Elisha and Naaman Children's Sunday School Lesson

Elisha Heals Naaman for Free, but Gehazi is Greedy

Use this children’s Sunday School lesson about Elisha and his servant to teach children about generosity and helping others.

 

Needed: Bibles, pennies

 

 

Intro Game: Disciple Tag – Choose one student to be It. When they tag someone, that person links hands with them and joins their team. They continue adding people to their team, linking hands with each one until all but one student is part of their chain. That remaining student becomes It for the next round.

 

Play two or three rounds and then, say that you’ll explain why you played that version of tag after the lesson.

 

 

Lesson: Say, Last time, we learned about how Elijah went up to Heaven. Does anyone remember how Elijah got to Heaven? (God sent a fiery chariot down to get him and carry him up to Heaven.)

 

Then Elijah’s helper, Elisha, became an even greater prophet than Elijah. Today, we’re going to learn about one of the miracles Elisha did for someone.

 

 

(Read 2 Kings 5:1 with your students.)

 

 

Who was Naaman? (He was the army commander for Aram, one of Israel’s enemies.)

 

And what disease did Naaman have? (Leprosy.)

 

Does anyone know what leprosy does to you? (Leprosy is a disease that makes your skin rot off and makes you look kind of like a zombie. It can even make your nose or ears or fingers or toes fall off.)

 

 

(Read 2 Kings 5:2-7 with your students.)

 

 

Why is the king of Israel upset? (The king of Aram sent his army commander, Naaman, to Israel so that Naaman could be cured of his leprosy. But the king of Israel can’t cure leprosy so he thinks the king of Aram will get mad and attack him because he couldn’t cure Naaman’s leprosy.)

 

 

(Read 2 Kings 5:8-12 with your students.)

 

 

Why is Naaman angry? (Because Naaman wanted Elisha to do a special miracle for him to cure him of his leprosy, but Elisha didn’t even come out of his house to see Naaman. He just sent his servant to tell Naaman to go wash in the river. Naaman thought Elisha was tricking him because he knew that just washing in the river usually wouldn’t be enough to heal him of his leprosy.)

 

 

(Read 2 Kings 5:13-14 with your students.)

 

How did simply washing in the river heal Naaman? (Washing in the river usually wouldn’t have been enough to heal Naaman, but God did a miracle for Naaman and healed him.)

 

When Naaman did what Elisha said and went to wash in the river, God did a miracle for him. If we want God to help us, then we have to do what He says. How do we know what God wants us to do? (The Bible tells us what God wants us to do.)

 

If we do the right things that God tells us to do in the Bible, then He will help us.

 

 

(Read 2 Kings 5:15-16 with your students.)

 

Why didn’t Elisha want Naaman to pay him for healing him? (Elisha didn’t want money for healing Naaman. He only wanted to help him.)

 

God likes it when we help people for free. We shouldn’t always do things for money. We should do things because we want to help people.

 

And did Elisha care that Naaman was one of Israel’s enemies? (No.)

 

Even though Naaman was one of Israel’s enemies, Elisha still helped him. God likes it when we help everyone, even the people we don’t like very much.

 

 

(Read 2 Kings 5:17 with your students.)

 

 

Naaman said that he was only going to worship the real God now, and not any of the fake gods. Why do you think Naaman decided to believe in the real God? (Because God and Elisha had healed him from his leprosy.)

 

That’s why we should help other people too. Sometimes, when we help people in God’s name, it makes them want to believe in God, and God is happy when more people believe in Him. God loves them and wants them to go to Heaven when they die so that they can live forever with Him.

 

 

Activity: Acting It Out – Divide students into groups of two or three. Have each group decide on and act out one way that they can help someone and convince them to believe in Jesus. Name some outreach activities that your church does if students need help thinking of something.

 

 

Lesson Continues: Read 2 Kings 5:18-20 with your students.

 

 

Elisha said he wouldn’t take any money for helping Naaman because he only wanted to help Naaman, but what is Elisha’s servant doing? (He’s going to try to get something from Naaman.)

 

Do you think Gehazi, the servant, is doing the right thing or the wrong thing by trying to get something from Naaman?

 

 

(Read 2 Kings 5:21-22 with your students.)

 

 

Did Elisha send Gehazi to say that? (No.)

 

So Gehazi is lying and trying to get money for himself.

 

 

(Read 2 Kings 5:23-27 with your students.)

 

What happened to Gehazi because he lied? (He got Naaman’s disease of leprosy.)

 

So, remember, God likes it when we help people for free because it’s nice to help people and because maybe when we help people in God’s name, that will make them want to believe in God as we do. Then, they will get to go to Heaven when they die and live forever with God.

 

 

Game: Disciple Tag – Play the intro game again and then, explain that when we tell people about Jesus, we want them to believe in Jesus too. If they do, they become a Christian and join our team. Then, they help us tell more people about Jesus.

 

 

Game: Give it Away – Remind students that Elijah wanted to help Naaman for free, but Gehazi was greedy. To help them not be greedy, you’re going to play a game about money.

 

Divide students into two teams. Give one team a handful of pennies. Have them keep as much as they think they need, giving a rationale for each cent. Question their decision on what they need to keep their money for and what they don’t. You are trying to get them to see the difference between needs and wants.

 

Tell them to give away the rest, putting it into an offering plate. The leader takes some of that money, explaining that it’s for the church to pay its bills, and then gives the rest to the other team. Now, ask the second team to keep what they need from what they’ve been given by the first team. Again, they put their extra into the offering.

 

Then, the leader pulls out more money to give to the first team to reward them for their generosity. The more they gave away during their round, the more they receive as a reward from God. They are also given the offering from team two. This is how offering works and how God rewards us for it.

 

Play three rounds. At the beginning of each round, the money that the teams kept is “spent” on their necessities and recycles back into the leader’s supply.

 

 

Closing Prayer: Lord, make us generous and giving like Elisha was. Help us want to help people in Your name so that they can believe in You. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.