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Matthew 18Life in the community

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Before you read

Who is speaking?
Jesus, in Capharnaum, in the fourth of the five great discourses of Matthew's Gospel.
Who is listening?
The disciples, who have just asked who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
What should I watch for?
How Jesus wants his followers to treat one another: the little ones, the one who strays, the one who sins against you, and the one you must forgive again.

Only part of this chapter is loaded in the development dataset (verses 21–35).

Tap a verse to understand it.

How often must I forgive? The unforgiving servant21Then came Peter unto him and said: Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. 23Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. 24And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. 25And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt. 28But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: Pay what thou owest. 29And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt. 31Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. 32Then his lord called him; and said to him: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: 33Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee? 34And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. 35So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition · Public Domain

After you read

What just happened?

Asked who is greatest, Jesus sets a child among the disciples and tells them to become like children. He warns against leading little ones into sin, describes the shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to look for one, and lays out steps for correcting a brother who sins. He gives the disciples power to bind and loose and promises his presence where two or three gather in his name. When Peter asks whether he must forgive seven times, Jesus answers seventy times seven and tells of a servant forgiven an enormous debt who would not forgive a small one.

Key idea

Greatness in the kingdom is humility, and a community of disciples is held together by seeking the lost and forgiving without limit — because we have been forgiven first.

Bible Lens

Look at Matthew 18 through…

The heart of it in plain words

Explanation (AI-assisted)

Be humble like a child, never push anyone away from God, go after the person who has wandered, talk honestly with someone who has hurt you — and keep forgiving, because God has forgiven you far more.

People you met

  • Jesus — Teaching the Twelve how to live together
  • A little child — Set in the middle as the model of the kingdom
  • Peter — Asks how often he must forgive
  • The king and the two servants — Characters in the parable

Places

  • Capharnaum — Jesus and the disciples have come there (Matthew 17:23); he teaches them in a house

Symbols

  • The child in the midst — Dependence and humility, not innocence or achievement
  • The millstone — How serious it is to harm the faith of the vulnerable
  • The ninety-nine and the one — Every single person matters to the Father
  • Seventy times seven — Forgiveness without counting

Words to understand

Scandalize
To cause someone to stumble, to lead them into sin or away from faith.
Church
Greek ekklesia, the assembly; Matthew 16:18 and 18:17 are the only places a Gospel uses the word.
Bind and loose
Rabbinic expressions for forbidding and permitting, and for imposing or lifting an exclusion.
Ten thousand talents
An unpayable sum: a talent was worth thousands of days' wages.
A hundred pence
A hundred denarii — about a hundred days' wages. Real, but tiny by comparison.

Connections to other Scripture

One question to think about

Is there someone you have stopped forgiving because you have been counting?

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