Thursday, July 11, 2013

Year 3, Day 192: Matthew 18

The Greatest

Jesus is asked a question about what it means to be great in the Kingdom of God.  How does Jesus answer?  He picks up a child and sets the child into their midst.  This is a great illustration.

Mark and Luke talk about receiving the Kingdom of God “like a child.”  But that is not Matthew’s point at all.  Matthew isn’t talking about having a faith that believes anything.  Matthew is talking about submission.  Jesus says we must turn (repent) and become like children.  To explain further, Jesus says that we must “humble ourselves.”  What is important in the Kingdom of God?  Humbleness.  Specifically, humbleness to the Father.

Being in the kingdom is, after all, all about following orders.  Kingdom authority comes from the king.  It always has.  Power comes from authority.  So first and foremost, to be “great” (or powerful) in the kingdom of God one must have the authority that comes from submitting to the King.  It isn’t about having a faith that never questions; it is about having a faith that follows orders from the King.

Temptation

Jesus then speaks about temptation.  Woe to the one through whom temptation comes.  Yeah, that’s right.  If you tempt someone else into sinful behavior, you are guilty before God.  That’s pretty deep.  How many times have I been guilty of getting someone else to do my dirty work, to say what shouldn’t be said, or to think what shouldn’t be thought?

Jesus also talks about physical temptation.  Our bodies will likewise lead us astray.  Now, I don’t believe for a second Jesus is talking about actual physical mutilation here.  In no place have any of Jesus’ disciples actually cut part of their body away because of sin.  What Jesus is doing here is getting us to think seriously about how we need to separate ourselves from the desires of the flesh.  If we are to be spiritual people, we must see the flesh as an enemy so that we can combat the desires of the flesh that are not of God!

Lost Sheep

At first, this parable makes no sense.  Why would a person rejoice over 1 sheep instead of the 99 sheep they have?  Human beings understand cutting our losses.  We also understand survival of the fittest.  We understand that in the natural world, sometimes you lose a sheep.

But here’s the problem.  We think that way because we see ourselves as a part of the 99.  We see ourselves as part of the collective.  So let me ask you.  Which human being can you name falls into the category of “never went astray?”  I don’t know about any human beings that have no trace of sinful behavior.  Doesn’t the Bible tell us that all have fallen?  (Romans 3:23).

You see, I think what Jesus is trying to do is to get us to see ourselves as the one.  We’re not the 99.  There are beings in this universe that have never fallen – angels and all their many different varieties.  But human beings are not counted among them.

However, think about the purpose of Jesus.  Who did Jesus come to save?  Humanity!  Humanity is the 1 that fell away.  God has the host of heaven – innumerable from human standards.  But who did He come to save?  The one who fell away: humanity.

Dealing with Sin

Matthew 18 also contains the infamous “If Your Brother Sins Against You” passage.  This passage is almost universally lifted up as one of the great passages for how to deal with community issues.  There are several really good points to consider in it.

  • First: Keep issues private as much as possible.  Nobody likes to be embarrassed publically.  So deal with what you can between you and the person who offended you.  If your first step is to gossip to someone else rather than take up your issue with the offender, you’ve made a mistake.  But if the offender listens, then problem solved!
  • Second: If the offender refuses to listen, then take it up with a few people.  Get their input.  If they see the issue, then take them with you.  You’ll have support.  Perhaps the offender will see it better from multiple perspectives.  But it also still remains semi-private.
  • Third: Make it public.  If the offender won’t acknowledge what they’ve done, then you have to make it public.  You have to draw it into the community so that it doesn’t spread.  People need to be aware of it so that the influence of sin doesn’t unknowingly spread.  However, note that this is the last step.  We like to make it the first, but in the Christian way this is the last step.

Forgiveness

This naturally leads us into a passage about forgiveness.  How many times should we forgive someone who sins repeatedly?  How many times should we go back to that brother and get them to see how they have continued to sin?  Peter suggests 7 times – probably because 7 is the perfect number, right?

Jesus gives a rebuttal of 70 times 7.  Jesus counters by telling Peter to take His answer, do it that many times again, and then increase it by a factor of 10.  In reality, Jesus is saying, “As long as they continue to be repentant each and every time, continue to forgive them.”  After all, what have I said in this blog during the course of Matthew?  Focus on repentance, not the sin.  God cares more about our desire to turn back to Him that He cares about the details of how we turned away from Him.  True restoration always trumps brokenness.

To make His point, Jesus speaks of a parable about a servant who was forgiven much but couldn’t forgive a little.  Notice the sin of the man: pride.  He actually thought that as a servant he could pay back about 20,000 years worth of wages.  A talent was about 20 years worth of wages.  Notice also a complete lack of repentance.  Never does the man admit he was wrong or that he got in over his head.  In spite of the sin and the lack of repentance, the king forgives the debt.

Yet, when the man meets a fellow servant – who owes him about a third of a year’s worth of wages – he cannot find it within himself to forgive.  So the master seized him and locked him up until he could pay.  We know how much money he had access to in jail.  We know his debt was about as much money as he could make in 500 lifetimes.  Essentially, Jesus is saying the man was locked up forever. 

If you don’t live by grace, you will be judged by the Law.  We know how well each of us measures up to the Law, right?


<>< 

No comments:

Post a Comment