Lesson video

Hello.

My name's Ms. Rivers, and I'm looking forward to learning with you today.

I'm glad you chose this lesson.

We're going to have a good time working together.

So let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson.

The lesson is from the unit, Stories: How Do Different People Find Deeper Meanings? This lesson is called the Parable of the Lost Son: Hidden Meanings.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain the deeper meanings of the Parable of the Lost Son.

You might know the Parable of the Lost Son.

It is one of the stories told by Jesus.

A parable is a story with a deeper meaning, and today's learning is about the deeper meaning that Christians might find in the Parable of the Lost Son.

The keywords we'll be using today are father.

That's another word for dad.

Christians often speak of God as a father.

Equal.

That means treating everyone the same.

And envious.

That means feeling cross with someone because they have something that you don't have.

Some of these words might be new for you, so let's practise saying them together.

I'll say the word, and then you say it back to me.

Father.

Equal.

Envious.

We'll be using these keywords in the lesson, so listen out for them and see if you can spot them.

In the first part of the lesson, we'll be exploring what Christians believe the Parable of the Lost Son says about God.

What does the parable say about God? Jesus told lots of parables.

Do you remember that parables are stories with a deeper or hidden meaning? And lots of Jesus's parables can be found in the Bible.

Christians spend a lot of time thinking about the meaning of the parables, and they want to work out those deeper meanings and what it means for them.

So when we read Jesus's parables, we find out something about what's important to Christians.

David is a Christian.

He has a Christian worldview.

And when he reads the Parable of the Lost Son, it gives him some ideas about what God is like.

David says, "I like to read "the Parable of the Lost Son in my Bible.

"It reminds me that God loves me.

"God is like the kind and caring father "who keeps looking out for his son "even though he left home and went far away." Did you spot that keyword, father, in what David was saying? The idea of a father is really important in the story of the lost son.

So keep listening out for that keyword.

So it's time to have a quick check to see what we've learned so far.

And this one is true or false, so get your thumbs ready to show me true or false.

The Parable of the Lost Son reminds Christians that God is kind and loving.

Is that true or is it false? Have a think.

That's right, it's true.

The Parable of the Lost Son reminds Christians that God is kind and loving, like the good father in the story.

Well done if you got that right.

In the Parable of the Lost Son, one of the really important deeper meanings for Christians is that the father in the story represents God.

So when Christians read the story, they understand a little bit more about what God is like depending on how the father behaves in the story.

Have a look at the picture from the parable.

Can you see what the father is doing in this part of the story? Pause the video and have a think or maybe talk to the person next to you about what's happening in this picture.

I wonder what ideas you thought about.

Can you see in the picture that the father is waiting to give the younger son a big hug and welcome him home? He's welcoming him even though the younger son made a big mistake by leaving home and spending all the money.

The father forgives the younger son because he loves him, and even though he's made a mistake, he wants him to come back home.

So it's time for another quick check.

Here's a question for you.

Who represents God in the Parable of the Lost Son? Is it A, the older brother, B, the younger son, or C, the father? Pause the video while you have a think about your answer.

That's right, the answer is C, the father.

The father in the story represents God.

Jun has heard the Parable of the Lost Son, and he's thinking about what it means and trying to find some deeper meanings in the story.

He says, "I'm surprised that the father "forgave the younger son and welcomed him home.

"The younger son made a choice to leave home "and waste all the money." Izzy's thinking about the story too, and she has some different ideas from Jun.

She says, "I'm not surprised "that the father forgave the younger son.

"He loves him and wants him home "even though he made a mistake." I wonder what you think about these ideas.

Remember that Jun was surprised that the father forgave the son because the son had made a choice to spend all the money and leave home.

And Izzy isn't surprised because she thinks the father would want to forgive his son and would want him home.

Do you agree with Jun or do you agree with Izzy? Think about your ideas.

Maybe talk to someone near you.

Pause the video while you have a think.

I wonder what you thought about.

Were you surprised that the father was forgiving, or were you not surprised like Izzy because you thought the father should forgive his son? Fiona is a Christian.

She has a Christian worldview.

And the Parable of the Lost Son helps Fiona to understand more about God.

She says, "The Parable of the Lost Son "teaches me that God is like a good father "who loves and forgives his children "even when they make big mistakes." So can you see that Fiona has the idea that the story of the lost son is helping her to understand a little bit more about what God is like? And she thinks God is like a good father.

Spot that keyword again, father.

It'll keep coming back through this lesson.

David is also thinking about the Parable of the Lost Son, and the parable helps him to think about how he lives his life.

He says, "Sometimes I make mistakes and do the wrong thing.

"I know that I can say sorry to God.

"He will forgive me, "just as the father in the parable forgave his younger son." So David is learning something about what God is like by reading the story.

So here's a quick check to see what we've learned so far.

Can you help Jun to finish his sentence? His sentence says, "The Parable of the Lost Son "teaches Christians that God.

." Them.

I wonder what word will go best in that gap.

Is it A, forgives, B, teaches, or C, leaves? Pause the video and think about your answer.

That's right.

The answer is A, forgives.

The Parable of the Lost Son teaches Christians that God forgives them.

Well done if you got the right answer.

So now it's your turn to do some thinking about the deeper meanings of the Parable of the Lost Son.

Jun and Izzy and Jacob have been talking about the parable and thinking about what it means.

Jun says, "God loves everyone equally, "even when they make mistakes." Izzy says, "God is like a kind and loving father." Jacob says, "God does not forgive people "who waste their money on bad things." All of these children have been thinking about what the parable teaches Christians about God, but two of them have understood what the parable teaches and one of them hasn't.

I'd like you to explain which two children have understood the deeper meaning of the parable and explain why.

So pause the video while you do your thinking and writing.

So well done for working hard and doing some good thinking.

I wonder if you worked out which two children had understood the deeper meaning of the parable.

Did you say that Izzy and Jun were the ones who had understood and explained Christian beliefs about God? Well done if you did.

And maybe you might have said something like this to explain why they got it right.

Christians believe God is like a kind father who loves everyone equally.

They believe God forgives people even when they make mistakes.

Maybe you used some of those words or maybe you chose some different words, but well done for working so hard.

In the second part of the lesson, we're going to be exploring some of the different meanings that different Christians might find in this story.

What different meanings might Christians find? The parable is often called the Parable of the Lost Son, but really the story is about a father with two sons, and both the sons are important to the story.

Sometimes people only remember the first part of the story, and they only tell that bit.

But really both the sons are important to the story, and in the next part of the lesson we're going to especially be thinking about the older son who sometimes gets forgotten when people tell this story.

So we know the part of the story where the younger son leaves home and wastes all his money, he spends it all, and then he ends up having to find a job feeding pigs.

But all the time the younger son was away, the older son has stayed at home and carried on working hard on the farm and helping his father.

I wonder how the older son might have felt knowing that the younger son had left home and was having lots of fun while the older son was busy working every day.

So the story of the lost son doesn't end when the younger son returns home and the father gives a party to welcome him back.

There is more to the story.

You can see, if you look carefully, you can see the older son looking through the window.

He's come back from a really busy day on the farm working hard.

I wonder how he's feeling looking through the window and seeing his father and his younger brother celebrating and having a party.

Just have a think for a minute about how the older brother might be feeling.

I wonder how you would feel if you were the older brother.

I wonder what ideas you thought about.

So Jun and Izzy have been talking about the older brother and how he might be feeling.

Jun says, "I think the older brother is upset.

"He always makes the right choices, "but the father never gave him a party.

"I feel upset when people don't notice me "doing the right thing." I wonder if you've ever felt like Jun, where you know you're doing the right thing, but it feels like nobody has noticed.

And Izzy has a different idea.

She says, "I think the older brother is cross, "but really he should be happy "to see his brother home safely.

"Families should forgive each other." I wonder if you agree with Izzy.

Or do you agree with Jun? Or do you have a different idea about the older brother in the story? The good thing about parables is that you can think and use your imagination, and it's good to have different ideas about the meaning of the story.

So it's time for another quick check, and this one is another true or false question.

The Parable of the Lost Son is a story about a father and his son.

Is that true or false? Have a think for a moment.

That's right, the answer is false.

Parable of the Lost Son is about a father with two sons, not just one.

Well done if you got that one right.

So let's think a bit more about the story and especially about how the father behaves in the story.

Remember that, when Christians read this story, they believe the father represents God.

So it helps them to understand something about God when they read it.

So look at this picture.

This is where the father has gone out of the house to talk to his older son.

He's telling him not to be envious of his younger brother.

Why do you think the older brother is envious of his younger brother? Remember that envious is when you feel cross that somebody else has got something that you would like to have.

Pause the video and think for a moment about why the older brother is envious.

I wonder what you thought about.

Did you think the older brother might be envious because the younger brother was having fun with the money? Or maybe he was envious because he was having to work so hard on the farm while the younger brother had left home and left him with all the hard work.

Or maybe you had some different ideas.

So the older son is feeling really cross with his father.

Can you see he's got his arms folded, and he's looking very angry, isn't he? He thinks it's not fair to have a party for the younger son.

He thinks that seems like a reward for the younger son's mistakes.

Maybe that's another reason why he was envious, because the younger son got to have a party and he'd never been able to have a party with his friends.

The older son is envious because the younger brother left home and had lots of fun spending the money while he had to carry on working hard on the farm.

So here's a quick check.

Here's a question for you.

Why is the older son envious? And this time you have to pick two reasons.

So is it, A, the father had a party for the younger son, is it B, the older son always made the right choices, or, C, he had to stay on the farm while the younger son had fun? So have a think for a moment about your answer.

So what did you think? Why is the older son envious? There are the two answers.

He was envious because, A, the father had a party for the younger son and, C, he had to stay on the farm while the younger son had fun.

Well done if you managed to spot two reasons there.

So we're getting towards the end of the story.

So, in this picture, the father is telling the older son that he loves him.

He reminds the older son that the farm and all the money will belong to him one day.

Remember that the younger son had already had his share and he'd spent it all.

He wants the older son to forgive his younger brother because families should be together, and they need to forgive each other sometimes when they get things wrong.

So, at the end of the story, the father is trying to persuade the older son to come inside the house and join the party.

I wonder if he'll manage to do that.

The father treats both his sons equally.

He goes outside the house for both of them.

He was out waiting by the roadside for the younger son to come home, and now he's gone out of the house again to persuade the older son to come in.

And in the Bible story, we never find out the end of the story.

We never know what the older son decides to do.

So Jun and Izzy are having a chat and wondering about what the older brother will do.

Jun says, "I think the older son will go and join the party.

"He knows that the father loves both sons equally, "and he should not be envious of his younger brother." Can you see that Jun has used some of our keywords there today? He's used father and equally and envious.

Well done if you spotted those keywords.

Izzy doesn't agree with Jun.

She says, "I think the older son will stay outside "because he is so cross with his brother "for wasting all the money and making their father sad." What do you think will happen at the end of the story? Pause the video and have a think or maybe talk to someone near you and decide how you think the story will end.

So nobody knows the end of the story, but it's good to think of some ideas about how we'd like it to finish.

But the important thing is that the story is meaningful for Christians, and David is thinking especially about what the Parable of the Lost Son means to him because he's a Christian.

And David says this.

"I became a Christian a few years ago.

"I made some bad choices in my life.

"I was happy when I learned "that God forgave me and welcomed me, "just like the father forgave the younger son "and welcomed him home." So David has read this story, and it's made him think about choices that he's made in his own life.

Fiona is a Christian, and she's thinking about the story too.

But it's a different part of the story that is especially meaningful for her.

She says, "I have always gone to church, "ever since I was a little girl.

"I still need reminding that God loves me; "just like the father reminded the older brother." So she's thinking especially about the older brother in the story and that conversation that the father had with him.

So here's another quick check to see what we've learned in this lesson.

And this one is true or false again.

All Christians will find exactly the same deeper meaning in a parable.

Is that true or false? Have a think for a moment.

That's right, the answer is false because different Christians might focus on different parts of the story.

The younger son was important to David, the older son was important to Fiona, and they found different deeper meanings in the story.

So well done if you remembered that.

So now it's your turn to do some writing about the Parable of the Lost Son.

I'd like you to pretend that you are the father in the story, and I'd like you to write a party invitation inviting the older son to come and join the party in the house.

See if you can persuade him to come and join in.

You might want to tell him that you love him or remind him that he should be forgiving.

You might have some different ideas, but think about what you could say to persuade him to come in and join the party.

Pause the video while you do your writing.

So well done for working hard.

Here are some ideas you might have used.

I wonder if you've included any of these in your writing.

"Dear son, I love you.

"Thank you for all the work you have done on the farm.

"Remember that it will all belong to you one day.

"Please come to the party.

"We need to show your brother that we love him "and that we are happy that he is home.

"Love from Dad." I wonder if you included any of those ideas in your writing, or maybe you had some different ideas to persuade the older son to come to the party.

Well done for working hard and for doing good thinking.

So we've learned a lot in today's lesson all about The Parable of the Lost Son: Hidden Meanings.

We've learned that, for many Christians, one deeper meaning of the Parable of the Lost Son is that God is like a loving father who welcomes and forgives his children.

And another deeper meaning is that God welcomes everyone back, even when they have made mistakes like the younger son.

The parable also shows that the older son was envious of his brother.

And when we look for deeper meanings in parables, it can help us to understand Christian worldviews better.

Well done for working so hard today.

I've enjoyed working with you, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.