the woods? Different translations supply different answers to these questions. What was brought back and put into the pot? Was it pods, gourds, fruit, or something else altogether?

Who went out to do this collecting? Was it one of the prophets or was it a servant? The text is unclear on this issue, but you, as the storyteller, need to know. My research leads me to believe that it was a servant. You may come to a different conclusion.

By now it should be clear that this seemingly simple story is actually quite complex. In fact, there is even a question as to what kind of a story this is. I treat it as a miracle story. Whereas the translators of the Contemporary English Version (CEV) seem to think it is a cooking lesson. You will need to decide for yourself before you can tell this story with any effectiveness.

I highly recommend that you read this story in several different translations before you even begin to develop your own version of it to tell. As you read different translations, you will begin to see all the vagaries of this little story that you will need to work out.

Or, if you wish, you can trust that I have done a good job with my version of the story, and simply use it as your jumping off point. However, once you’ve learned the basic story, you really should go back to the Bible itself to make sure that what I have given you here is an accurate reflection of the text.

Death in the Pot (2 Kings 4:38-41)

Elisha returned to Gilgal and the land was still in the midst of a famine. When he met with the Guild of the Prophets, he instructed a servant, “Put a large pot on the fire and prepare some stew for these men.”

One of the servants went out to gather herbs for the stew. He found a wild vine and picked some of its gourds, which he carried back in a fold of his cloak. Then he cut them up and put them into the stew, even though no one knew what kind of plant they were from. When the stew was ready, it was served out. But as the men began to eat, they cried, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” They couldn’t eat it.

Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” He put the flour into the stew and said, “Serve it out again.” This time, the men ate it and it caused them no harm. The stew was just fine.

In my first post I talked about a 6-hour workshop I presented at the 5th International Christian Storytelling in Ministry Conference held last month in Georgetown, Kentucky. In that workshop, participants learned and told three different Bible stories. Those three stories will be featured in my next three posts, starting here with The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14).

When telling this story it will be helpful to pay special attention to the physical, mental, and emotional states of the two men in Jesus’ story.

To discover the physical aspects of the characters, ask questions like: What does he do? How does he hold himself? How does he interact with those around him?

For the mental and the emotional conditions of the characters, ask questions like:  Why does he do what he does? Who is at the center of his thoughts? What does he think about the people around him? How does he feel about his relationship to God? Who or what IS his God? How does he feel about himself before going to the temple, and how have those feelings changed once he has returned home? Are his thoughts and feelings about himself justified?

Historical Note: When Jesus says that the men “went up to the temple,” he is speaking literally. To enter the temple, you had to walk up a long ramp. Also bear in mind that although Jesus only mentions the two main characters, the temple was always bustling with people.

Linguistic Note: When the tax collector says, “forgive me,” the Greek word means, “cover my sins with the blood that was shed.” Although it is not specifically stated in the text, it is likely that the tax collector has just come from making a sin offering — the sacrifice of an animal (a goat or a lamb) whose blood was intended to “cover my sins.”

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
adapted by Don Falkos

Jesus told a story to some people who thought they were better than everyone else:

Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee; the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee went right up to the front, struck a pose, and prayed about himself. “Oh God, I thank you that I am not like other people — greedy, dishonest, impure, and certainly I’m not like that tax collector over there. I fast twice a week. And I give away a tenth of all I earn.”

Meanwhile, the tax collector was standing off in a dark corner with his head in his hands. He didn’t consider himself worthy to even look up toward heaven. He became very emotional and prayed, “Oh, God, I am such a sinner. Please, forgive me.”

Then Jesus said, “I tell you, when these two men went home that day, it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who had God’s approval. If you attempt to honor yourself, you will be humbled. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.”

Two weeks ago, June 16-18, 2011, I was honored to be one of the presenters for the 5th International Christian Storytelling in Ministry Conference, which was held in Georgetown, Kentucky.

On Thursday, June 16th, I presented a 6-hour intensive workshop called Vanilla, Chocolate, or Neapolitan, in which we explored three different methods for learning and teaching a Bible story.

We began the day with The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). To learn this story, we used a strictly oral methodology. I told the story; we re-told the story as a group; I told the story again; then a volunteer from among the workshop participants told the story. Along the way, we utilized various physical and imaginative exercises that helped to envision the story. No one was allowed to consult a text or even to take notes during this portion of the workshop.

There was a wide variety of experience levels represented in this workshop. There were professional storytellers. There were people who had never before told a story. Although many of the participants struggled with this strictly oral methodology, all learned the story and were able to tell it in their own words.

The next story we worked on was Death in the Pot (2 Kings 4:38-41). To learn this story we used a very literate methodology. We answered a series of questions to identify the concrete and then the abstract elements of the story. We also spent some time identifying themes and what I call thematic elements in the story. A thematic element is anything that could be developed into a theme, which includes just about anything. The people who had struggled with the oral methodology found this literate methodology to be much more comfortable, whereas those who breezed through the oral approach found this literate methodology to be quite challenging. This is not a big surprise. It is simply an indication of the individuals’ learning styles.

You can find the handouts for this methodology on my website, blessedbythespokenword.com/downloads.html. You will find the Story Exploration sheet and the Story Planner. The Story Exploration sheet is a two-page document with a whole bunch of questions to assist you in exploring the elements of the story. The Story Planner is a kind of chart where you record your answers to these questions in a very structured, organized way.

Since story is images, not words, I then asked each workshop participant to draw three images that would remind them of everything they needed in order to tell the story. Doing this forces a connection between your literate nature and your oral nature, which is essential if you intend to tell a story that originates in a text. Some created very detailed drawings. Others’ images were quite spare. Yet when I asked people to tell the story using only their own drawings as reference, all were able to tell the story. Many said that having done the initial research (Story Exploration / Story Planner work) and having just made the drawings, they didn’t need to refer to anything. They already had a confident grasp of the contents of the story.

We spent three and a half hours exploring this 4-verse story from 2 Kings. At the end of that time, there was no doubt that everyone in the room was able to tell the story. We all agreed that we had only just scratched the surface of what could be discovered in this little story that most people would read past and hardly even notice.

Our third story of the day was Ten Healed of Leprosy (Luke 17:11-19). For this story the class worked in small groups. Using a rotational methodology of reading and telling, reading and telling, participants read the story (multiple translations were used), heard it read, told the story, and heard it told. They spent about 20 minutes totally immersed in the story and emerged from that time with a working knowledge of the story and the ability to tell the story in their own words.

Returning to our previously constructed lists of themes and thematic elements from Death in the Pot, I walked the group through a process of identifying a personal anecdote based on one of those themes. I then described how to develop that anecdote into a personal story that is thematically related to the Bible story.

The feedback I received for this intensive was overwhelmingly positive. One woman described me as “a well organized presenter,” “very encouraging,” and “thought provoking.” She then went on to state, “In one part of my business, I assist and train people to make workshop presentations. You made an A!”

On Thursday evening I was one of the tellers in a Storytelling Concert, also known as an Olio. I told a short, rather irreverent story about mistaken identity that many in the crowd had no doubt heard before. It was nonetheless well received. I followed that with a personal story called Hunting with Grandpa, which is my version of a traditional tall tale (often known as The Cherry Tree Buck) that I use as an excuse to tell my grandfather’s life story.

On Friday, June 17th, I hosted two two-hour sessions under the title A Coaching Lottery. This is a small group coaching session in which we draw a name to see who will tell a story. I guide the group through a coaching process that is designed to offer positive, constructive feedback. We then draw another name and repeat the process. After the first of these 2-hour sessions, one of the participants said, “Everyone at this conference should be required to attend this session.” High praise indeed.

Amidst all of my teaching I was able to tell several traditional stories, personal stories, and Bible stories. I was booked pretty heavily during the 2 1/2 days of the conference, but I still managed to make it to a couple of workshops presented by other people. I enjoyed these very much and I was impressed with the quality of what was offered.

I plan to be at the 6th International Christian Storytelling in Ministry Conference when it comes around next June. It will once again be held in Georgetown, Kentucky. The conference will feature many fine storytellers and presenters. Please consider joining us for this life-changing, ministry-changing event.