(adapted from “The Lord’s Prayer: An Illustrated Curriculum” from Illustrated Children’s Ministry, 2019. Used with permission.)
Think and Learn
This is our fifth session in our lesson on the Lord’s prayer. Many churches use different versions of the line, “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Some say “sins” and some say “debts”. In Matthew’s Gospel, this line is, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Throughout the book of Matthew, the words “debts” and “sins” were often used to mean the same thing. To the original listeners, sin meant the breaking of relationship or connection.
Money and debts are one of the biggest ways to hurt each other. Because of the way the world works, having a lot of money means having a lot of power. When we pray to “forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors,” we are praying for a world where people aren’t divided, especially by money.
A well known parable about debt and forgiveness is the story of the Prodigal Son. A father has two sons. The younger one of them asks for his inheritance early, and moves out. The son then wastes all the money he was given and is left poor and hungry. The son decides to return home to apologize to his father and ask to be hired to work on his father’s farm. The father, instead of being angry, is so happy to see his son again that he throws a party for his son who has been restored to the family.
In this parable, forgiveness is about restoration. It heals and it puts people in harmony. Because we belong to each other and to God, we owe one another our commitment and collaboration in making a just world where everyone can flourish. For that to happen, we will need to have compassion for ourselves and each other the way the father and the younger son in the parable did.
Wonder
Do you remember a time when someone owed you something? Or when you owed someone else something? How did it feel?
What did you like about the parable of the Prodigal Son?
Have you ever forgiven someone for something? Have you ever been forgiven? How did it feel?
Do
This week's colouring page shows the party the father throws for his son. It seems to be missing things through. Draw what you think the party is missing: people, food, decorations, anything else. Then, colour the rest of the page.
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