My children’s message for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost (September 13, 2026) on Matthew 18:21-35.
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I’m so glad you are here today! And I’d like to talk about some of the things Jesus is going to say today. He’s going to talk about forgiveness – and invite us into a way of life that forgives people all the time. Forgiveness matters to us in the church since so much of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is tied to God’s forgiveness of us. And forgiveness also matters in how we care for each other because forgiving one another is a hallmark of love, mercy, and compassion. Forgiveness is never easy and forgiveness is complicated and costly. So I wonder – what do you think forgiveness is?
Accept answers.
It’s okay to not know – or to be confused because I struggle defining forgiveness too. I know when I want it to show up in my life – when I make a mistake or hurt someone accidentally – I might hope they forgive me since it hurts to know that someone might not like me. We might feel bad about what we did and we hope that when someone forgives us – we can go back and act like it never happened so all the pain, suffering, misunderstanding, and stuff just goes away. It’s like this toy that I have which is a pretend tablet. It has a little stylus – you can then color and draw and make whatever picture you want. Then, if you want, you can hit this button and it all goes away. And that’s what we want forgiveness to be like. We mess up. Someone forgives us. And we can act like nothing happened.
But that’s really hard to do if we’re the ones who are asked to forgive. What does it mean that we act like we weren’t hurt or that we still don’t feel pain? Why does it seem as if forgiveness gets other people off the hook so their life doesn’t change? Maybe I can’t act as if nothing happened – or maybe the kind of hurt I received was the one no one is ever supposed to feel. Why do I have to wipe the slate clean – when the person who hurt me might not do the same for me?
Forgiveness is hard. And I struggle coming up with an easy definition to follow. But the kind of forgiveness Jesus asks us to share is the same kind of forgiveness God offers us. It’s a forgiveness that doesn’t forget nor does it act as if accountability and helping each other and change isn’t part of the next steps. Forgiveness isn’t meant to be a return to how things were before but a kind of foundation for a different kind of tomorrow where love, rather than pain; help rather than competition; listening rather than talking over; support rather than forcing people to be by themselves – is who we are. Forgiveness begins to live into that new future when the person needing forgiveness asks – and gets to the point where they realize tomorrow will be different and that they might not be forgiven. And the person offering forgiveness chooses to announce it but doesn’t assume life will remain the same. Instead, forgiveness is about admitting the hurt of yesterday and today while working for a different kind of tomorrow. And it’s the same kind of forgiveness God offers us everyday by recognizing our sins but not letting Sin ever be the end of our story.