The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 18
January 23, 2008
General Comment: With Chapter 18 we enter into a new
phase of the narrative. Jesus is still in Capernaum, and will soon leave
Galilee on his way toward Jerusalem. The teachings presented here, while
using sayings from Jesus' ministry, are collected and adapted for
Matthew's use in his community. We will see questions on authority in the
church, discipline and the final of three of Jesus' predictions of his
betrayal, "trial," death and resurrection. The three predictions should
not be thought of as indicating some rudimentary Trinitarian motif,
as some writers have it for this and other sequences of threes. Such
a view would be foreign to Matthew's or anyone else's thinking. They would
consider such an idea to be blasphemy. It will be almost 300 years
before such a doctrinal concept will be established at Nicea.
Matthew Chapter 18:1-14 A Question of Greatness and Sin
Greatness:
vs. 1-5
We will read this discussion again, but in a longer
form in Chapter 20. Here the disciples want to know who among them will be
the greatest in God's New Age. Of course, they are certain that such a person
will be one of them. They have been with Jesus for some time. They have learned
from him, and have a sense of what the future holds. Surely Jesus will make his
choice of a successor here. Maybe Peter whom Jesus named the Rock upon whom he
would establish the community of the future. Maybe James or his brother John,
neighbors and friends from Capernaum. But Jesus sees through their motives. He
sees the flaw in their understanding of the new community he has in mind. They
are used to hierarchies of royal courts, the Temple and provincial
governments. Jesus has a new idea that shatters all dreams of such
tiered authority.
A small child is nearby, sitting quietly with his parents,
and Jesus beckons her to come sit next to him, surrounded by his
disciples. It is a strange thing to do, for a grown man, and not the child's
father, to take the time to interact with any child. The disciples
and parents are very surprised, and have no clue as to how this could relate to
the disciples' question of greatness. The child becomes the center of
attention, and the means by which Jesus can teach the rather radical notion
that a child could be of importance in the inner workings
of God's future Reign. After all, in this society the child has no
rights, no status, is considered more as economic property and certainly would
not be valued as representative of anything important. But Jesus
will shatter conventional wisdom and use the scene as a living
parable, with the child as the key to its understanding.
He begins his answer with "Amen," meaning pay
attention, this is truly important for you to understand. Referring to the
child he changes the reference point. Not only is this not a question about
relative authority for one disciple over another, Jesus questions their very
inclusion in God's Kingdom. They cannot even assume that, much less
authority. Their very question may have disqualified their
"membership." Jesus places his hands on the child's shoulders to
direct the disciples attention to her. He says to them, "look at this
child. This child is greater than all of you as far as God's Kingdom is
concerned; and I assure you, unless you change and become like such a child as
this one, not only will you be without authority, you won't even enter God's
Kingdom. I have welcomed this child among us as an example, for anyone who welcomes
such a child as this, welcomes me."
The child-like characteristic Jesus points to as one
which must be emulated by the disciples - and by extension all who would be his
followers, is to be humble. To change and to become like a child is
to become humble, Jesus says. There are two important words to consider,
"change" and "humble." The Greek word used for
"change" means to change into something else than you are. It is
used to imply repentance and "conversion." So, to change is to
convert into something that is different than what one was before.
"Humble" means to be of low estate, unimportant, of no special
status. We all have heard some sentimentalized sermons on this text and we
might be left to think being like a child is some dreamy innocence and
inquisitive, care-free childhood. The reality is much different. Jesus says, to
enter the Kingdom (Reign) of God one must be converted from one who
is filled with a sense of self-importance, craves public attention
and recognition, lives an ego driven life wearing the sign,
"look at me, I am important." The change, the conversion Jesus asks
us to consider is to become one who needs no special
attention or recognition for having done only what was expected of any
follower of Jesus, and like a child, trusting in that which is greater
than oneself for life itself - trusting in God. This indeed would be a
change, a true conversion, for most of us.
Temptations
to Sin vs. 6-14
Not only must the disciples be changed, they
must take great care not to impede others' wish to change, to turn their
lives toward God. For Jesus, putting a stumbling block in front
of such a one as this is a grievous sin. There will be stumbling
blocks aplenty for any who enter this narrow gate without their being tempted
either not to enter or to stray from the path. He uses the
exaggerated preference to the tempting of others to that of fastening a
Donkey Stone around the neck and jumping into the sea!
In an unrelated section attached from MT 5:29-30 to the themes of
conversion and tempting, Matthew changes the audience from the disciples and
their need to avoid putting obstacles in front of those wishing to become
followers of Jesus, to the Church and the temptations that they face living
under Roman rule and Synagogue opposition. The hand might cause stealing; the
foot might take you back to the Synagogue, or to a pagan temple where temple
prostitutes ply their wares. The eye is the eye of lust mentioned in MT 5:29 in connection with
adultery. In all cases it is better to lose a body part than to succumb to
temptation. Of course, the hand, foot or eye does not cause sin. As Jesus has
said elsewhere, the intent to sin comes from the heart, the seat of our
emotions (MT 15:19). In
verse 9 the word translated as "hell of fire" is the word
"Gahanna," which is the valley of Ben-hinnam, outside the
Jerusalem wall, where in more ancient times fire sacrifices of children by
their parents were made to the Ammonite god Moloch (2 Kings 23:10). In Jesus' day the
valley was used as a dump on which was spread sulfur to create a constant
fire. Thus it became a symbol for an eternal fire of punishment, an idea
foreign to Israel's concept of Sheol, the place of the dead,
righteous and wicked alike.
Matthew
18:10-35 Sin and Forgiveness in the Church
What follows in chapter 18 are teachings regarding how the
church deals with those who go astray, sin against another Christian or
lapse in their faith. There would be occasions when someone (or family)
might under pressure renounce their Christianity and return to the
synagogue. Some might return to pagan worship or try to worship as Christians
and pagans. Others leave the church for economic reasons or because
of persecution.
(10-14) The
Parable of the Lost Sheep deals with a member (sheep) who has left the
community for whatever reason. Since all sheep of the fold are precious
children of God and their loss is dearly felt, a concerted effort is to be made
to find that person and bring him/her back into the fold, not
because that one person is more important than the others who
remain, but because restoration to God was (and should be for us) the
Christian imperative. Note that there is no thought here of
discipline, rather it is a cause of great "welcome home"
celebration.
(15-20) In any
church, becoming offended by another member is bound to happen. Someone gets a
"better" committee assignment; another is singled out for
appreciation while we felt that we did more but received
little appreciation; the Pastor fails to visit and we speak ill of her; our
child, the consummate actor, does not get a good part in the church
pageant. We all have been there and can fill in the blanks, for either side of
the sin. Matthew's church offers a procedure for dealing with such offenses.
First, if someone sins against me I need to privately discuss the matter with
that person. Perhaps I did not understand what was said or done. Perhaps the
alleged offender wasn't aware of the offense. If the person refuses to
discuss the matter further, or replies with a "get over it"
suggestion, then I am to return to him with one or two members as
confirming witnesses. If that doesn't work I am to explain the matter to the
church body, perhaps convene the Congregational Gathering. And, if all of this
deliberative process proves to be futile in reaching a reconciliation, the
person is to be expelled from the church.
All of this sounds excessive to us. We need to remember the
situation in which Matthew's church exists, the estrangement from the
Synagogue and possibly persecution. Some offenses may seriously
jeopardize the community's unity or continued existence. It is doubtful that
minor offenses would be carried to that extreme measure. The point is that all
due effort is to be made to restore the other to the fold. That is God's
priority, and it should be ours.
(21-22) As a
specific example of the previous section, Peter asks how many times must he
forgive a fellow disciple who sins against him (now set in the context of the
members of Matthew's church community) . Rather than the minimal seven
times, Jesus says seventy times seven (some bibles translate the Greek as
"seventy seven times" but hyperbolic speech is well attested for
Jesus). The point is not the large number. If we are keeping score, our intent
is less than charitable. This also reminds us that when given offense,
retaliation by snubbing or speaking ill of the offender is not an option.
Remember the Golden Rule?
(23-35) The
chapter closes with a parable related to the theme of forgiveness. It is a long
parable and cannot be properly understood if we try to allegorize it, giving
symbolic meaning to every character or action. As with most parables, there is
a single point or lesson. Here a slave who has been managing the largest
share of the King's accounts cannot repay him what is due at the time of settlement and
so is about to be sold along with his entire family. He asks
for pity and promises a full repayment of the huge debt of
10,000 talents, which would have been worth about 150,000 years of wages for a
day laborer in Jesus' time. The King not only shows him pity, he forgives him
the entire debt and releases him from slavery. As he is leaving he sees a
fellow slave who owes him 100 denarii, 100 days wages, and demands payment.
When this slave cannot pay and begs patience until he can repay, he refuses and
throws him into prison. Other slaves here of this and report it to the
King. The King orders the slave summoned. He berates him as one who had been
forgiven a debt beyond imagination but who would not likewise forgive a
relatively miniscule debt owed by the fellow slave. With that, he sends the
slave to be tortured until he paid the entire 10,000 talents. The
moral of the story is not about financial debt. It is about the
magnanimous abundance of our willing forgiveness of others. If we do not
forgive from our hearts the one who has offended us, how can we expect God
to forgive us? see especially MT
5:14-15)
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There are a number of important teachings in this chapter.
One relates to being part of the church community and how we act toward one
another. The ideal of the church is that we all act in unity of purpose, that
no one thinks he or she is better or more important than anyone else. We
cannot be a successful part of this earthly work of Christ if we are not
willing to see ourselves as servants, not only of God but of one another and
together servants to the world in Christ's name. When our emotions do get
frayed by another we are called on to be charitable with our response. Jesus
often speaks of forgiveness of others, a theme evident in his own death on the
cross. We do not need to be the greatest in the Kingdom or the local church. It
is a truth of God's impartiality that neither Pastor nor usher, flower arranger
nor secretary, custodian nor program director, volunteer nor paid staff, have a
greater place in God's eyes, or a less important task in the work of
Christ in whom all are held together in the spirit of love.
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