Elementary Level, Block 9—Jesus
Week 84
Jesus—the One Who Forgives
Point to Emphasize: We want to be those who forgive others.
Reference Reading: Matthew 18:21-22; Luke 17:3, 4
Memory Verse: And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another…
(Ephesians 4:32a)
Story Sample
These last few weeks we have been talking about Jesus and what a fine person he was as a man. He was obedient, responsible, and a delight to His Heavenly Father. Today I’d like to tell you, that He was also forgiving. It’s a hard thing to forgive others, isn’t it?
When I was young, I argued with my sisters sometimes. Don’t get me wrong! I loved my sisters, but sometimes we would have arguments. We would get mad at each other and in the end, someone would always say something mean and hurt the other’s feelings. Then, my mom would step in and make us say we were sorry. When that happened, we would have to forgive the one who hurt our feelings, but to tell you the truth, even as I was saying, “I forgive you,” deep in my heart, I was thinking, “I’ll never forgive you, not in a million years!”. Oh, it’s very hard to forgive! [Storyteller, give your example about how hard it is to forgive.]
Jesus was the most forgiving One! One day, a man named Peter came to Jesus with a question. He asked Jesus how many times he should forgive someone. Peter said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). SEVEN TIMES!? Wow! That is a lot, isn’t it? [Write “7” on the board.] Sometimes it’s hard enough to forgive once, let alone seven times. Do you think you could do that? For example, your little sister took your favorite teddy bear from you and then accidentally tore the ear off. Would you forgive her? How about if it happened again? Three times? Four? Five? Six? Seven? I don’t know if I could do that! It’s hard to forgive someone when they keep doing the same thing again and again and again.
But the amazing thing is how Jesus answered Peter when he asked this question. Jesus answered Peter, “I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven” (v. 22). What??!! Seventy times seven? [Write “70 X 7” on the board.] I know you haven’t started learning multiplication yet, but I can do the math for you. 70 X 7 = 490. [Write on the board “= 490”.] Can you imagine forgiving someone that many times? Oh, I don’t know if I could do that!
Now, I don’t think Jesus meant exactly 490 times, but what He was saying to Peter is that we need to keep forgiving and forgiving. This is what Jesus did. He could forgive and forgive and forgive.
Jesus pointed out to Peter how important it was to forgive others. The New Testament is filled with examples of Jesus forgiving others. Every day when He met people, He could easily forgive them, even when they didn’t ask for it. It’s marvelous that He was such a forgiving One. And He told Peter to forgive also. As we grow up, we will have many opportunities when we can forgive others. At those times, we can remember this story and that Jesus said to forgive others again and again and again.