Matthew

As we ended chapter 17 we might note that Jesus was at Capernaum.  I think we can assume He remains in this area through chapter 18.  But when you get to chapter 19 we'll find Jesus making His way to Judea for the triumphal entry at chapter 21.  Jesus had told His disciples that he must die and then He would be raised again.  But its as if they didn't hear Him.  Jesus is on His way to the cross.  In a sense, He was on the way from His birth.  All along the way He encounters and teachers and heals people.  He is control of the timing of that coming day.  It will happen according to the Father's plan.

We don't know what the dispute sounded like or who was involved.  The question is asked as if Jesus had already determined who was greatest but not revealed it yet.  Since they couldn't agree, they chose to ask Jesus.

The little child was probably about 6 or 7 years old.  Jesus calls to him and child comes, trusting, believing in Jesus without question.  This word for conversion means 'to turn'; we must turn and become as a child to enter the kingdom of heaven.  This is the principle.  The disciples who were focused on temporal things were probably scratching their head.  Jesus went on to apply that principle to them.  To humble our self is to volunteer to bring our self low.  This is not consistent with the standards of the world where men seek to attain high levels of power, fame, glory, etc.

While the world says that you are in charge of your life; you make your way!  You need to be in control and protect your rights and assure no one is infringing on you getting the most out of any given situation of this life, this world.  In contrast, Jesus says, make your self low.  A child in that time and place wasn't even viewed as having any rights or responsibility.  They couldn't take care of them self, others looked out for them.  They were under the authority of their parents.  This becomes a picture of what Jesus says we must be like; Jesus says come, you come, trusting, obedient, knowing Him as the master; your master. 

The disciples were thinking of having a position of authority and have those who served them, not having a place of humility and being servant of all.  This same mistake has stumbled every one of us at some point in time.

There is a tradition that this child grew up to Ignatius of Antioch.  Ignatius was given a surname of Theophorus which means 'God-carried'.  The story was that he received this name because Jesus carried him on his knee.  True or not, he did become a follower of Christ as a young child.  He was discipled by the apostle John and later became the bishop of the church in Antioch.  He was taken to the Coliseum and fed to the lions.

As we are humbled as children of Christ, we ought also to respect the humble child before us.  The world despises humility and its easy for us to adopt the ways of the world.  This is respect for the way of Christ and rejection of the way of the world.

The disciples asked this question about being the greatest and Jesus began a serious of lessons of personal responsibility in being a disciple.  This is serious business.  The caution about leading a 'little one' to sin isn't just about an actual child but also refers to one who has come to Jesus as a child.  Sin is serious business; but there's another whole level of seriousness when it comes to leading others to sin. 

The punishment is serious; in fact it is so serious it would be better if you were weighted and drowned.  Drowning was a Roman punishment and one that was extremely fearful.  Going to the dark depths, never to return was fearful.  This wasn't a small millstone either.  The word actually means "donkey sized' millstone.  This was the size that required a donkey to turn it.

When Jesus uses the word 'Woe' it's serious business.  The word is an interjection that expresses grief and horror.  The world will experience this grief and horror for its offenses.  The word 'offenses' is the Greek word scandalon.  It's leading others to sinful actions.  Jesus acknowledges that offenses come in this sin-fallen world.  But there will be grief and horror for the person who brings the scandal of sin in others. 

In this passage we can also see that when we are wronged it is the business of Jesus to right that wrong, not us.  As children we will be cared for.

Again, sin is serious business that has eternal consequences.  We can sin so quickly, without thought or effort it can become easy for us to accept it.  If everyone is doing it, what's the big deal?  We can see the seriousness of sin; for if your hand or foot is the cause, we should be rid of it. 

We might imagine all the disciples thinking about when they stole something, even as a child.  They probably glanced at their hand and wondered about losing it.  Would that fix the sin problem?  If it would, it would certainly be better than going to hell. 

Did they glance at their feet and think about when their feet carried them into a sinful situation?  Would cutting them off cure the sin problem?  If so, it would be better than going to hell. 

What about their eyes that looked upon things they should have looked.  Would plucking out your eyes cure the sin problem?  If so, it would be better than burning in hell. 

All the disciples must be squirming (maybe the rest of us also).  All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.  We also know that sin wasn't born in the hands, feet or eyes.  Sin was born in our heart.  Should we cut off our hands and feet and pluck out our eyes, we'd still sin in our hearts.  We need something more than cutting off body parts.  I wonder if the disciples had come to that realization yet.  Part of this discussion may be Jesus bringing them under conviction that they may see clearly what he was about to do.

Some get the idea of a guardian angel from this passage.  But it is more likely that all the angels watch over God's children.  This should be both a source of fear and comfort.  If we should find our self despising one of God's children, there are a host of angels watching over that child.  That should bring fear.  Should another despise us, we can know a multitude of angels are looking out for us and reporting right to the Father.

Jesus came to save and we can know that as we come as little children we are in His grip, never to be lost.

While a child did not necessarily have great value in this time, we are to understand that Jesus places great value on us as His children.  We are to have this same attitude toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.  What kind of brother or sister would say, "Oh well, its just one who went astray, there are 99 more"?  That's not acceptable to God and it shouldn't be to us.  To accept it is to despise a child of God.    

¹Jesus outlines the steps of the process of reconciliation.  Many times, we seem quick to jump to the third step and tell, not just the church, but everyone.  Maybe this is because we care more about revenge than we do about reconciliation. 

Step one: Go to the brother and tell him his fault.  This isn't easy.  It's much easier to tell anyone else.  Look at it this way.  If you've wronged someone and maybe you aren't even aware of it, wouldn't you want someone to come tell you.  Would you not say, "I'm sorry! I messed up.  It's a misunderstanding.  Please forgive me."  If the bother hears his sin, then there is reconciliation.  The Lord is pleased. 

Step two:  If the brother won't hear you, then you take another person or two.  These are witnesses to establish a thing (Deuteronomy 19:15).   A couple of things happen; first, the one bringing the charge is heard by others.  It is established whether this is a legitimate charge.  Then, the response to the charge is heard by witnesses.  This should be done in a loving manner with the heart of ending the conflict in resolution and reconciliation. 

Step three:  If this person refuses to hear, then the circle widens to the church that they may reach this person.  This isn't a game of 'gotcha' or laying guilt on someone.  This should loving, crying, pleading with a person to turn from the sin. 

Step four:  If a person refuses to hear the church, then fellowship must be broken.  It is better this person be set away from the church than to be allowed to continue in denying sin.  Sin is serious business.  How are we to treat a heathen and tax collector?  We are to love them and long for them to come into the Kingdom of God.  We don't set someone out to get even, we set them out for the purpose of reconciliation.

It may be that some of the charges we bring against other sound very legitimate to us.  But if we imagine bringing those charges against that person in front of the entire church, our charges might not seem so important. 

It's ironic that Matthew wrote of the tax collector as an example of a lost and sinful soul since he was as formerly a tax collector.  By the time Matthew remembered and wrote these words, he knew full well that the tax collector was the old man, sinful, prideful and a heathen.  Writing this must have generated a great thankfulness and praise that Jesus loved Him so much to call him from his tax booth. 

Matthew 18:18-20

There is power in the gathering of God's children; power to bind, power to loose, power to join in prayer.  When we come together, as little children, before our Father and seek His will amazing things can, and will happen. 

Barclay notes that the Jews had a saying:

It doesn't take a large crowd.  Two can be in fellowship.  The word for this agreement of two or more is 'symphonesosin'.  We can see the word symphony.  In a symphony there are many, playing different instruments, with different sounds but when they are all playing the same song they complement each other. 

Look at Amos 1:6 through the end of the chapter.  You see several passages, ".....For three transgressions.... and for four.........."  Some of the Rabbis took from this that you were to forgive three times, but the 4th time you did not have to forgive.  This is what Peter and the others would have thought was normal and Godly.  

Peter acknowledges that sin is serious business and he knows forgiveness is very important.  There could be no reconciliation without forgiveness.  Peter thought he was being very generous here - after all forgiving someone 7 times was far and above what anyone should expect. 

²² Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Peter must have been shocked; seventy times seven?  I'm not convinced all the disciples could even count that high.  But I think that's also the point.  We shouldn't be counting.  We shouldn't be keeping a record of who we've forgiven and who we haven't. 

Imagine your scorecard after a while: a list of anyone you've ever encountered with marks by their name.  If someone sinned against you, do you spend hours trying to find their name to see if you this is the fourth mark?  Would you announce that forgiveness had run out?  There isn't one of us that would want to hear such a thing, "Forgiveness has run out!!"  That's an awful thought, one we don't have to worry about with Jesus and we shouldn't have to worry about among our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus goes on to give the disciples a parable to think about:

A certain king begins to settle all the accounts with his servants.  One particular servant is brought in who owed the king ten thousand talents.  A talent was about 15 year's wages.  If we just took thirty thousand a year times fifteen years we get four hundred and fifteen thousand.  That's a value of a talent.  But this man owed ten thousand talents.  That puts us in the 4.5 billion dollars.  As you look through commentaries you'll find various ways this is modernized which yield a different number.  All arrive at the same point though; this was a phenomenal debt that no person could possibly pay back.

We might ask how could any person create that much debt?  How did they not control the situation better?  Why didn't they stop?  If they couldn't keep themselves from racking up this debt, there was no reason to think it wouldn't continue to get bigger.  This guy was in trouble.  The master said to gather up his family and sell them to cover the debt.  I love my family dearly and I think they are priceless but I don't think anyone would pay 4.5 billion dollars for us.  Someone might give a little bit to cover part of the debt. 

The point is that the debt would cost them their life.  This brought the servant to his knees and begged for patience.  He was willing to do anything to repay the debt; to make things right with the king and master.  The king had compassion on him and released the man announcing that his debt was forgiven.  Imagine how this man felt.  He no longer lived under this crushing weight of a debt that consumed his every breath; a debt that could never be paid back.  This is amazing grace that was shown to this man.  What should our response to this amazing grace be? 

This is a picture of every person who ever came to Christ.  We all owed a debt we could not pay.  It was a phenomenal debt, unexplainable by us or anyone else.  We can't figure out how our debt got so high.  One day we realize we are bearing this incredible weight.  It is beginning to crush us, to squeeze the life out of us.  We can no longer ignore it.  Then we realize that there is a day coming when the master is going to require our debt to be paid.  We cannot wait for that day.  We came before our master, with our hat in our hand, bowed before Him.  In many cases this is the first time we ever acknowledged that He was our King and Lord.  Up until this point, many of us ignored this fact.  We confessed our tremendous debt and our inability to pay it back.  We fell at His mercy.  And the most amazing thing happened.  He was moved with compassion and He forgave our debt.   He had after all, knew of your debt all along.  He, in fact, knew of it when He was nailed to the cross; for it was there that the debt was paid. 

Read Romans 6:1-14.

This servant, with new lift, with new outlook having just been forgiven a great debt went right out to collect from those who owed him.  He called this fellow servant that owed him one hundred denarii.  A denarii was about a days wage.  So, to modernize this, and using the same numbers we used before, this man owed about twelve thousand dollars.  This is fair amount of debt, but it is payable.  When this man asked for time to be able to repay, he was summarily denied and thrown into prison.  In prison there was no way to pay a debt, it was paying with your life and freedom; you were bound without hope of release because of your debt.

Why were the other servants so grieved?  Maybe it was compassion for their fellow servant but it was also because they knew that every servant owed a debt.  They too, owed a debt.  The master had once had compassion on this man; he now calls him a wicked servant.  He became wicked because he refused forgiveness that would have amounted to just a fraction of what he received.  The compassion of the servant was to reflect the compassion of the King and the master.  He made the master angry and was delivered to torturers.  This torturer is a jailer who keeps you in prison and inflicts severe pain until your penalty is paid.  I believe this is a picture of eternal punishment. 

The forgiven have received a great and priceless gift; we are commanded to offer that same gift to others.  We must recognize the size of our debt to fully appreciate the amazing grace shown us.  We must then show a similar grace to those indebted to us.

Imagine this moment; Jesus looking at his disciples and saying this.  Earlier, each of them had been arguing about who was the greatest in God's kingdom.  This had to be humbling to them.  It should be humbling to each of us.

Imagine Peter who thought he was being beyond kind in his claim to forgive seven times.  Yet, Peter and the others all knew they needed forgiveness far beyond that.  They needed forgiveness very much like this man with a great and un-payable debt.

Have we forgiven with the same standard as we've accepted the grace, mercy and forgiveness God has given us? 

©2015 Doug Ford