Encounter Christianity: In Questions about Jesus lesson plan 6

Lesson six - The parable of the prodigal son (pages 12-13)

Aims for the book

To introduce pupils to key events from the life of Jesus and the way in which these raise questions about the person of Jesus.
To enable pupils to understand the importance of these events at the time of Jesus.
To enable pupils to reflect on the relevance of these events for Christians today.
To encourage pupils to raise questions about these events in the light of their own experience.

Learning objectives

Pupils will:

develop empathy with different characters in the story of the Prodigal Son;
draw on their own experiences and relate these to this parable;
express their views clearly in oral and symbolic forms.

Text from the book

Try to imagine yourself in this story. Who do you side with? Who is the most interesting character?

A man had two sons. One asked for his share of his father’s money. He went off and spent it all at once. He was then so poor, he had to live with the pigs and eat their food. He decided to go home and ask for forgiveness. His father welcomed him with open arms and prepared a great feast. His brother was jealous. He could not understand why their father was so happy that his lost son had come home.

Background

Jesus used parables to teach – but to teach what? Is it: the forgiveness of the father; the penitence and humility of the son; the resentfulness of the brother; the futility of riches; money can’t buy friendship? Try not to worry about the meaning and explore some of the feelings pupils imagine the story’s character might have had. Stories are always interpreted in different ways in different times and places. The sculptor, Solomon Saprid, captures the anguish of the returning son.

Ways of using the picture

Ask the pupils which character attracts them most/least.
Which character do the pupils have most sympathy with, and why?
Can the pupils associate themselves with any character in the story? Can they see something of themselves in every character?

Bible reference

Luke 15.11-32

Key words

Forgiving
Lost
Redemption found
Greed
Jealous
Forgiveness
Parable
Welcome
Family
Share
Relationship

Activity

You will need

Modelling material, such as clay, plasticene

To forgive or not to forgive? That is the question.

Pupils could re-enact the story to develop empathy with the characters. Each group could produce a script for a radio play with directions and sound (this will ensure familiarity with the story).

Regroup the pupils so that all the ‘son’ characters are together, all the ‘father’ characters are together and likewise the ‘returning sons’.

Each group could then prepare their case for whether the father in the story should forgive his returning son.

Hold a class debate on the issue using pupils as spokespeople and jury, encouraging all to vote in the end.

Assessment opportunities

Pupils could record their learning by producing their own sculpted image of the character with whom they have most sympathy (in clay or plasticene) and explain reasons for their choice.

Learning outcomes

Pupils will;

have familiarised themselves with the parable of the Prodigal Son and reflected on the role of the different characters in the story;
have debated the actions of the charaters in the story;
have produced figures which represent characters from the story.

Extension work

The pupils could consider times in their own lives when they have had to say sorry and ask for forgiveness.

Web site links

http://www.artchive.com/rembrandt/prodigal.html
Perhaps the most famous of all versions of the Prodigal Son is Rembrandt's. Another more recent version can be found at http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/prodigal.stm . "Return of the Prodigal" by Frank Wesley (India, 20^th century). The color pink, according to Hindu tradition, signifies eternity and eternal power. Wesley used pink to show the father in the parable as God. At the left side, the pink blends into the color of the son's clothing to show that God came into the world.

A beautifully simple version can be found at http://www.rshm.org/share2/ .

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