220-Lord I would Follow Thee
Nerd Glasses& pocket full of pens
 Nerd-bully scenario: How many times must I say “It’s
okay. You didn’t mean it.” or “I forgive you”?
 “Based on the 1992 gold standard, 100 pence= $5,000 and 10,000
talents=$3 Billion. 100 pence of forgiveness is what we are expected to
give one another. This is precious little to ask in contrast to the 10,000
talents Christ extends to us. Our debt is astronomical, almost
incomprehensible. Jesus was teaching the eternal scope and profound
gift of His mercy, His forgiveness, and His Atonement for each of us.
The astounding figure was used because it was never intended that
there should be any hope of escape, any light at the end of that dark
debt-ridden tunnel, without the redeeming light of Christ’s
Atonement. It was never intended in this parable that this could be
any sum that man could work himself out of. If a man paid that debt at
the rate of $1000 a day ($365,000 a year), it would take exactly 8,219
years, 2 months, and 4 days. In other words, if the man started on the
afternoon of the day Adam and Eve walked out of the Garden of Eden,
and paid every single day until this day he would still owe $813 million.
And we haven’t billed a cent of interest” (Jeffrey R. Holland, August
2000 CES conference).
“Not only our eternal salvation depends upon our
willingness and capacity to forgive wrongs committed
against us. Our joy and satisfaction in this life, and our
true freedom, depend upon our doing so….
“Even if it appears that another may be deserving of our
resentment or hatred, none of us can afford to pay the
price of resenting or hating, because of what it does to
us….
“God help us rid ourselves of resentment and pettiness
and foolish pride; to love, and to forgive, in order that
we may be friends with ourselves, with others, and with
the Lord” (Marion D. Hanks, New Era, 6/74, p.6).
Pres. Hinckley Forgiveness Turkey story at 11:35
 Lost Sheep (Luke 15:4-7)
 Lost Piece of Silver (Luke 15:8-10)
 Lost [Prodigal] Son (Luke 15:11-32)
Read each of these parables, pausing long enough
between parables to review with a friend the contents
of the parable and its interpretation. After reading all
three, discuss: Why would the Savior tell these three
parables consecutively? What is the difference
between the three lost items? What commonalities
are there in the three parables?
Happily, mingled among the hundreds of thousands of
“recruits” will be precious returnees who, like the
prodigal son, have come to their senses. Filled with
tender resolve, they, too, need a warm welcome. Let us
emulate the father of the prodigal son, who ran to greet
his son while the son was still a great distance away,
rather than waiting passively and then skeptically asking
the son if he had merely come home to pick up his
things! (Neal A. Maxwell, “The Net Gathers of Every
Kind,” Ensign, Nov 1980, 14)
 This son is not so much angry that the other has come home as he is
angry that his parents are so happy about it. Feeling unappreciated and
perhaps more than a little self-pity, this dutiful son—and he is
wonderfully dutiful—forgets for a moment that he has never had to
know filth or despair, fear or self-loathing. He forgets for a moment
that every calf on the ranch is already his and so are all the robes in the
closet and every ring in the drawer. He forgets for a moment that his
faithfulness has been and always will be rewarded.
 No, he who has virtually everything, and who has in his hardworking,
wonderful way earned it, lacks the one thing that might make him the
complete man of the Lord he nearly is. He has yet to come to the
compassion and mercy, the charitable breadth of vision to see that this
is not a rival returning. It is his brother. As his father pled with him to
see, it is one who was dead and now is alive. It is one who was lost and
now is found.(Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Other Prodigal,” Ensign, May
2002, 62)