Forgiveness!
Children's sermon
Object: This message is created as a role-playing activity. You will need one child to play the role of the businessperson, another to be the first servant, and a third to be the second servant. If you have enough children, another one or two could play the role of the police officers, or if you don’t have enough children, you can tell about the police without role-playing them.
You will also want to create two IOU certificates. I printed each one on 8 ½ x 11-inch paper, so they were large enough to see. In bold print, one IOU says $1,000, and the other says $1.00.
You do not need to pick and prepare the children ahead of time, but you might have specific children in mind for the roles. You could also just ask for volunteers for the roles if you believe your children can handle that. Also, while the usual assumption is that all people in the story are male, you can use boys or girls in the roles to tell the story if you like.
For the roles, you can either just read what the characters say.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Let’s have some fun.
Rather than tell you the story, I thought it would be more fun to role-play it and see what happened. Our story begins with a very rich businessperson. (Pick the child you want and ask them to stand with you.) One day, the rich businessperson called one of his servants to come and see him. (Pick the child you want to be the first servant, give them the IOU for $1,000, and ask them to stand next to the businessperson.) When the businessperson saw the servant, he said, “You owe me one thousand dollars and you haven’t paid me!” The servant said, “Yes, I know.” The businessperson said, “I am going to call the police and have them throw you in jail until you pay me!” The servant said, “I am really sorry, but I promise I will pay you if you will please just give me a bit more time. My family has been very sick, and I have been taking care of them and haven’t been able to pay you yet. Please give me more time to pay you.”
The businessperson looked at the servant and said, “Give me the bill that you owe me.” The servant handed him the paper. (Have the servant give them the paper.) The businessperson held the paper in the air and tore it in pieces. “I forgive the debt. You don’t owe me anything. Take care of your family.” (Have the businessperson tear up the paper.) The servant was very happy, said thank you, and the businessperson left. (Have the businessperson sit down.)
A few minutes later another servant came by. (Select the second servant, give them the IOU for $1.00, and have them walk to the first servant.) This servant had borrowed money from the first servant and hadn’t paid him back yet like he was supposed to. The first servant said, “Hey, you owe me a dollar and you haven’t paid me yet!” The second servant said, “Yes, I know.” The first servant said, “I am going to call the police and have them throw you in jail until you pay me!” The second servant said, “I am really sorry, but I promise I will pay you if you will please just give me a bit more time. My family has been very sick, and I have been taking care of them and haven’t been able to pay you yet. Please give me more time to pay you.”
The first servant looked at the servant and said, “Give me the bill that you owe me.” (Have the second servant hand him the IOU.) The first servant held the paper in the air and said, “Why should I give you more time? You promised to pay me this money and haven’t done it.” And the first servant called the police. (Select your police officer(s) and have them stand.) He showed the paper to the police and told them to take the second servant away and throw him in jail until he paid the dollar he owned. (Have the police escort the second away where they sit down.)
The next day, the businessperson saw the first servant. (Have the businessperson stand next to the servant.) When he saw the servant, the businessperson said, “Hey, I just heard what you did. You begged me to help you when you owed me a thousand dollars and I forgave you and tore up your bill. Then someone asked you to help them because they owed you one dollar and instead of forgiving them, you had them thrown in prison until they could pay you. You should have forgiven him like I forgave you. You were just being wicked and mean.” Then the businessperson called the police and had the wicked servant thrown in jail until he could pay the full one thousand dollars he owed. (Have the police stand and take the servant away and then have everyone sit back down.)
That’s our story. What did you think of it? (Let them respond.)
When Jesus told his friends that story, one of them said they had a question. He asked, “I understand that God wants us to forgive others. But what if we forgive someone and then they do something to us again? Do we forgive them again? How many times are we supposed to forgive someone? Seven times?” Jesus looked at them and said, “No, don’t forgive them seven times. Forgive them seventy times seven times.”
Back then, saying you should forgive someone seventy times seven times is like us saying we should forgive someone a gazillion times. God doesn’t count how many times we are forgiven, so we shouldn’t count how many times we forgive others. If God forgives us over and over and over, we should forgive each other over and over and over, too. Jesus’ story helps us remember that God wants us to take care of each other, and never stop caring for each other.
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
You will also want to create two IOU certificates. I printed each one on 8 ½ x 11-inch paper, so they were large enough to see. In bold print, one IOU says $1,000, and the other says $1.00.
You do not need to pick and prepare the children ahead of time, but you might have specific children in mind for the roles. You could also just ask for volunteers for the roles if you believe your children can handle that. Also, while the usual assumption is that all people in the story are male, you can use boys or girls in the roles to tell the story if you like.
For the roles, you can either just read what the characters say.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Let’s have some fun.
Rather than tell you the story, I thought it would be more fun to role-play it and see what happened. Our story begins with a very rich businessperson. (Pick the child you want and ask them to stand with you.) One day, the rich businessperson called one of his servants to come and see him. (Pick the child you want to be the first servant, give them the IOU for $1,000, and ask them to stand next to the businessperson.) When the businessperson saw the servant, he said, “You owe me one thousand dollars and you haven’t paid me!” The servant said, “Yes, I know.” The businessperson said, “I am going to call the police and have them throw you in jail until you pay me!” The servant said, “I am really sorry, but I promise I will pay you if you will please just give me a bit more time. My family has been very sick, and I have been taking care of them and haven’t been able to pay you yet. Please give me more time to pay you.”
The businessperson looked at the servant and said, “Give me the bill that you owe me.” The servant handed him the paper. (Have the servant give them the paper.) The businessperson held the paper in the air and tore it in pieces. “I forgive the debt. You don’t owe me anything. Take care of your family.” (Have the businessperson tear up the paper.) The servant was very happy, said thank you, and the businessperson left. (Have the businessperson sit down.)
A few minutes later another servant came by. (Select the second servant, give them the IOU for $1.00, and have them walk to the first servant.) This servant had borrowed money from the first servant and hadn’t paid him back yet like he was supposed to. The first servant said, “Hey, you owe me a dollar and you haven’t paid me yet!” The second servant said, “Yes, I know.” The first servant said, “I am going to call the police and have them throw you in jail until you pay me!” The second servant said, “I am really sorry, but I promise I will pay you if you will please just give me a bit more time. My family has been very sick, and I have been taking care of them and haven’t been able to pay you yet. Please give me more time to pay you.”
The first servant looked at the servant and said, “Give me the bill that you owe me.” (Have the second servant hand him the IOU.) The first servant held the paper in the air and said, “Why should I give you more time? You promised to pay me this money and haven’t done it.” And the first servant called the police. (Select your police officer(s) and have them stand.) He showed the paper to the police and told them to take the second servant away and throw him in jail until he paid the dollar he owned. (Have the police escort the second away where they sit down.)
The next day, the businessperson saw the first servant. (Have the businessperson stand next to the servant.) When he saw the servant, the businessperson said, “Hey, I just heard what you did. You begged me to help you when you owed me a thousand dollars and I forgave you and tore up your bill. Then someone asked you to help them because they owed you one dollar and instead of forgiving them, you had them thrown in prison until they could pay you. You should have forgiven him like I forgave you. You were just being wicked and mean.” Then the businessperson called the police and had the wicked servant thrown in jail until he could pay the full one thousand dollars he owed. (Have the police stand and take the servant away and then have everyone sit back down.)
That’s our story. What did you think of it? (Let them respond.)
When Jesus told his friends that story, one of them said they had a question. He asked, “I understand that God wants us to forgive others. But what if we forgive someone and then they do something to us again? Do we forgive them again? How many times are we supposed to forgive someone? Seven times?” Jesus looked at them and said, “No, don’t forgive them seven times. Forgive them seventy times seven times.”
Back then, saying you should forgive someone seventy times seven times is like us saying we should forgive someone a gazillion times. God doesn’t count how many times we are forgiven, so we shouldn’t count how many times we forgive others. If God forgives us over and over and over, we should forgive each other over and over and over, too. Jesus’ story helps us remember that God wants us to take care of each other, and never stop caring for each other.
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
