Hurt or angry? There’s a path to lightheartedness

Second graders tattle. It’s what they do.

After many years of teaching in Catholic schools, there came a point in the school year where I’d heard enough. It was time for The Lesson—Jesus’ parable of “The Unforgiving Servant.”

To make it more real to young students, we acted it out together. It went something like this:

“There was once a king who had a servant ... Okay! So, I need someone to act the part of the king!”

Several hands shot up. I selected one student to stand before the class.

“Now we need a servant. The servant is actually the star of the show,” I explained as another student was chosen to come upfront.

“This servant owed the king 1,000 talents. For us today, that’s over $1,000 dollars!” I explained. The students nodded their heads as one student noted, “That’s a lot of money!”

“Yes it is!” I said.

“The king called for his servant and said ‘Hey! Pay me back the money you owe me, or I’m throwing you in jail!’”

The king pointed his finger angrily at the servant, which caused a few giggles.

“The servant fell to his knees and pleaded with the king, ‘Please, king, please! Don’t throw me in jail! I’ll pay back every cent, I promise!’”

Then, the servant fell to the floor pretending to plead for his life, as the kids laughed loudly.

“The king’s heart was touched. He looked at his servant and said, ‘I forgive you your debt. You are free!’

“The servant jumped for joy and proclaimed ‘The king has forgiven me!’”

At this point, the servant jumped up, and waving his hands began yelling, “I’m free! Whoo! Hoo!”

The students laughed even louder.

“But then, the servant met up with a friend. This friend owed the servant twenty talents. He scolded his friend saying, ‘Hey! You owe me money! Pay it back, or I’m having you thrown in jail!’

“The servant’s friend pleaded, saying, ‘I’ll pay back every cent, I promise!’ But the servant hardened his heart, and did not forgive his friend, and had him thrown in jail.”

Two student jailers took the friend to a jail cell behind a classroom desk amid hoots of laughter.

“The king heard about what his servant had done. He called for the servant and said, ‘You had your friend thrown into jail because she owed you twenty talents, but I forgave you 1,000 talents! Because you could not forgive as I forgave you, I’m throwing you in jail forever!’”

The kids laughed as before, but there was an unsettled feeling coming from them. This couldn’t really be the end of the story, could it? But it was.

I asked them, “What might’ve happened if the Unforgiving Servant forgave his friend?”

“Let’s try it!” one student exclaimed.

Acting it out again, every student took a turn, repeating the words, “You owe me! But I forgive you!”

Soon, every child was standing as a feeling of lightness and friendship enveloped our classroom.

Did our play bring about world peace? Not even close. Did it prevent hard feelings from happening in our classroom? No.

But when hurt and anger did erupt again, it gave us a pathway back to that place where we could once again forgive and know lightness of heart.