Here’s a straight-forward readers’ theatre setting of Matthew 18:21-35, one of the suggested scripture passages for September 11, 2011 (Proper 19A).
Readers’ Theatre
(Matthew 18:21-35)
Peter: Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?
Seven times?
Jesus: No, not seven times.
Seventy times seven.
To understand the Kingdom of Heaven,
imagine this.
Once there was a king who decided to settle accounts
with servants who had borrowed money from him.
One of the servants owed a huge amount of money—
millions of dollars.
There was no way he could repay the money,
so the King ordered that he be sold—
together with his wife, his children and everything he owed—
in order to repay the debt.
But when the man heard the King’s judgment
he fell to his knees and begged for mercy.
Slave: Have mercy on me!
Be patient, and I will pay back everything I owe you.
Jesus: The King was moved by his servant’s pleas.
He took pity on the man,
releasing him and forgiving his debt.
But when the man left the King,
he went to a friend of his who owed him a few thousand dollars.
He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
The friend fell to his knees and begged for mercy.
Friend: Have mercy on me!
Be patient, and I will pay back everything I owe you.
Jesus: But his friend wouldn’t hear of it.
He had the man arrested and put in prison
until the debt could be paid in full.
When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset.
They went to the King and told him what had happened.
Then the King called in the man he had forgiven and said:
King: You evil servant!
I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.
Shouldn’t you have shown the same mercy
to a friend who was in your debt?
Jesus: Then the angry King sent the man to prison to be tortured
until he had paid back everything he owed.
And that is what my heavenly Father will do to you
if you refused to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.
For more worship resources related to this text, or other texts for September 11, 2011 (the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost), click on Proper 19A in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page.
For other readers’ theatre settings of scripture, click on Readers’ theatre in the list of “Labels” at the right.
