Children’s Sermon

Matthew 18:21-35

Be Ready to Forgive

By Lois Parker Edstrom

OBJECTS SUGGESTED: Baseball and bat

Imagine you are the person in this pretend story. You have taken your bat and ball outside, gathered some friends together, and everyone is having fun playing baseball. Then, you are up to bat, you connect with the ball – a good hit and it goes right through the neighbor’s big picture window. It breaks a lamp in the living room and smashes into a priceless work of art hanging on the wall. Wow, you are in trouble and it looks as if you will be working a long time to pay for all the damage.

How would you feel if the neighbor said to you, “Don’t worry, it was an accident. I understand and forgive you. I’ll take care of getting everything repaired and replaced.”

It seems as if you would feel relieved and grateful.

Now, what if, when you came back from the neighbor’s house, your friends told you that while you were gone one of the kids hit your baseball into the lake – the ball is gone and furthermore, with that hit, he broke your bat. How would you feel about the kid that destroyed your bat and ball? Could you be as forgiving as the neighbor was to you?

Jesus tells us that we should always be ready and willing to forgive, just as Jesus has forgiven us. We all make mistakes and do things that are hurtful to others – we are forgiven again and again. Jesus tells us that we must we willing to forgive others as we have been forgiven, over and over and over again – as many times as is needed.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible