Murple the Purple Flurple's
Adventure on the Way to Jerusalem
by Linda Sue Pochodzay Edwards
Text Version | Afrikaans | Italian | For older children
“Please…please…PLEASE…let me out of here.” Murple squealed at the top of her voice. “It's hot and smelly and sticky in here. I don't want to be here! I want to be out in the fresh air floating along in the breeze! I want to be FREE!” But as usual, no one heard Murple's teeny tiny voice. In fact, no one even knew she was there.
“OWWEEE!” she cried. “I wish that little boy would at least quit throwing things on me.” She complained, “It's already crowded and sticky in here, and now he's throwing rocks at me. Why would he even want an old rock anyway?” Murple was quite uncomfortable inside Jimmy's pocket, and that made her rather grouchy. She just knew it WAS NOT going to be a good day.
Inside the pocket, Murple could feel the motion of each step Jimmy took. She knew when he walked…she knew when he skipped…and she certainly knew when he was running. Running was the worst because the rocks and other things jostled around sometimes crushing her. “I wonder where we are going?” she thought. “It is just so dark in here!”
Then Murple heard something that almost made her forget her discomfort. She perked up her tiny little ears and tried to listen more intently. The sounds were coming from a distance and were quite muffled, but she thought it sounded like voices and people shouting. “We must be near a city,” she thought. “I hope we are going to Jerusalem. There is so much activity there. There's always something to see. Oh, how I wish…. I wish…. I WISH I could see what's happening!”
Jimmy didn't particularly care about the voices and the shouting. He had been to Jerusalem many times and was quite used to the noise of towns and cities. The only thing Jimmy was concerned about at the moment was the rumbling in his tummy. He put his hand in his pocket and found a piece of candy that had been there quite a long time.
“OUCH! … OH!” Murple squealed in pain as Jimmy pulled the little fuzz ball off the candy. He wiped his sticky fingers and the fuzz ball on his coat sleeve and popped the candy into his mouth. “WHEW!” Murple exclaimed. “THAT really hurt! But at least I am no longer stuck to that candy and I'm out of that dreadful pocket. And finally, I can see where we are going and what's happening.”
As Murple had suspected, they were getting close to a town, although they were not yet at Jerusalem. The sound of shouting was growing louder, and there seemed to be a small crowd of people just outside the walls of the town. “JESUS! JESUS!” the voices shouted. “JESUS! HAVE MERCY ON US!”
Murple was so excited about hearing the name of Jesus, that she wished she could hop off Jimmy's coat, float in the breeze, and get closer. She knew who Jesus was, and she had even seen him turn water into wine. She just couldn't wait to see what was going to happen this time! She hoped Jimmy would go a little further so she could get a better look…and that's just what he did.
As Jimmy scrambled to get closer to the action, Murple noticed something that made her very afraid; and as she listened carefully, what she heard confirmed her fears. She could see that the people in the crowd looked sick, and she heard someone say “leprosy.” The small crowd of ten people that were shouting to Jesus were all lepers. That meant they had a terrible disease that was easily spread from one person to another. At that moment, she changed her mind and hoped Jimmy wouldn't go any closer.
“JESUS! JESUS! HAVE MERCY ON US! JESUS! JESUS! HAVE MERCY ON US!” the crowd kept shouting.
Murple watched in wide-eyed amazement as she saw Jesus move closer to the crowd. “No! . . . No! . . . NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!” Murple cried out. “You can't get close to those people! IT'S DANGEROUS!” But, of course, no one could hear her teeny tiny voice, and Jesus continued to get closer. “Oh, my … Oh, my … OH, MY!” Murple thought. “I just can't bear to look! THIS just isn't good at all. He's going to get sick too. I just know it. He is, He is, HE IS.”
But Murple just couldn't help herself and had to look, and so did Jimmy. They kept watching and listening, wondering what was going to happen next. “Go, show yourselves to the priests,” they heard Jesus say to the ten lepers.
“Well, well, WELL!” Murple thought. “That is a mighty strange thing for Him say. I wonder why He said that?” But before she had time to give it any more thought, she heard whooping, and hollering, and shouts of joy coming from the small crowd. These shouts were even louder than the shouts for mercy.
“WE'RE HEALED! WE'RE HEALED! WE'RE NOT SICK ANYMORE!” they shouted, and they joyfully started running down the road to the temple to show themselves to the priest, as Jesus had commanded them.
Murple could hardly believe her eyes and her ears! She knew she had just witnessed a most wonderful miracle. At that time, there was no cure for leprosy, and very few people ever recovered from having it. Just as the excitement began to die down, Murple noticed one man coming back. “Hmmm.... I wonder why he's coming back?” she thought. “Maybe he didn't get healed like the rest of them.” But that wasn't the case at all. She watched as the man bowed down right there on the ground in front of Jesus. He was so grateful to be well, that he had come back to say, “Thank You.”
Jesus looked down at the man who was bowing at his feet, then looked up at the crowd that had gathered around. “Were there not ten that were healed? Where are the other nine?” He asked. “Only one has come back to give glory to God.” Then He spoke to the man that was still bowing. “Arise and be on your way. Your faith has made you well.”
“Wow! WOW! WOW!” Murple exclaimed excitedly. “That man named Jesus surely says and does some strange things, and I don't always understand it, but every time He's around something special happens! I'll remember this forever! I will! I will! I WILL!”
THINK!
1. What is leprosy?
2. How many people did Jesus heal?
3. How many people said thank you?
REMEMBER!
Always say “Thank you” when someone does something for you
and always give thanks to God.
A VERSE TO LEARN:
“Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name” (1 Chronicles 29:13).
ALTERNATIVE VERSES TO LEARN
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Have you ever done something for someone who forgot to thank you for it? How did it make you feel? How about you? Have you ever forgotten to thank someone for something they did for you? How do you think it made them feel?
Now here's the BIG question: Did you forget to thank God today for sending Jesus to save you and for the many blessings He's sent your way, or did you make God smile today by thanking Him?
[After discussion:] It's God's will for you to thank Him because it opens your eyes to see all the positive things in your life. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:18.) The devil wants you to be ungrateful and miserable, but if you can learn to act in faith and thank God in everything, you'll receive strength to overcome many things in life.
Can you think of a few things or people for which you'd like to thank God? As you think of them, take time to thank God for them now. Then, if there's someone you need to thank, be sure to let them know.
LET'S PRAY:
****************************************************
Dear Jesus, thank You for coming down to earth
and performing miracles that help me learn of
your great love for me. Help me remember
to be thankful to You, and to say thank you
when others show me kindness.
In your Name I pray. Amen.
****************************************************
CAN YOU FIND THIS STORY IN THE BIBLE?
Luke 17:11-19
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