Miracles and Healings
MIRACLES AND HEALINGS
Objectives:
- Students should be able to tell the story of at least one healing of Jesus.
- Students should know the word “miracle” and what it means.
- Students should know that we access the healing power of Jesus through the Sacrament of Holy Unction.
Possible Lesson Plan:
- Open with prayer.
- Scripture References: Assign a Scripture or two to each student, to read and report to the class:
Mark 5:22-24, 35-43 Mark 3:1-5
Luke 7:2-10 John 9:6-9, 24-25
Mark 7:32-37 Luke 13:11-13
Mark 1:30-31 John 4:46-53
Luke 17:12-19 Luke 22:50-51
Mark 9:17-29 Mark 10:46-52
Mark 8:22-26 John 5:5-15
What kinds of problems did Jesus heal? What kinds of people did Jesus heal? Did He heal the same way each time? Did Jesus heal only the Jewish people or was He sent to all people? (The first Gentile healed was the servant of the Roman Centurion.)
- Discussion: The Church has a special sacrament where we pray for healing. It is called “Holy Unction.” Can Jesus really heal the sick? Are there miracles today? Didn’t Jesus have to touch the person to heal him? (No, remember the Roman centurion’s servant) Aren’t miracles really superstition? How does the sacrament of Holy Unction differ from say a rain dance by the pagans? Don’t we have doctors now we can go to if we are sick? Why doesn’t Jesus heal everyone? Why do we get sick at all? Aren’t we all going to die anyway? Should we only call for Holy Unction when we are dying? (no) In what other ways can we as Christians serve those who are ill, especially those who are chronically ill?
- Play a learning game: Bible Headlines. Assign a miracle to each student. Have the students come up with a catchy headline for their miracle. After a few minutes, have the students one by one present their headline. Can the others guess the miracle?
- Add to your time line as usual – several of today’s miracles, or one especially wonderful one? Check the “dates” of the events to include on the time line. Save a bit of space also for parables we’ll study at the very end.
- Close with prayer, praying especially for anyone known by a student to be sick.