┰ At that time, the students approached ┰ Jesus saying: "Who then ┰ is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" 2 And, having called ┰ a child, Jesus put ┰ him in the middle of them 3 and said: "I assure you ┰, unless you were to turn ┰ and become like children, you will (even never) ┰ enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, 5 and whoever accepts one such child in My name, accepts Me."
After the tax-collectors approached Peter with a question about Jesus, it was probably the final straw for other apostles to once and for all settle the issue of superiority amongst them. Although Jesus never showed Peter any favoritism or elevated him above the rest, Peter was the most pro-active and often was the first to react to Jesus' questions (Matt. 16:15-16), statements (Matt. 16:21-22), and actions (Matt. 14:28). He was also one of the three taken by Jesus to the mountain of transfiguration and he was again the one to spoke to Jesus there (Matt. 17:4). It even started to look like he was becoming the leading apostle to the outsiders in the last chapter (Matt. 17:24). For other apostles, Peter was also emerging as the greatest of them all. So to clarify if he had any supremacy over the rest, they asked Jesus directly. His answer was both shocking and comforting at the same time. He clearly indicated that He treated them all equally as children of God, and it was their jealousy and rivalry that Jesus not only rebuked as unhelpful in establishing superiority, but as something that could even potentially prevent them from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It is natural for people, especially men, to be competitive in order to achieve a higher position in a Christian community. Jesus, however, equates the degree of greatness with the degree of humility (Matt. 20:26). Although here turning into a child-like person is in passive voice, it also has an expectation of being proactive in this change. The first impression if the third verse is taken in isolation is that the students of Jesus had to be transformed by God from the inside and to become humble like children in order to enter God's Kingdom. However, the ending of this statement clearly indicates that Jesus meant self-humbling, or being transformed by humbling self. He puts complete responsibility on His followers to make sure they do not compete for primacy, do not elevate themselves, but treat each other as equally important as everyone else. The Bible abounds wth statements that indicate God's favoring those who humble themselves and resisting those who elevate themselves (Ps. 138:6; Prov. 3:34;; 29:23; Matt. 23:12; Luke 1:52; Jacob 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5). Jesus simply establishes this principle as the governing rule amongst His followers in determining who is of higher or lower position. It sounds somewhat oxymoron that God treats all people equally and favors some at the same time. In reality, it is very simple. God gives anyone an equal opportunity to become or not to become a person He favors. If God had any unconditional favoritism towards any particular person or a people group, He would not provide an qual opportunity to all to humble themselves before Him, but He does not have it (Rom. 2:11; Col. 3:25). He still confirms that some of His followers can be greater in God's Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven, but self-humbling is not only a condition for anyone to become a part of God's Kingdom (Matt. 10:38; 16:24), but the degree of this self-denial and self-commitment determines who amongst those who humble themselves are greater or lower. In other words, Jesus expects all of His followers, not just Peter or other apostles, to change their disposition towards themselves and each other by abandoning competition in favor of humility and cooperation, while God will be changing them inwardly. Later, Peter assumed a role of an equal to other pastors of the church, exhorting them to abandon their pride and selfish ambitions of building their own kingdoms on Earth and to eagerly serve the Master (1 Pet. 5:1-2). Jesus teaches here that the basis of relationships between God's children is humility. Both men and women must accept themselves and each other the way God accepts them, as His children, abandon jealousy, rivalry, and ambitions to assume a higher position than they have from God. This is the only way to retain peace, order, unity, and cooperation within the body of Christ. Each Christian must assume his or her role within the church as outlined in the Word of God and reject any vain ambitions to achieve any superiority over others (Matt. 23:8-11). Humility that Jesus demonstrated in His own life allows God's children to submit to those whom God places in the positions of authority and those in authority to exercise it as the means of service, not of self-promotion or lording over others. Church leaders are obligated to be practical examples of humility (1 Pet. 5:2-3). Jesus taught us not only to be like children who occupy the lowest social status within a family, but also to accept other believers without jealousy and rivalry, and to accept Him, His body, His church by accepting God's children. Revival begins with three things: self-humbling, repentance, and a persistent and confident prayer (2 Chron. 7:14; Ex. 22:23; Luke 18:7-8). Personal and corporate humility not only changes people's relationships with God, but also changes their deposition to and relationships with each other, making a revived church powerful, passionate, balanced, united, and effective.
6 But if someone causes one of these little ones who believe ┰ in Me to sin ┰, it is better for ┰ him that a donkey millstone ┰ would be hanged around his neck and he would be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe ┰ to the world ┰ because of temptations to sin ┰ for it is ┰ necessary ┰ for temptations to come, but ┰ woe ┰ to ┰ the man ┰ though whom a temptation comes. 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it ┰ off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter ┰ into the life ┰ than to be thrown into the endless fire with two hands and two feet. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear ┰ it out and throw away from you. It is better for you to enter ┰ into the life (being) one-eyed than with two eyes to be thrown into the Hell of fire.
In the beginning of this chapter, the apostles approached Jesus with the question about supremacy in God's Kingdom, which might have been triggered by Peter's active rise to prominence among them. Jesus outright denied any supremacy amongst His followers taking a humble position of a child as an example of humility that He expects from all of His followers. He exhorted His students to accept each other as equal. Then, He warned them not to create any stumbling blocks for each other in order to bring someone else to sin and fall. It is a very common practice in any social entity to acquire a higher social position by smearing and causing someone more prominent to fall. When someone else like Peter is more active in the body of Christ than the rest and achieves a position of influence, there is always a temptation to destroy such a person's credibility. It might be done by fabricating, showing some facts in an unfavorable light, or framing them to look and sound differently from what they were intended to be in order to cause a moral or spiritual fall of that person with the purpose to replace him with self or someone more convenient. Unfortunately, some Christians do not despise the sin of Absalom
(2 Sam. 15:3-4) to pusrue selfish or pragmatic ambitions. For Jesus, any kind of rivalry, especially this one, was absolutely unacceptable. He spared no strong warnings towards anyone who exercises such demeanor towards another Christian and uses these worldly, sinful political tactics to gain a position of authority. When this strategy becomes a norm, revolutionary Absaloms turn into dictators and eventually get replaced by other Absaloms. This is why Christ authorized His church to cut off from His body anyone who causes other Christians to sin or fall. Excommunication is an integral part of church discipline designed to keep the body healthy. It is similar to a surgical intervention that prevents diseases, such as cancer or gangrene, from spreading and killing the entire body
(Heb. 12:15; Deut. 29:18; 1 Cor. 15:33-34). Every member of the body of Christ should watch for Absalom's tendencies in the church and try to prevent them or to disassociate from those who refuse to abandon them. The body should have one head, which is Christ, one work, which is the Great Commission, and one purpose, which is to present everyone before God pure
(1 John 3:3) and fully mature in Christ
(Col. 1:28). Inside power struggles are not only counterproductive, but also destructive to the point of making the church impotent of accomplishing its mission and purpose. The same principle of disassociation from members of the church body that create temptations within it and lead it to its downfall applies to larger associations and denominations. They have not only a right but a responsibility to disassociate from any local church that was morally or spiritually corrupted and refuse revival, revitalization, and change that would make it healthy and productive member again.
Also, the conjunction "and," with which the verse eight begins, assumes that Jesus talked about two applications of this principle, communal and personal. The previous verses talk about communal vigilance so as to prevent someone else infecting the church body with sin. Now, Jesus talks about each Christian's own personal responsibility to prevent him or her from becoming a cause of spiritual or moral downfall. Jesus already used this principle in Matt. 5:30 applying it to personal life. One should never assume that Jesus considered self-mutilation as good. Neither self-harm nor excommunication is a good thing to do. However, when all else fails, a surgical intervention is required to remove the sick part that can potentially kill everything else in the body. Jesus uses the comparative word "better" instead of "good" or "best" to show that sometimes amputation is better than death of the whole body. However, this also assumes that this is the last resort and that there might be an even better way to fix such a problem - to heal the infected member of the body. It is never God's intention to deal with porn addiction, for instance, by plucking one's eyes out, but since the danger of the endless torment after death is way bigger than becoming blind, even that measure is better. However, the best approach to the infected members is healing. Everyone must understand that in order to prevent cutting off hands or feet, one can simply cut off the channels through which temptations come to his or her members. It does require honesty, disclosure of a problem of sin or creating inner church strife, repentance, and disassociation from thoughts, desires, and ambitions that are destructive to the body. Similarly, as physical death is much better than eternal, drowning of a Christian who allowed the devil to use himself or herself for bringing temptation of sin or strife into the body of Christ, is better than God's endless recompense. Using the same principle, disassociating from such a person is better than killing him or her. The New Testament mentions no case of Christians understanding this principle literarily as an endorsement of self-mutilating or killing other church members. However, it does mention cases of cutting themselves out from temptations
(1 Cor. 6:9-11; 18-20) and disconnecting from people who bring temptations into the church
(1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Tim. 1:20). The early Christians took this teaching of Jesus about the danger of sin and rivalry and about the reality of Hell very seriously. Unfortunately, both denial of endless torment and believing in unconditional salvation that in no way depends on the believers, quality of their faith, and sanctity of their lifestyle dulls their sensitivity to both realities. Realization of personal and corporate responsibility for the spiritual health of the body of Christ is an integral part of a spiritual awakening.
The New Testament concept of Hell comes from Hebrew Gehenna, or the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom. It was a ravine, south of Jerusalem, where by popular belief God would conduct His final judgement. This word was used in the New Testament for the place of endless punishment in the afterlife. The word translated as endless is often translated as eternal. However, eternal assumes more than this word does, it assumes a period of time that not only has no end, but also does not have a beginning. It is better to understand this word as "endless" or lasting through the ages. It means that as faith in Jesus grants salvation and never-ending life, refusal to believe in Him leads to the torment that lasts as long as the endless life God grants in Jesus
(Matt. 25:41,46; Rev. 20:10).
This warning may create a tension in those who believe in eternal security of a believer. However, it is impossible to assume that Jesus talks about unbelievers here because it is not possible for an unbeliever to enter the eternal life by self-mutilation. This warning can only be applied to a believer who allows sin into his or her life and becomes a cause to sin and fall for other believers. It is difficult to reconcile this warning with the biblical assurances of endless life
(1 John 5:12-13), if you question eternal security of a believer instead of the quality of the believer himself or herself. In any case, one thing is very clear - these kinds of warnings should never be taken lightly but they must lead God's children to repentance, radical change from rivalry and sin to cooperation and mutual restoration, edification, and to a spiritual revival of the church
(1 Cor. 15:34).
10 See to it ┰ that you do not despise ┰ one of these little (children) ┰, for I am telling you that their Angels ┰ in ┰ Heavens constantly ┰ see the face of My Father who is in Heavens. ┰ 11 For the Son of Adam ┰ came to save ┰ the lost ┰. 12 What do you think? If a man were to have a hundred sheep and one of them went missing ┰, will not he leave the ninety-nine ┰ in the mountains and, having gone, search for the one that went missing? 13 And if he were to find it, I assure you ┰, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went missing. 14 Thus ┰, there is no will of My Father who is in Heavens so that one of these little (children) would perish ┰.
After equating all of His followers to each other as children of God, Jesus prohibited them to seek more importance in His church by causing downfall of others. Now, He prohibits them to look down on any of God's children who believe in Him. He assigns equal importance and value to all of them, starting with the most active like Peter and finishing with the most vulnerable and weak. His analogy of a lost sheep in Luke 15 is usually applied to evangelism or relationships between the Jewish and Christian peoples. In this context, however, Jesus specifically applies it to one of those who believe in Him and has gone astray. This distinction makes revivals especially important. He paints Himself as the good shepherd who never leaves His own behind. He rather leaves those stronger in faith to feed themselves and goes after those who fall through the cracks in the wrong church hierarchy of values. The most active Christians might look more important for the church community, but those who cooled off and got lost are more important to Jesus. As people have free will that they can still exercise after their conversion to decide to leave the church if they have issues with God or His standards of morality, the church is responsible to prevent any kind of despise towards anyone of them. While Jesus used very strong words to condemn those who cause temptations and strife, He prevents His followers from using the same judgement against those who fall into the sin of unbelief and went missing. When people leave the church because they feel total lack of attention from other believers as if they are not important, and then continue feeling that lack after they left, it is a direct violation of this command of Jesus. When Jesus talked about caring for these little children, He actually meant those Christians who are weak in faith. Not only they should never feel invisible or unimportant; on the contrary, they must feel more attention and care than the others (1 Cor. 12:22-25). It is especially clear in applying this teaching of Jesus to those former believers who went astray. They should never be treated as less important than the active believers. Quite the opposite, they are much more important to God, and thus must be much more important to His church. Even if it is only one lost person, as Jesus focuses here on the one sheep that goes astray from faith instead of ninety-nine Christians strong in their faith and commitment, so should the ninety-nine have the same focus. They should never write the weaker brothers or sisters off as fake Christians and not important to the church ministry. On the contrary, the church should stop caring for itself only and start contacting those who left and attempting to bring them back to Jesus (Jacob 5:19-20). If the church wants to do the will of the Heavenly Father and enjoy His blessings, it must understand that it is never in His will for any believer to be lost, and that finding such a lost person brings Him more joy than seeing ninety-nine believers well fed and secure. Christians should find the reasons for people leaving their community, and if they are justified - to make drastic changes to their values, priorities, and practices. They should mobilize to pray for every person who visited their church at least once, indicated his or her interest in faith, or made a commitment but then left. A church that despises the weaker believers is doomed. You should never look down on any person that indicates even a slight interest in faith. Faith must be grown and strengthened, not to be questioned or despised for its littleness. If Jesus was treating His apostles the way many churches treat people of little faith, no-one would be a Christian today. We must understand that our value in God's eyes is not measured by the scope of our Christian activities or by how long we were serving Him, but by the care for the least of His sheep. A revived church constantly guards against any case of prideful attitude of seeing anyone as less valuable or unimportant. On the contrary, a revived church goes after the missing former believers with the same zeal they would pursue to evangelize the unbelievers, who never were a part of God's flock. The essence of revival is to awaken the existing members to the pure spiritual life in Jesus and to revive the faith in those who lost it.
15 But if your brother sins ┰, go and correct ┰ him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you gained ┰ (back) your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take with you one or two more, so that "by the mouth of two witnesses or three a charge would be firmly established." 17 But if he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. And if he refuses to listen to the church, he will be to you as a Gentile and ┰ a tax-collector. 18 I assure you ┰, as many as you bind ┰ on Earth will be bound ┰ in Heaven, and as many as you release ┰ on Earth will be released ┰ in Heaven.
This part is the continuation of the application of the analogy of the lost sheep. The application began with watching over self and other believers so that no-one causes a spiritual downfall to the church body. The church has the keys to God's Kingdom, the ability to join people in and cut them off of it. It is both authority and obligation from God to pursue every lost sheep and use all possible efforts to release that person from the bounds of sin through repentance. According to John 20:23, this releasing refers to forgiveness of sin. To release someone here means not a mere authoritative proclamation of one's forgiveness, but bringing the person to repentance that grants forgiveness not only on Earth but in Heaven as well. There is no forgiveness of sins in Heaven that was not attained on Earth through repentance and faith in the gospel. Only when all efforts, personal and corporate, to release someone fail and the person persists in his or her sin and unbelief, he or she is to be completely separated from the church as there is no place in it for unrepentant sinners and unbelievers. It is impossible to incorporate into the church someone who does not belong to Jesus first, who is not born again through his or her own faith and repentance, and who consequently does not have the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9). Such a person does not belong to God's Kingdom neither here on Earth nor in Heaven. An unrepentant person, who says that he or she believes in Jesus, but this faith does not move him or her to repentance and abandonment of their sinful ways, remain bound by his or her sin both in Heaven and on Earth. Consequently, the duty and the power of the church is in making all possible efforts to bring all lost sheep to repentance and to make sure no one is left in a limbo state, where they may still consider themselves believers while living in sin or having left the church of Jesus. Revival of the bound by sin and lost believers uses the same strategy as Jesus taught to use in evangelism. His message was to repent and believe, and then, if someone refused to do both, to shake the dust of their feet (Matt. 10:14) leaving the resistant person alone until he or she decides to do something about it and to repent. The same way, when a personal conflict arises in the church due to someone else's wrong words, actions or choices, a Christian should not leave the church or runs someone off. Excommunication is a right given by Christ to the entire congregation. No one of the believers can make that choice alone. Only restoration can be done by one person or a group of Christians. The due process of eliminating destructive members that spoil the church and make others leave it was established by Jesus to prevent subjective charges and abuses of church discipline for personal advancements. Even personal charges must be presented only in a case when one or two witnesses can testify about the truthfulness of a charge and the whole church would disapprove of such an offense. If something wrong is done but not maliciously or simply perceived as something wrong, a personal conversation should clarify any motives or errors and settle the issue without making it public. It can only be made public if there is a strong charge of something wrong that can withstand the scrutiny of examination and the offender has done it purposely and refuses to repent. This process leaves no room for gossips and discussing any wrongdoings behind an alleged offender's back. No accusation should be used by any one person or by a group of people to smear or disassociate any Christian without this due process bypassing the church approval. The key decision to join anyone to the church or to excommunicate from it was given by Christ to the church collectively and cannot be privatized by any one Christian or a group of Christians. Church must guard itself watching each other, including its leadership to prevent abuses of power that cause any of Christ's sheep to be lost. A revived church not only prioritizes seeking those who were lost in order to return them, but also preventing those who never left from leaving due to personal conflicts. As the church has authority from Jesus to both join people to the body of the elect saved through the gospel and to restrict those who resent the gospel from being a part of the body, with this great power comes great responsibility. This responsibility includes seeking unbelievers to come to Jesus, the lost members to come back, the offenders to repent or to be cut off from belonging to the body. It also requires to constantly watch for anyone who brings in temptations to sin or creates strife and conflicts that repel people from belonging to the body. Such people should not be using church discipline for personal advancement, but to be subjects of church discipline, no matter who they are.
19 In a similar manner ┰, I assure you ┰ that if two of you would ever agree to ask ┰ about any matter, it will be done to them by My Father who is in Heavens. 20 For where two or three are gathering in My name, I am there in the middle ┰ of them.
The corporate nature of church business is the only way of unity with God the Father by the presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The church is the body of Christ that cannot be separated from Him and still remain church. This constant continuous connection is absolutely necessary not only for the church identity but, most of all, for its vitality. This is why revival, as reconnection with God the Father by Jesus through the Spirit, is not something optional for a spiritually struggling church, but it is a necessity. No church can properly function having only few people who take prayer, repentance, and ministry seriously. Having strong personalities or a strong core of believers is not sufficient and it can lead to spiritual elitism, pride, and abuses. In a revived church, any two members can agree to pray about anything and God would be listening because Jesus is in the middle of them through His Spirit that lives in them and fills them. Only born again, committed to Christ, forgiven, and Spirit-filled believers can claim this promise of Jesus. Consequently, no personal or group abuses of the power to add anyone to or remove from the body should ever take place. Church was never meant to be a kind of monarchy or representative structure, but the mix of democracy and theocracy, where every member represents the body and the leadership assumes the role of servants to the body rather than the role of its masters
(Matt. 23:8-12; 1 Pet. 5:1-3).
Two or three revived Christians not only have the authority to testify against someone who brings sin and strife into the church, but also to pray against any satanic attack on the church launched through a temptation or a conflict. Any temptation or personal conflict in the church has a spiritual drive behind it and must be dealt with on both personal and spiritual levels. No spiritual attack on the community of believers can be defeated without a collective prayer. Moreover, Christians should never forget that the unifying aspect of their community is Christ, not their traditions, personalities, experiences, systems of theology or philosophy. The closer they get together to God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, the closer they become to each other. Constantly praying for and with those who offend you may change them and it may also change you if you become a stumbling block for someone else. Both common prayer and church discipline are two parts of the same authority to bring brothers and sisters together, to reconcile and restore their relationships through reviving of their close relationships with God. Believers in Jesus had two kinds of spiritual authority, to expel demons out of unbelievers and to repel demons from out of their midst by invoking the name of Jesus and His presence within their community. A church that ceases to be vigilant of Devil's attempts to destroy and discredit it from within allows demons to do their destructive work through its members
(2 Cor. 2:10-11; Eph. 4:27). Satan uses temptations of sin and personal conflicts to corrupt a church from within. Each member is personally responsible for preventing any of such attempts from happening through him or her while being collectively responsible for preventing it from happening through others. If something has already been allowed to happen, a part of revivalistic process is to identify what was already done, to personally and collectively repent, to forgive, and to reconcile with each other in the spirit of remorse and humility in order for the church and its members to be usable and effective for God's Spirit again.
21 Then, having approached ┰, Peter said to Him: "Master, how many times my brother will sin against me and I will forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus says to him: "Do not say to yourself: 'Up to seven tomes' but up to seventy-seven."
Peter understood that Jesus was talking about bringing the offended and the offending brothers together through prayer and corrective conversations. He also understood that this reconciliation requires forgiveness, which meant releasing someone from legal or moral obligation or consequences as opposed to binding him or her with guilt. Once a brother forgives his brother for an offense, he cannot proceed to any further action against his brother and must act as if the offense never happened. If following Christ's command, an offended brother comes to the offender, explains the wrongness of the offense, and the offender repents, gaining the brother back also requires forgiveness. Peter then asks about another hypothetical situation when the offender repents, but keeps on committing the wrong thing over and over again. Should a Christian forgive such a person multiple times and, if so, up to how many times? Peter assumed seven times would be enough, which was already quite generous comparing to those Christians who cannot get over a single offense. Such lack of patience can be driven by fear that dealing with another believer who repeats his or her offenses keeps on hurting you, and it is all but natural to either distance yourself from such a person or to put a limit on the number of forgivenesses to be granted before proceeding to the rest of the disciplinary steps dismissing the person's repentance. The truth is, genuine repentance does not guarantee an instant and complete change in the offender's personality. He or she may be genuinely sorry for what he or she has done while still learning how to avoid doing it again. Some people require more time than the others to change their ways of thinking and acting, and to gain valuable skills in dealing with other people. This time requires not only forgiveness but also long patience from the community of believers in order to teach such a person how to communicate with other people in a loving and respectful way. However, if after seventy-seven offenses a person still does not learn to act as a Christian with other brothers and sisters, it means that he or she simply refuses to learn and hurts other believers willfully and maliciously. Patience does not assume no limit to the attempts to forgive and to reconcile, but seventy-seven times should give enough time for anyone to change. If a person is not willing to change after seventy-seven times, an offended brother then should proceed to the next steps of disciplining such an offender, and if church discipline does not help, proceed to excommunication. Christians should be long-suffering with each other as God is with their shortcomings, but even God's long-suffering and patience is not eternal. Each Christian must be given more than enough chances to change, but this change requires willingness to learn and change. Revival not only brings the failed offenders to true repentance and willingness to work on their behavior, but it also brings the offended parties to repentance in failing to forgive and to give their brothers and sisters enough chances to change. All-in-all, the purpose of a revival is also to bring people who have hurt each other back together through prayer, patience, humility, and forgiveness.
23 Therefore, the Kingdom of Heavens is like ┰ a human king ┰ who wanted to settle accounts with his servants ┰. 24 And, as he began ┰ to settle, someone was brought to him who owned a thousand talents ┰, 25 but, as he was not able to pay back ┰, the master ordered him to be sold (along with) his wife, his children, and everything he had, and (the money) to be paid back ┰. 26 So, the ┰ servant fall down to him saying: "┰ Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything back." 27 And, having pity ┰, the master of that servant ┰ released ┰ him and forgave him the debt. 28 But, having come out, that servant found one of his subordinates ┰, who owed him a hundred denarii ┰, and, having seized him, he choked him saying: 'Pay ┰ (back) what you owe.' 29 So, having fallen down ┰, his servant entreated ┰ him saying: "Be patient with me, and I will pay you (everything) back." 30 But he refused, and, having departed ┰, he put him in prison until he pays his debt back. 31 ┰ Seeing this, his servants became very ┰ distressed ┰ and, having gone reported all that happened to their master. 32 Then, having summoned him, his master says to him: 'You, wicked ┰ servant. I forgave you all hat debt because you entreated ┰ me. 33 Should you not also show compassion ┰ to your servant like ┰ I showed compassion ┰ to you?' 34 And, having become angry, his master handed him over to the jailers ┰ until he pays back all of (his) ┰ debt. 35 In the same manner ┰ My Heavenly Father will do to you if you would not forgive from your heart, each to your brother.
It would be logical for the servant to require payments from those, to whom he lended money, in order to pay off his own debt to the king if he were given more time to collect the money. However, as his debt was forgiven, he did not have to collect the money from others in order to avoid being sold into slavery. He was free and the only reason he required the payment back and refused to be patient or to forgive was because he was greedy and ungrateful. In this comparison, Jesus communicates that we must be as gracious with others as God is gracious with us. He also contrasts the magnitude of debts. The ungrateful servant owed to the king 6,000 times more money than his servant owed him. This contrast shows how much more we sinned against God than any of our fellow believers would ever sin against us. However, instead of just being patient and long-suffering with us, God completely canceled our moral debt to Him by paying that debt with the life of His Son Jesus. The truth is, the king's servant indebted himself helplessly. There was no way he would ever be able to repay his debt. For him, getting an extension only meant to gain some more time of freedom. The king was ready to sell him and everything he had to recover at least some of his money. Similarly, sending people to Hell for the unrepayable debt also means the loss of life He created for Himself. This is why He took an extreme measure to pay the debt of the humanity with the only sufficient payment - the life of His own Son. Each of the Christians was forgiven a debt he or she would never be able to repay. Then, logically, they also needed to wait, give time, and more chances to those who offended them to make it right and to learn how not to offend, while constantly forgiving them the way God does. This analogy illustrates the previous teaching on patience and forgiveness of a brother who is a candidate for the church discipline, but who repents without being able to change right away. "Be patient with me" is what Jesus teaches in this analogy. Also, to be sold into slavery or to be put into prison alludes to both legally suing your brother or binding him with your unforgiveness. Putting into a prison until one pays back means to withhold forgiveness until the offender changes and makes it up to you, making forgiveness conditional on the person's change. Many people project the same conditional way to forgive onto God believing that He would not forgive anyone who does not clean up his or her life and behavior first, and start doing good things to offset their sins. The truth is, this way of forgiveness is useless as no one of human beings would ever be able to be forgiven by God the way they forgive others. This is why Jesus teaches patience and the forgiveness that God offers to everyone that is conditional only on repentance. The only way to be forgiven by God, is to let people know how they offended Him and to tell them the good news of His forgiveness in Jesus. There was only one reason why the king forgave his servant - because of his repentance and pleading to have propitiousness. This is the free and unconditional propitiousness that only requires repentance and prayer, propitiousness that we must preach for all to accept, and propitiousness that we must extend to each other. There is another twist to this story. The fellow servants, who in this analogy refer to other believers, saw how their fellow Christian refused to release his brother by forgiveness even after the brother repented. Those were the Christians who would normally come along with the offended person and testify against the offender leading to his expulsion from the church. They now testify to God against the offended and unforgiving brother who himself refuses to follow the proper procedure. In the end of this scenario, the offended brother, who refuses to forgive, becomes the object of church discipline and compromises his own chance to be forgiven by both God and His church because of his own refusal to forgive. The church must reject any idea of forgiveness that is conditional on anything apart from the offender's own repentance and preach repentance of sins as the only way to be forgiven and reconciled in relationships with both God and each other. This is the message of the gospel in revival - immediate repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration. There is no reason to make this event a process, to postpone it, or to wait for anything. It must be done and it must be done on the spot. No-one should be able to leave a revived and reviving church without a chance and the sense of necessity to repent and to reconcile with God and each other.
While Jesus taught Peter and other apostles to be patient with their brothers and sisters who would sin against them in order to give an offender time to learn and change, He also expects us to be like God, to completely cancel any grievances and forget any offenses without expecting an offender or a group of offenders to eventually make it up to us. As God, in His propitiousness, constantly forgives us our sins against Him when we repent, He expects us to forgive others when they repent as many times as He does it with us. While God's propitiousness is not endless, He does forgive many more than seventy-seven times. Therefore, it is not clear if we can put any number on forgiveness. Overall, we must be patient as long as there is a hope and some kind of progress of restoration. Only after at least seventy-seven times we forgive and see no sign of improvement, we may proceed with other two steps of church discipline engaging other believers and the whole church. A personal choice not to forgive is a terrible choice that disrupts the flow of God's love and propitiousness through a particular believer or even an entire local church rendering it useless for God. Unforgiveness, or unwillingness to forgive, is a sin similar to the offender's unwillingness to change that does not allow other Christians to learn and grow spiritually to the point of being able to change. It destroys the church from within as much as the sinful and divisive offenses do. Equipped with prayer, forgiveness, patience, and discipline conducted according to the command of Jesus, a church is able to withstand any Satanic attack from within that is aimed at spiritually disabling and destroying a local congregation. These are vitality tools Christians must learn to use effectively, and, if they have not been using them and a damage was done, it is never too late to start using them again and to restore the church to be the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth again. As the analogy of the unforgiving servant has no happy ending, it assumes that the church members are also to be watchful for any brother or sister who harbors and spreads the poison of unforgiveness so that it would not become an acceptable norm for the church. According to this analogy, when an offended party talks to the offender, if the offender repents, but the offended Christian refuses to be patient and forgive but keeps holding the offense against the offender, now the unforgiving party becomes an object of church discipline. If the unforgiving brother or sister does not listen to other believers and persists in unforgiveness, he or she should be excommunicated instead of the repentant offender. The church must be kept vital and functional, free from anything that can disable or destroy it. Finally, Jesus warns about revocability of the forgiveness His Heavenly Father has granted to those who believe in Him. This warning maybe challenging to those who believe in the eternal security of a believer, but it cannot be taken lightly because it is a promise of Jesus who never breaks His promises. Whether a believer in Jesus forfeits forgiveness of his or her own sins against God by harboring unforgiveness in his or her heart towards another believer or this unforgiveness indicates the lack of his or her practical faith that practically saves the person, either way, such a person is in eternal danger. An unforgiving brother not only damages his or her own relationship with God, but also becomes a temptation to others to do the same. Therefore, if unforgiveness and desire of justice, revenge, or restitution from a repentant brother or a sister becomes a driving force of an alleged Christian or a group of Christians, there is no doubt that they will get from God for their sins what they demand to be done to those who wronged them in the past. This means that such Christians are not saved and must be dealt with as Jesus prescribed to deal with those, through whom temptations and strifes come into the church. Unforgiveness must be repented of and abandoned from anyone's heart once and forever before God would grant a church a real revival.
