Bible Study – Forgiveness
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
In this season after Pentecost, we hear stories of Jesus’ ministry in the world and our call to engage in that mission. This season is also known as Ordinary Time coming from the word “ordinal” which means counted time. This time is not ordinary as in common or regular, but it is the time of counted weeks between Pentecost and Advent. The color for this season is green and it is often referred to as the green growing time as we hear stories of what God is calling us to do in the world, we join in that call, and we grow in our faith
This section of Matthew deals with how Jesus calls us to live together in community in this new way which leads to a good number of questions about what this means.
Opening Prayer: Merciful and loving God, as we prepare to hear your word today, we thank you for your continued loving presence and your generous forgiveness. May your words and message touch our hearts, minds and soul that we may live as you have taught us to live. Amen.
Please open your Bibles to Matthew 18:21-35 and read or read the scriptures below.
Matthew 18:21-35
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Questions:
- Who do you think the King might be in this story?
- How do you think the servant felt when he was forgiven his debt?
- How do you think the servant felt when he was caught not forgiving another person’s debt?
- What do you think this might mean for God’s forgiveness for us?
We are to show mercy and forgiveness to others just as God shows us mercy. The king’s willingness to forgive the debt completely at first is an example of how much God is willing to forgive us. It is only when we see the burden of our own debts that we can see the magnitude of God’s mercy in our lives.
Do you know what a grudge is? It is when someone has done something wrong to us or when they have hurt us in some way and we get angry and carry those feelings around with us, they begin to weight us down. They begin to make us slower and more frustrated. When we forgive someone or when someone forgives us, the weight of carrying that around is lifted and we can be free to love that person again.
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.
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click on url)
The Gospel of Matthew 18:21-35 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKrKIVcJAUc
Song: I wanna be like Jesus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7BL8CiZUXg
Activities:
“Forgiveness” Squiggle Chart: Use neon markers to write or trace FORGIVENESS on a piece of construction paper. Then draw “squiggles” circles all around the big word FORGIVENESS. Then color the little squiggle circles with various crayons or markers, while trying to count to 70 or 490. The picture will be colorful and beautiful.
Forgiveness Bracelets: You can use red embroidery thread or red yarn for this activity.
Possible colors for the beads:
- Green is known to be a color associated with forgiveness because it symbolizes growth and new life.
- Blue is also associated with forgiveness because it symbolizes water, baptism and new life.
- Red is the color of love.
Knot Bracelets
- Put three pieces of thread together and knot it at one end.
- Tie a few more knots on the end and then separate the three threads.
- Put a bead on the middle thread and then gather them back together and tie another knot so the bead now has one thread going through it, and one on either side.
- Keep this pattern up and vary the pattern by adding braiding, etc. until the bracelet is long enough.
Braided Bracelets
- Take three pieces of thread.
- Tie them at one end.
- Begin braiding the bracelet until it is long enough to fit on your arm but do not tie it off.
- Add bead to the bracelet and then tie off the end so the beads stay on.
Keep on Forgiving Crossword Puzzle: https://sermons4kids.com/keep_on_forgiving_crossword.htm
Keep on Forgiving Word Match: https://sermons4kids.com/keep_on_forgiving_matching.htm
Keep on Forgiving Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/keep_on_forgiving_decoder.htm
Keep on Forgiving Word Search: https://sermons4kids.com/keep_on_forgiving_wordsearch.htm
Prayer: Gracious God, We thank you for our time together today. Help us to remember to forgive and to love others as you love us. Be with us as we go into the world to do your work. Amen.
