Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 18:1-20
September 6, 2026
The Gospel text today almost seems like a series of bullet points. We have the humility bullet point, then we have the “set a good example” bullet point, then the “how seriously we should take sin” bullet point, and finally the “how to properly forgive sins and what forgiveness of sins actually does not only hear on earth, but also in heaven” bullet point.
Let’s consider each bullet point. The first one has the disciples coming to Jesus, and obviously there’s been some conversation going on amongst them, and it’s now time to inquire of their Lord who would be the greatest in the kingdom eternal.
Now, the force behind this question is the disciples’ very misguided understanding of the kingdom eternal. This is nothing new – not for them and not for us. Christian Zionism and most threads of Premillennial Dispensationalism are built upon the Jewish misunderstanding of the kingdom of God. The disciples saw Jesus as an earthly leader, earthly king, a political leader, and today’s premillennialist ideas tend to put Jesus into the same camp, modified a little bit, but the idea is still there, that Jesus will establish an earthly kingdom based in the new temple in Jerusalem.
Regardless, Jesus has to correct the disciples’ misunderstanding, not only of their wrong view of the kingdom, but of their pursuit of power. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus says, “You ask the wrong question.”
He finds and places a child in their midst. Now this child, in the Greek, is a pedian, sort of like the word pediatrician. This child is very young. And this child, along with all children born of men, is a sinner, and like most children this one probably rebels a little here and there and acts up as we like to say.
But, this young child is more prepared for the kingdom of heaven than even the 12 disciples. Not because the child is perfect or perfectly obedient, but because the child is dependent in every way on mom and dad. For food, the child seeks mom and dad. For clothing, the child seeks mom and dad, for safety and security, mom and dad, for comfort…mom and dad. This young child can’t do any of it without mom and dad. The child can’t hold a job, make a living, build a house, fix the plumbing, drive a car to the grocery store; it’s total dependency. The child is weak, helpless; can’t go it alone.
Jesus says that such childlikeness is greatness in the kingdom of heaven. And in a way, this does stifle out their earthly Messiah ideas, but more importantly, it calls them to humility and to stop worrying about power and authority; stop being childish and instead be childlike.
See, the problem with the disciples, and the problem with us, is that we are sinners. And in God’s kingdom, we do not deserve anything but to be cast out and locked out for all eternity. His kingdom is a kingdom of holiness and righteousness and obedience. If you read the Book of Revelation, it describes the type of kingdom God has established. In His kingdom, there’s no place for the unclean or the vile or the wicked, the impenitent or the prideful. There’s no place for those who seek power and might.
So, to enter God’s kingdom, we must become like children. In other words, we must be humble and acknowledge our dependency on Him. Fact is that every man, woman, child, creature, tree, rock of the soil and wave of the sea is fully dependent on God. But we human beings, riddled with the sin that started in Eden, have a tough, tough time acknowledging it.
Sure, when things are falling apart, when we mess up really, really bad, we will run to the Lord and cry out “save me,” and we might even cry out, “why did you let this happen to me; don’t you love me, Lord?” But when things are going well, when there’s not too much going on shaking us up inside, we sort of forget God is even there. But such is more childish than childlike, right? Since we are always sinners, then when it comes to our salvation, we are always dependent on Him. There is not a moment where we are in a position to not need the mercy of God in Christ.
It’s why we need church and worship and prayer and hearing the preaching of His Word and the Sacraments. You can’t say you’ve grown past these heavenly gifts because to do so is to play pretend and to be childish. But to relish and embrace these wonderful and merciful gifts of God daily, to repent and come before Him humbly, this is the childlike faith our Lord speaks of, a faith given in our baptisms and nurtured by the Word and Sacrament of the Altar.
Jesus then gets into the next bullet point, how to treat the children of the kingdom. Now, initially it sounds like He is only speaking of young children, but remember that in God’s kingdom, we are all pedian…young children. Nevertheless, how we treat our physically young children is certainly included. Therefore, how we treat our children is a reflection of how we treat the children of God.
This is no small thing. If you sin against your children and encourage them to sin as well, Jesus says you should die a sinner’s death. And we have the commandments; we know when we are sinning against the children of God or when we are teaching them to sin against Him.
To encourage children to put other gods in their lives is teaching them to sin. To encourage them to not be faithful in using God’s holy Name is teaching them to sin. To encourage them to despise preaching and hearing God’s Word in church is teaching them to sin. To set an example of sexual deviance and promiscuity is to teach the children that such deviance and promiscuity is acceptable. And we could continue on with the commandments.
When we teach our children that there are acceptable reasons to live sinful lives, whatever they may be, then what we are truly teaching our kids is that God’s kingdom and the gift of salvation and eternal life is negotiable.
Therefore, we must not only teach and insist upon the value of the eternal lives they’ve been given – raising them in their baptisms as we all promised to do – but we must teach and insist that all God’s children, young or old, value greatly their eternal lives and not be led astray by the mute and useless idols of this world.
Jesus says, in fact, that how we treat sin and temptation in our lives should be with all seriousness. His use of the hyperbole, the cutting off of limbs and plucking out of eyes, shows us that there is just no room for sinful living in our lives or in the lives of the children.
So, the question is, how do we confront our sinfulness, those things we know, when we look into our hearts and look at God’s law, are not in accordance with His will, and even those sins we are unaware of? How do we confront it; how do we deal with it? Repentance, right? This wonderful gift of God which opens our lips so that we can say humbly, “I am a sinner and I need your help!” There is no justification for sin, but there is justification for you and me, and that’s Jesus.
There is no excuse for us to willfully and nonchalantly break His commandments as if it doesn’t matter, and there is no excuse in teaching others – especially our children – to do the same. But there is a covering; there is an atoning sacrifice for us which, despite our sins, makes us right with God and children of His kingdom, and His kingdom comes by faith; by acknowledging our sins and trusting in Jesus the Lamb of God.
And to trust in God, to hold fast to Jesus and His endless mercy and forgiveness provides for us the Spirit of forgiveness. We learn how to forgive others.
Now, the procedure our Lord provides for us in Matthew 18 on how to bring a person to repentance and the forgiveness of sins is sometimes overapplied. It’s used in situations where it’s not necessarily meant to be used. Matthew 18:15-20 has to do with private sins between a brother or sister in Christ. It doesn’t have to do with unbelievers sinning against believers, or sins of a public or corporate nature. For example, if I sin against one of you and no one else knows about it, then you can follow this procedure in order to win me back to God’s mercy.
Public sins between fellow Christians are addressed publicly; the entire church must confront the situation. If it’s an issue of false teaching, the whole church must publicly stand up against and oppose the false prophet, according to Galatians 2:11-14. If it is a public sin, the whole church must rebuke the sinner in the presence of the whole assembly, as we are taught in 1 Timothy 5:20 and 1 Corinthians 5.
And when an unbeliever sins against you, forgive him – no ifs, ands, or buts – forgive the unbeliever from your heart. Don’t try to get back at him; don’t try to even the score; don’t take vengeance, but let your forgiveness be the hot coals and mighty weapon against him, that he might repent and abide in Christ. For unbelievers, if absolutely necessary, you may use the civil court or legal system – though you should never do the same when it comes to other believers – but ultimately your goal should be to forgive and to win over the unbeliever for Christ.
Private sins between two believers, Matthew 18:15-20. Public sins or false teaching in the church, rebuke publicly and call out false teaching publicly, and even excommunicate publicly if need be. When unbelievers sin against you, forgive, forgive, forgive.
And in THIS way, you are rightly teaching your children and the whole children of God in His heavenly kingdom how to deal with sin and temptation, how to forgive, and ultimately how to live at peace with one another in this kingdom that lasts forever.
It is my prayer that as God’s children, you discover the blessings of dependency and a childlike faith which repents and holds fast to Jesus and His mercy every day, which loves and takes great comfort in the Word and Sacraments, and makes living in His kingdom the purpose, goal, and force of life. Amen.
