Matthew 18:1-35
18:1 The disciples have many of the same questions as people do today. Here, they are questioning Jesus as to who in heaven is most beloved.
18:2 Jesus wishes to answer this question with sincerity and He calls a small child into the group.
18:3 Jesus answers that we must be converted as little children are converted. So, what does this mean? Jesus teaches us that we must love God with the same sincerity a child has we they love someone. Children love with compassion, selflessness and innocence. Children love their comforters, and God is our comforter, and we are His children.
18:4 Therefore, the greatest is heaven are the people who are compassionate and selfless. Jesus uses the word "humble" and we cannot overlook this specific choice in words. We must always have and express humility. The greatest in heaven are those who do not behave as though they are entitled kings on the Earth. Dedicate yourself to helping others, defend yourself against greed and climb the ranks of love in heaven.
18:5 For me, this verse is a double meaning. First, remember that we are all children of God, regardless of our ages. Therefore, when He asks us to receive a child, He is asking us to accept and nurture our siblings, His other children. We must take those who are weak into our homes and feed them. When someone is struggling, we must be their strength. Secondly, it's important that we care for young children around the globe. Children are helpless and innocent, we must be their shelter and their promise of a better, safer life.
18:6 We will return to the first metaphor in the previous verse to examine this one. This first is very concise in telling us how to quickly lose God's love. You cannot lead another person to sin. What does that mean? This means we should not be responsible for misguiding another person. Some people, due to circumstances in their life, are weak and dependent and their chance to become strong and independent is in our hands. When we are doing well, it is our responsibility to help others do well too. Whether we are a friend, teacher, preacher, doctor or a myriad of other things, each of us has the opportunity to be a good example or a helpful, healing hand to another. We cannot control them or take power of their weakness and lead them down the wrong path. Setting an example by your actions is even enough to make or break another person.
18:7 Here Jesus is lamenting for the world because many people do choose to harm others, mentally and physically. God will allow each of us to see our actions through His eyes and His judgement is true and fair. It will be painful for some people to see how they chose to treat others - woe, indeed.
18:8 This verse is deeply metaphorical, although some religious through the past have taken it quite literally. Here is what Jesus is teaching: If there is a person or element of your life which is tempting you to make bad decisions, cut it out of your life, even if it is difficult. As humans we becoming attracted and addicted to things and relationships that harm us, that cause us to be greedy or vengeful and we must recognize that and remove those things from our lives. God wants to create a safe and beautiful place for us to live when we leave the Earth, and to do that, He has to eliminate all of the bad. He wants you to eliminate here on Earth, the things which you would not want in Heaven.
I actually do not believe in "hellfire" or "hell" (which is not a popular concept). When God proclaims that certain people will not be in Heaven, we can understand from that they will no longer exist.
18:9 Again, God means that if your perceptions are crooked or corrupted, you need to change them (for your benefit as well as for the world's). Your eye is the window to your soul, Matthew 6:22. We need to be kind and tolerant in our observations because different people face different obstacles and instead of judging them, we must listen to them and help them when they ask.
18:10 Those who are compassionate, humble and love God are loved by God. His love is their protection. Do not trample on the meek for behind them is a mighty God.
What are ways we trample on others? Greed, jealousy, vengeance...
18:11 Jesus came to set up a system of morality which would reach and save through towns and nations, years and generations, the people of the Earth who have lost their way. Jesus loves to bring back those who have wondered or who have been led away. It is so precious to God to reclaim a child who left Him, for His heart aches when they leave.
God doesn't only love people who make very few mistakes, He really, deeply loves people who make mistakes and then, having gone down a dark path, remember the light one and return back to their home.
Every person and their soul is valuable to Him -- regardless of what you have done to yourself or others, He wants you back so that He can help you, guide you, protect you. He loves everyone regardless of their mistakes. In fact, the further away we go from Him, when we choose to return, He acknowledges how long of a journey we were willing to take to come back to Him.
18:12 Here is a metaphor of Sheep, which is used often in the Bible. Jesus is explaining here that God loves all people uniquely and individually. He has numbered all of us. When one of us is missing, He knows immediately. We do not fall out of His radar. But God does not fence us in, He allows us our freedom of choice --to be with Him, or to leave-- in using this metaphor, He is telling us that even if He has all but ONE of His children with Him, He misses that one person and He searches for them diligently.
18:13 Jesus reiterates here how precious to God it is to have the child back who left. God wants us to be with Him because we WANT to be, because we CHOOSE to be. So, when a person leaves God but remembers Him and wants and chooses to come back, He is so grateful, so filled with love and compassion for that child who Chose Him.
18:14 God does not want even one person to leave Him. He wants each of us to come home to Him, eternally. His will is that we all live with Him and He will do almost anything He can to ensure that -- but one thing He won't do is force anyone. It has to be a choice.
18:15 Jesus instructs us on how to deal with personal conflict. He does not want us to confuse an issue by gossiping with other people about it. We should discuss our issue strictly with the person who has offended us - that way, we keep the situation clear of confusion and we settle it face to face with each other. If it works, we have made or kept a friend.
18:16 Jesus instructs us on what to do if that does not work. If a person will not listen to you when you are being fair and honest, it is good for you to have a witness to hear you profess that honesty. Someone to back up your word that you were fair -- but do not involve too many people, arguments get confused and muddied when we over-inflame them with drama.
18:17 If someone has wronged you and it cannot be resolved personally, it's okay to take it to a higher social authority, a church or perhaps a justice system.
18:18 Who we are on Earth and what we do is carried on into Heaven. We create ourselves while we are here and it follows us to Heaven. So be fair and be honest, carry those qualities with you forever.
18:19 When two or more people work and deal fairly with each other, God notices and He supports and encourages it.
18:20 God is always with us. If we are discussing Him or His ways, He's going to be present to help us.
18:21 Peter wants to know how many times we should give forgiveness. Well, let's try to solve this question for ourselves... how often does God grant us forgiveness? We always have God's forgiveness when we sincerely ask for it and when we sincerely try to be better. We should return that favor to people dealing sincerely with us.
18:22 You could take this literally 70x7, which is a lot, or you can take it symbolically. You should forgive people as God forgives you -- many, many times as long as they are sincerely apologetic and are trying to be better. You do not owe forgiveness to a person who is not sorry for hurting you. But if a person is asking for your compassion because they truly feel bad for hurting you, they deserve it. Just as you deserve it when you ask in such a way to God.
18:23-34 A story through metaphor to learn from. It's a truly beautiful and simple story (read and learn). Jesus is telling us that we should not be hypocrites and we should spread the kindness that is given to us. We want God to forgive us and we earn that forgiveness by giving forgiveness to others who are asking it from us. We cannot expect kindness if we are not giving kindness. This servant was granted forgiveness but he did not return the favor to those who owed him. He was a hypocrite and a mean one. He was also ungrateful. He did not deserve forgiveness.
18:35 God will deal with us fairly. He gives back to us what we give to others. We get to decide what we get from God based on what we give to others. It's a perfect, balanced cycle.
