Aim to learn the importance of saying sorry and forgiving others
Aim
* To learn the importance of saying sorry and forgiving others
* To learn Jesus words, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”
Materials
* Bible story – The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35)
* Jesus’ words about judging others – Matthew 7: 1-5
* Visual Aids – large picture of the parable, and a doctor with a plank in his eye
* Picture to colour
* Spot the difference pictures
* memory cards of parables
Lesson Outline
1. Introduction
2. The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
3. Discussion about the story
4. Discussion about forgiving others
5. Activities – act out the story, colour a picture, spot-the difference, memory game
6. Review the aims
7. Prayer
1) Introduction
* Review the parables of Jesus. Show the picture cards. Can the children identify them?
* Show the large coloured picture of the story. Ask the children what they think the story is about.
Who are the two men? Why is one man angry? What has the other man done wrong? Is he sorry?
Who are the other two men? What will happen next?
* Today’s story is a story by Jesus about forgiving others when they do wrong.
2) The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant – Matthew 18:21-35
To illustrate the importance of forgiving others, Jesus gave the parable of the unmerciful servant. A certain king checked the accounts of his servants and found that one owed him 10,000 talents.
When it was found that the man had nothing to pay, the king commanded that he be sold, as well as his wife, his children and all that he had. But the servant fell down and pleaded for mercy. The king took pity on him and forgave the debt.
Later, this same servant came to one of his peers who owed him 100 denarii. He seized this man by the throat and demanded immediate payment. The second servant’s plea was essentially the same as his own, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you,” but the first servant had no pity and threw him into prison. When the other servants saw what had happened, they told the king, who
summoned the unmerciful servant and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.” He told the servant that he should have had mercy on his fellow servant, just as the king had had mercy on him. The king delivered him to prison and required that he repay the debt that had originally been forgiven. Jesus summarized the lesson this way: “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart”
* A single talent was worth more than 15 years’ wages of a laborer (and the servant owed 10,000 of them!), while a denarius was the equivalent of a single day’s wage (the second servant owed only
100 of them). Thus, the relative value of what was forgiven by the king was dramatically more than the pittance the servant refused to forgive. In today’s money, the king forgave millions while the
servant would not forgive a few hundred dollars.
3) Discussion about the story
* How much did the first servant owe the king? – 10 thousand talents (a million kronor)
* What did the king do? – He forgave him and cancelled the debt
* Why did he forgive him? – He felt sorry for the servant
* How much did the second servant owe? – a hundred denarii (100 kronor)
* Why did the first servant do? – Threw him in prison
* Why did he throw him in prison? – He was angry
* What did the king do when he heard about this? – Put the first servant in prison
* Why did he put the first servant in prison? – The king had forgiven his very big debt, but he couldn’t forgive his own servant for a very small debt
4) Discussion about forgiving others
* How many times did Jesus say we should forgive? 77 times
* How do you feel when someone does wrong to you? breaks a toy, says bad words to you, hits you, takes your piece of cake. You feel angry, sad?
* What do you want do? break their toy, say bad words back, hit them back, take their piece of cake next time?
* If they say sorry, are you still angry? Can you forgive them?
* When you do wrong to others and you are really sorry do others forgive you? How would you feel if they don’t forgive you?
* If you do wrong at home do your parents forgive you? Parents forgive you because they love you.
* It is the same with Heavenly Father. We all make mistakes and sometimes say or do the wrong thing, but God is always ready to forgive when we say sorry.
Judging Others
* Jesus talked about when people do wrong and how easy it is to judge them. We judge people when we tell them what they are doing wrong
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
” Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. – Matthew 7: 1-5
Show the picture of doctor with a plank in his eye. Discuss what it means. Before we see the small faults of others we should get rid of the big faults in ourselves. We should learn to forgive others
mistakes and get rid of our angry feelings. God loves us and forgives when we say sorry. We should do the same to people who wrong us
5) Activities
* Act out the story.
* Colour the picture, write Jesus’ words
* Spot the difference- find 10 differences between the pictures
* Play the memory game to review all the parables.
Lost sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son, Good Samaritan, The Sower, House Built on a Rock, Pharisee and Tax Collector, Rich Fool, The Talents, The Unforgiving Servant
6) Review the lesson aim
* To learn the importance of saying sorry and forgiving others
7) End with a prayer
