11/9/11 Proper 19

Theme: Is it easy or hard to forgive people?

Bible Reading

Matthew chapter 18 verses 21-35 Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Preparation

This parable is a wonderfully dramatic story for acting out, and can be simply done as a mime with a “throne” a crown and some “bags of gold”, a gaoler’s key etc as you tell the story.

Introduction

Sometimes you do something, or ask something, and it backfires on you. Perhaps you want to watch a TV programme and so you ask your Mum if you can stay up late – then she suddenly realises its past your bedtime and you get sent to bed straight away ….. maybe if you had kept quiet she wouldn’t have noticed! Once Peter asked Jesus a question rather like that: “Jesus” he said “ how many times should I forgive someone who upsets me? Should it be as many as seven times?” Peter was rather hoping that Jesus would say something like “Gosh, Peter, how wonderfully kind and patient you are, forgiving somebody that many times, well done!” But Peter’s question backfired, because Jesus’ real answer was “not seven times Peter, seventy-seven!” SEVENTY SEVEN! How many people do you know who could keep on forgiving someone that many times? (Any suggestions?)

The Message

Jesus knew that Peter needed help understanding what he meant about forgiving, so he told him a story. People like listening to stories, and they are usually much easier to understand than lots of complicated explanations. So let’s hear and see the story Jesus told:

There was once a rich king who was counting his money and doing his accounts when he realised that one of his servants owed him hundreds of thousands of pounds. “I need to get in all the money I am owed” said the king “bring the servant to me at once!”

When the servant came he didn’t know what to do. He simply hadn’t got the money, he had spent it all, and never really thought about paying it back. “There’s only one thing we can do” said the king “I’ll take everything you own and sell it, and if that doesn’t raise enough money I’ll take you and your wife and your children, and sell you as well! You will all become slaves!”

The servant was horrified, he cried, he rolled on the floor in agony, he wailed….”I’ll sort it out” he blubbered “ just give me time, I’ll pay you back, honest I will!”

The king knew that his servant would never raise enough money to pay off his debt. He felt sorry for him because he was so upset, so the king decided to forgive him everything. Much to the servant’s amazement, the king cancelled his debt – he was thrilled and left the palace singing and dancing. But the servant hadn’t gone very far before he met one of his friends. This man owed the servant about a hundred pounds. “Aha” said the servant “I need to collect in all the money I am owed, when am I going to get back the hundred pounds you borrowed from me?” “I haven’t got it at the moment” said his friend “ but give me a few days and I can pay you back.” “That’s not good enough” roared the servant “I want it NOW” and he started shaking his friend. His friend cried and pleaded, but the servant refused to listen – instead he dragged him off to the prison and had his friend locked up until he could find the money.

This terrible argument had taken place in public and a lot of people were worried by what they had seen. Very soon the king was told what had happened, and so he ordered his servant to come back to the palace and explain himself. “You are a wicked man” the king said to his servant “I forgave you a debt of hundreds of thousands of pounds just because you said you were sorry and asked to be forgiven. Didn’t you learn anything from this? Why didn’t you forgive your friend just like I forgave you?” The king was so angry that he changed his mind, and sent his servant to prison until he could pay back the hundreds of thousands of pounds …. but he never did.

Jesus told this story to help us understand something about God. In his story the king was like God because he had loved his servant and was ready to forgive his servant when he was asked. The king had hoped that his servant would be forgiving like him. There’s a line in the Lord’s Prayer where we ask God to forgive us the things we have done wrong – can you remember it, and the important line that follows it?

(forgive us our trespasses / sins as we forgive those who trespass / sin against us)

Did you notice that it wasn’t just us asking God to be forgiven for what we had done wrong, but that we actually are saying something like “please treat us the same way we treat other people”? Is that a good idea I wonder? Do we want God to treat us like we treat other people, or are we actually hoping to be treated better than that? How do we show our love (or not) for other people? Something to think about / reflect upon!

Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

Also this week you could think about forgiveness: the story of Jonah; Luke chapter 19 vss 1-10 - Zacchaeus; Luke chapter 18 vss 9-14 - the Pharisee and the Tax-gatherer