In the Bible we hear stories of many people. These people are just like us, they eat and sleep, go to school and work. God has a plan for each of them, and in hearing the stories we learn that God’s plan is for each of us too.
Parents, read to your children Matthew 18:21 from a Bible or Children’s Bible.
Reflection Questions to ask your child:
• I wonder what your favorite part of the story was?
• I wonder what you might have questions about after hearing the story?
• I wonder who you think the King might be in this story?
• I wonder how the servant felt when he was forgiven his debt?
• I wonder how the servant felt when he was caught not forgiving another person's debt?
• I wonder what you think this might mean for God’s forgiveness for us?
Jesus was a great storyteller. The story we heard today is what we call a parable. A parable is a short story that teaches us something about something very important. Today, our parable is about forgiveness. Peter asked Jesus how many times you are supposed to forgive someone. Why do you think he asked this?
Peter wondered if seven times was enough to forgive someone, and Jesus made it very clear that it was not. He told Peter that you should forgive 77 times. This was a way for Jesus to say that we should forgive someone over and over and over again, that there wasn’t a limit to how many times we should forgive. (Not that we should keep a chart with each person’s name and stop forgiving them when they get to 78.)
When we forgive someone, there is a weight lifted from us and from the person we forgave. That is one of the reasons that Jesus wanted us to forgive, so we can more easily love one another. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand.
