Take some time at dinner one night this week to read this fun fact and then discuss some of the questions.
Did you know...
…that the Greek word translated in this week's teaching from Jesus as forgive actually has a much more literal meaning? Sometimes words are translated from the original Greek literally and sometimes they are translated into English words that best grasp the general feeling of the Greek word, as not all Greek words have a direct translation into English.
In this week's gospel, Jesus is teaching in his Sermon on the Plain about forgiveness, telling those assembled before him to "Forgive, and you will be forgiven." The word we translate as forgive is the Greek word ἀπολύω (pronounced apo-loo-oh), which literally means "to let go" or "to send away" or "to release." The writer of Luke's gospel used this word that means "to release" to sum up what Jesus meant when he taught people to forgive.
Questions for Discussion:
1) What do you think it means to forgive someone?
2) When was a time that someone forgave you? When was a time that you forgave someone?
3) What did it feel like to forgive? What did it feel like to be forgiven?