The following material supplements the suggested lesson outline. You may want to use one or more of these ideas as part of the lesson.
Read and discuss the parable of the unprofitable servant (Luke 17:5–10).
Read and discuss the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16).
Emphasize that those who worked one hour received the same pay as those who worked the entire day. We should not be concerned about who receives the most or who does the most in the service of the Lord. The perfect Judge of all, who knows our hearts, will judge us with mercy and grant us “whatsoever is right” (Matthew 20:4, 7).
The fourth segment of “New Testament Customs,” a selection from New Testament Video Presentations (53914), may be useful in explaining how lepers were regarded in New Testament times and what a great, life-changing blessing it was for the ten lepers to be healed by Christ.
This segment also contains information about how the Jews of the New Testament measured time. You may want to show this portion if you discuss the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (see the second additional teaching idea), to help class members better understand the householder who “went out about the third hour” and also the sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours (Matthew 20:3, 5–6).
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