Matthew 18:1-35
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Causing to Stumble
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
The Parable of the Wandering Sheep
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. [11]
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Dealing With Sin in the Church
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
As Jesus teaches in Matthew 18 about the Kingdom of God, we learn many essential things: that greatness is found in humility, that He cares for the vulnerable and seeks out the lost (the Parable of the Lost Sheep), and that God's forgiveness is boundless and mandatory for all who wish to be a part of His Rule...I sometimes think about the differences I read in the Bible on forgiveness and then think about the conditional forgiveness Jesus talks about in the LORD's Prayer...Jesus teaches both the limitless nature of human forgiveness and the conditional nature of God's forgiveness as expressed in His LORD's Prayer...Then I think of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, where God is completely and unconditionally forgiving...I think that I must reconcile these two truths of the limitless forgiveness and the conditional forgiveness of God from the LORD's Prayer...I try to realize that Jesus is always teaching about the Kingdom of God and this is how the Kingdom of God works...It is a Realm, a Kingdom where everyone forgives everyone all the time...
This forgiveness as a human versus God's Kingdom connects directly to the core tension of the gap between God's Divine Ethic and our human struggle with sin...And as I think about this tension, I know I will probably never completely reach the Jesus level of Perfection and His type of forgiveness (unless He gives me this characteristic)...However for all of us, the long and encouraging answer is that we are not stuck at a purely earthly level; we are on a lifelong journey of sanctification that moves us closer to that Divine standard Jesus' Kingdom holds...Our goal is to reach the level of Jesus forgiveness, but we must realize we are human...The Jesus Level (The Ultimate Goal): The forgiveness Jesus exhibited was Perfect because it was rooted in His Sinless Nature and His Perfect obedience to the Father...He forgave even while being executed: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34)...This is the Higher Standard of Righteousness we study and search and try to reach...The Earthly Level (Our Starting Point): Our starting point is rooted in our fallen nature, which contains the human impulse for revenge, self-protection, and the "wickedness in is."...This is the struggle with sin that is discussed and talked about later by G. K. Chesterton...
I know that when I read the Book of Jonah, he was not forgiving of the Ninevites and ran away from God...And even though Jonah helped bring the Ninevites to God, in a begrudging way, he in the end still seems upset that God required him to help them...Jonah, a classic Bible Story, seems so human and unforgiving in his story...Jonah's story is an excellent and insightful summary of the tension between God's Grace and human reluctance...Jonah precisely captured the conflict between the limitless and the conditional aspects of forgiveness, and thus Jonah's attitude is unforgiving...
How can I reconcile forgiveness and in using the example of Jonah in trying to find the answer?...Jesus teaches both the limitless nature of human forgiveness and the conditional nature of God's forgiveness (as expressed in the LORD's Prayer)...This condition is not a work we do to earn forgiveness, but an essential characteristic of a heart that has truly received and internalized God's boundless mercy...A forgiving spirit is the "proof" that one is truly operating by the Higher Standard of Righteousness (the Spiritual Law)...The goal to reconcile these two truths is hard for me...God freely gives, and genuine recipients must freely give in turn...But we read that Jonah, he did not freely turn to God and quickly help the Ninevites...
The entire book of Jonah is a study in human limitations and unforgiveness contrasted with God's universal, extravagant mercy...Running away from God was what the Prophet Jonah did...Jonah initially fled because he believed in God and knew He is "a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in steadfast LOVE, and relenting from disaster" (Jonah 4:2)...He didn't want the Ninevites—Israel's enemies—to receive that mercy...He gave way only to a begrudging ministry...Even after successfully delivering the message that led to the city's repentance, Jonah was angry...His famous complaint in Jonah 4:1 is that he was "displeased and he became angry" that God forgave them...Jonah seems "so human and unforgiving."...He wanted God's justice and wrath poured out on his enemies, but God's focus was on reconciliation and saving lives...God’s final lesson to Jonah (about the shade plant) highlights how Jonah cared more about his own comfort (a plant) than the eternal lives of 120,000 people...Using Jonah as the biblical example of the very human heart that refuses to extend the same limitless forgiveness that God offers, and that Jesus talks about in the LORD's Prayer...Jonah embodies the conflict—he has benefited from God's mercy (being saved from the sea), yet he withholds mercy from others...
Jesus always teaches about forgiveness, teaches us to give limitless forgiveness to others...When Peter asked if he should forgive seven times, Jesus replied, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times" (or seventy times seven, in some translations, from Matthew 18:21-22)...This phrase signifies an endless, non-calculating, and unconditional attitude we must have toward others...Then what is confusing to me (and back to His Prayer) is when Jesus instructs His followers to pray, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" (Matthew 6:12)...Furthermore, Jesus immediately follows the prayer with a strong clarification: "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14-15)...
This seems to be us providing love and reconciliation to our neighbors and a Divine Command of the Kingdom and we read it as conditional forgiveness in His Prayer teaching...The apparent contradiction is resolved by understanding that the condition in the LORD's Prayer is not a transactional "work" required to earn heaven, but rather an essential characteristic of a heart that is truly receptive to God's Grace...The Condition is the Heart's Alignment: God's forgiveness is freely offered and based on His character (Spiritual Realm), but for a person to receive and abide in that type of forgiveness, their heart must align with God's character...Since God is perfectly forgiving (and we are not), a heart that stubbornly clings to resentment, revenge, and unforgiveness cannot fully accept or demonstrate the life-changing power of God's Grace...The unforgiving spirit is evidence that the person has not truly grasped the depth of the mercy they themselves have received from God (because God forgave Jonah as He forgives us)...
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant provides a vivid lesson on the required nature of a forgiven heart...Jesus drives this point home in Matthew 18:23-35, immediately following His instruction to Peter regarding limitless forgiveness...In the story, a servant is forgiven a staggering, unpayable debt (representing God's immeasurable forgiveness to us)...Yet, that same servant immediately refuses to forgive a comparatively small debt owed to him by a fellow servant...The central lesson is devastating: when the master learns of the servant's cruelty, he reinstates the first servant's original, enormous debt...This parable powerfully clarifies that God's Grace is withdrawn when the recipient refuses to extend that same grace to others...It shows that unforgiveness is not just a personal failure, but a direct rejection of the mercy and forgiveness one has already received from God...Jesus’ teaching is a reading of the heart, revealing that the unmerciful and unforgiving spirit demonstrates a profound lack of understanding and appreciation for the vastness of God's Own Grace...
A Spiritual Realm Characteristic is that we need to forgive all neighbors, including our enemies...This is Jesus and God's characteristic and what He teaches in the Spiritual Realm, and what the Kingdom of God is like, and it should be demonstrated in our earthly kingdom as we journey through life...God is not a grudging accountant checking off who you forgave; rather, the command in the LORD's Prayer functions as a Spiritual Litmus Test...Jonah would have been kept out of heaven if this checklist was and is enforced...If someone refuses to forgive like Jonah, it indicates they are lacking true repentance: Their request for "forgiveness" in the LORD's Prayer may be only lip service, not a genuine, broken-hearted understanding of their own sin (trespasses) and the vast mercy required to cover them...
So why was Jonah forgiven and the unmerciful servant not?...The reason Jonah is saved and the servant is condemned lies in the nature of their stories: The servant's condemnation is the final, punitive outcome of a parable designed to teach us a lesson, while Jonah's story is left open-ended to illustrate God's patience and persistent teaching...The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18) is a parable, a powerful, focused narrative used by Jesus to teach one critical, absolute principle about the Kingdom of Heaven and its very nature (Matthew 18:23)...The lesson is that the servant's fate—having his debt reinstated and being handed over to the torturers—is the ultimate, non-negotiable consequence of rejecting the very nature of forgiveness...The servant demonstrated that he did not truly internalize the mercy he received...His condemnation is the theological conclusion of the parable, showing that an unmerciful heart and true divine forgiveness cannot coexist is God's Kingdom (outside of earth and our earthly kingdom)... Jesus explicitly states the rule: "So also My Heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart" (Matthew 18:35)...The story gives the servant no chance of redemption because its purpose is to serve as a warning...The Book of Jonah, on the other hand, is a historical narrative used to illustrate God’s character and His persistent efforts to change the human heart...God's Patience and Persistence is taught to us...While Jonah was stubborn, rebellious, and unforgiving (wanting the Ninevites to be destroyed), God never "un-forgave" Jonah...Instead, God patiently worked with him: saving him from the fish, providing the shade plant, and then teaching him through a question about the plant's destruction...The book ends not with Jonah's punishment, but with God's final, loving challenge to Jonah: "And should not I pity Nineveh...?" (Jonah 4:11)...The story ends there, leaving the reader—and Jonah—to reflect on God’s boundless mercy...Jonah's story shows the process of a believer's sanctification...Jonah, despite his massive flaw (unforgiveness), remains the prophet who was saved by God, demonstrating that salvation is not lost immediately upon the failure to forgive, but that God continues to work with the believer who struggles with sin...
The whole essence of the Kingdom of God is that Jesus preached (especially in the Sermon on the Mount) is self-sacrificial love, forgiveness, mercy, and peace...Unforgiveness is the opposite of this ethic; it is rooted in ego, judgment, and retribution, making a person's life incompatible with the very nature of God's Rule and His Plan...The truth remains: God is completely forgiving...His forgiveness is available to all who truly turn to Him...The condition is not a barrier to forgiveness, but a barrier to receiving it created by the unforgiving person themselves...
God's heart is always open, but the unforgiving person has essentially closed the door to the flow of grace by holding onto bitterness...They are not kept out of heaven because God is unwilling to forgive them, but because their own lack of forgiveness shows they have not truly accepted or understood the nature of the kind of God who forgives them, and thus, they have not truly submitted to Him as LORD...Therefore, the condition in the LORD's Prayer does not contradict God's Own Personal forgiving nature...Instead, it serves as a powerful reminder that genuine faith requires and wants us to reflect God's Grace to the world...We receive forgiveness not because we earned it, but because we need it; we extend it to others because we have received it...
G.K. Chesterton famously stated, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." Chesterton taught that the Christian ideal is not fully embraced due to its demanding nature, not any inherent flaws, because it requires far more commitment and effort than people are typically willing to give...This observation is perfectly illustrated by the account of the Rich Young Man (Matthew 19)...He approached Jesus with great zeal, but when challenged to live out the faith's most radical, costly principle—to sell his great possessions and give to the poor in order to truly follow Jesus—he walked away sorrowful...Jesus' profound demand gets right to Chesterton's point: the Christian ideal is not abandoned because it is flawed, but precisely because it is found difficult and requires a total commitment the young man was ultimately unwilling to give...
Chesterton suggests that the high standards of Christianity—such as loving one's enemies, practicing chastity, total commitment, and living a life of selfless service—have not been fully implemented in practice...He believed that instead of evaluating Christianity on its own merits, people criticize it based on the failures of individuals who have not truly lived up to its ideals...We can see from the many examples Jesus teaches why it's considered difficult...Chesterton's quote implies that the difficulty lies in the required perseverance and commitment, not in the logic of the religion itself...Following the Christian ideal requires constant effort, self-denial, and a willingness to overcome personal limitations, which can be a long and arduous journey in one's life...
Chesterton viewed this difficulty not as a flaw in Christianity, but as the very feature that makes the religion so profound, inspiring us to embrace its challenging and loving principles...He believed the true challenge of the faith lies in its ability to inspire people toward a higher moral and spiritual life, even when it is extremely hard to do...I often find myself relating to the struggles of Chesterton, the Rich Young Man, and Jonah...Like them, I desire to forgive and do good, but I continually struggle with sin and the demanding features Jesus has laid out for us...I understand why the Rich Young Man walked away and why Jonah was unforgiving, even though my deepest desire is to see the world completely forgiving, loving, and living in perfect harmony...
We are called by Jesus to strive for His Jesus level of forgiveness, knowing that every time we choose forgiveness over bitterness, we are demonstrating the Kingdom Ethic and allowing God's Grace to flow through us...We are right to acknowledge our personal struggles, but can be encouraged that the struggle itself is evidence that we are on the path, and not stuck at the bottom...So, I am completely inspired by Jesus, but I know I cannot live up to His Perfect Standards on my own...He tells us He came to earth for sinners like me...Thank God, He died for my sins, because I have many...