014. Jesus Tells Peter How Many Times to Forgive

ZwPI8cfkJesus Tells Peter How Many Times to Forgive

About 5 minutes, from Matt 18; John 18

Participants (No need to memorize lines; the aim is to relive sacred events, not to perform)
Â Â Peter
Â Â Voice (of Jesus)
Â Â King
Â Â Rich slave
Â Â PrompterÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Shout a brief line, and Echoes repeat it.
Â Â EchoesÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Children and all adults who want to take part. Echoes need no script

Peter	How will I ever forget that shameful night when I denied Jesus? Now he has risen from the dead. How I yearn for him to forgive me!
Prompter & Echoes	Peter is miserable!
Peter	What made me realize how despicably I had behaved? Not a scolding by a judge. Not a sermon. Not Scripture. It was not even words. It was a bird! A stupid bird! A rooster!
Prompter & Echoes	Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Peter	Jesus warned me that I would deny him before the rooster crowed, and I did. So I have given up hope. I return to my fishing boat and take the other disciples out on the Sea of Galilee.
Prompter & Echoes	Hopeless!
Peter	We fish all night and catch nothing. We row back to shore, and there is Jesus, waiting! I fear what he will say to me. But there is no rebuke; he does not shame me, even though Iâ€™d denied him!
Prompter & Echoes	Three times!
Peter	Jesus simply asks if I love him Ì¶ three times! After each time he tells me the same thing.
Prompter & Echoes	Feed my sheep.
Peter	Oh, how those blessed words of assurance echo in my soul!
Prompter & Echoes	Wonderful forgiveness!
Peter	Once I asked Jesus how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him. â€œUp to seven times?â€
Voice	Not up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Prompter & Echoes	490 times!
Peter	Jesus then explained this with a parable.
Voice	The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves, some of whom were very wealthy.
King	Slave, you have grown rich in my service. Now, my accountant says you owe me a huge sum of money. Pay me. Now!
Rich slave	But I do not have the money to repay you, master.
King	Very well. You will be sold, along with your wife, children, and all that you own, to make repayment.
Rich slave	Mercy! Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.
Prompter & Echoes	Have mercy!
King	Well, I do feel a bit of compassion. I forgive your debt. Go in peace.
Voice	But that slave goes out and finds a fellow slave who owes him a much smaller amount of money, and he seizes the poor man and begins to choke him.
Rich slave	Pay back what you owe.
Prompter & Echoes	Pay me!
Peter	The poor debtor falls at the feet of the rich slave and beseeches him for mercy. He begs the man to have patience, and promises to repay his debt.
Rich slave	Get up off the ground and pay me now!
Voice	The wealthy slave has the poor slave thrown into prison until he pays back all that he owed. The poor manâ€™s fellow slaves hear what happened; they are grieved, and report it to the king.
King	Now, this makes me angry. Captain, summon that wicked slave!
Peter	That slave looks pleased with himself, as he comes before the king.
King	You wicked hypocrite! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?
Voice	The king hands him over to be tortured until he pays all that he owes. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
Peter	Oh, what an admonition to forgive!
Prompter & Echoes	A stern warning!