Get ready
Fill the big jar with as many coins as you can. Keep a few single coins in your pocket. Choose two volunteers: the King's servant and the friend.
Teach it
Read Matthew 18:21-22 first.
"Peter asked Jesus, 'How many times do I have to forgive someone? Seven times?' Peter thought seven was very generous. Jesus said: not seven times, but seventy times seven. Then he told a story."
Give the big jar to your first volunteer.
"This servant owed the king ten thousand talents. That's more money than he could earn if he worked every single day for hundreds of years. He begged the king for more time. And the king did something amazing: he forgave the whole debt."
Take the jar back with a big flourish: "Forgiven! All of it!"
Now hand your second volunteer two or three coins.
"That same servant walked outside and found a friend who owed him a hundred denarii, about a hundred days' pay. That's real money, but compared to the jar, it's tiny."
Have the first volunteer (gently, playfully) demand the coins back.
"The friend begged for more time, the same way the servant had begged the king. But the servant refused, and had his friend thrown in prison until he paid."
Pause and ask: "What do you think of that?"
Did you know?
In Jesus's time, a denarius was a silver coin, and a day's work in a vineyard could be paid with one (Matthew 20:2). A talent was a huge amount of silver, usually reckoned at around 6,000 denarii. That's roughly twenty years of work for one talent. The servant owed ten thousand of them.
Jesus's listeners would have gasped at that number. It's like saying someone owed a billion dollars.
The big turn
Point to the jar.
"Jesus says this is us. Every wrong thing we've done is a debt we could never pay back. And God, like the king, has forgiven it all through Jesus."
Point to the few coins.
"When someone wrongs us, it's real and it hurts. But next to what we've been forgiven, it's a handful of coins. That's why we forgive."
Read Ephesians 4:32: "And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you."
Talk about it
- Why was it wrong for the servant to demand the coins back?
- Does forgiving someone mean what they did was okay? (No. It means we let God handle it and don't hold it against them.)
- Is there someone you find it hard to forgive?
- How does remembering the big jar help us forgive?
Pray together
"God, thank you for forgiving us more than we could ever pay back. When someone hurts us, help us forgive them the way you forgave us. Amen."
Take it further
- Elementary: Give each child a coin to keep in their pocket all week as a reminder to forgive.
- Preteen: Read the end of the parable (Matthew 18:32-35) together. Why does Jesus end with such a serious warning?
Questions teachers ask
What is the parable of the unforgiving servant about?
A king forgives a servant an enormous debt he could never repay. That same servant then refuses to forgive a friend who owes him a small amount. Jesus told it to show that people who have been forgiven by God should forgive others.
How much was ten thousand talents?
A talent was a huge weight of silver, usually reckoned at about 6,000 denarii, and a denarius is often given as a day's pay for a worker. Ten thousand talents was far more than anyone could earn in many lifetimes. That's the point.
Topics: Forgiveness
