To show another example, we watched a clip from the movie Invictus, where Nelson Mandela's lead bodyguard Jason is not happy over his boss's choice of much needed new "white" bodyguards. You see, during Apartheid, many racist white men slaughtered thousands of black South Africans. Jason was not about to accept white men into his circle of bodyguards charged with protecting President Mandela. Mandela explained to his upset head of the security that, "reconciliation starts here.....forgiveness starts here, too." Similar to the prodigal son's father, President Mandela knew the value of forgiveness and reconciliation. We talked about how our Savior Jesus knows the value of them as well, better than anyone else, and He died to earn them for us.
We applied what we talked about to ourselves then, asking if there had ever been a time we were forced to work with or make peace with someone we couldn't stand and what happened. Did we feel we were treated unfairly or the other person was treated too fairly? We discussed whether or not we were ever in a situation where we had to set the example and forgive someone for a wrong and what happened. Was there complete forgiveness and reconciliation in those relationships?
We compared the South African situation to that of America and talked about a time in U.S. history (9-1-1) when a specific group of people was responsible for bringing misery or harm to fellow countrymen and the reaction from the Americans who felt wronged. We compared those reactions to the reaction of the prodigal's brother. We talked about times in our lives when we felt this way about others as well, as though they didn't deserve forgiveness or acceptance because of the wrongs they had previously committed.
We closed discussing which brother was the better role model, if either. We also talked about how the father's attitude towards his rebellious son was similar to Jesus' attitude towards His rebellious children.
