THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW ~ Chapter 18
Just then the disciples came over and asked
Yeshua, ‘Who is really the greatest I the kingdom of heaven?’ Yeshua then
called a little child and, placing the child in the center of the group, He replied,
“I tell you truly that if you do not have a change of heart and become like a
child, you will not get into the kingdom of heaven at all. The greatest in the kingdom
of heaven must make himself as humble as a child. Anyone who receives a little
child in My Name, receives Me. But whoever leads astray one of these little
ones who believe in Me might better have a millstone hung around his neck and
be sunk in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of temptations
offered to stumble – they must come, it seems – but woe especially to the man
that causes them! Indeed, if your hand or your foot should cause you to sin,
cut them off and throw them away, for it is better for you to go into life
minus a hand or a foot than to be cast into everlasting fire with both hands
and feet. Likewise, if your eye cause you to sin, pluck it out and throw it
away, for it is better for you to go into life with only one eye than to be
cast into hell fire with both eyes. Be careful; do not despise the little
children! For I tell you that in heaven their angles look to the face of My
heavenly Father continually.”
“For the Son of man has come to save what was
lost. What do you think? Suppose a man had 100 sheep, and 1 of them gets lost. Doesn’t
he leave the 99 up there in the mountains and go out in search of the 1 that
was lost? And if he finds it, don’t you agree that he will have more joy over
that 1 than over the 99 that did not go astray? I truly think so. Even so, it
is not the will of your heavenly Father that 1 of these little children should
perish.”
“If your brother should do you a wrong, you
should take the matter up with him. Talk to him in private; if he will listen
to you, you have won back your brother. If he will not listen to you, take 1 or
2 other persons with you, so that every word spoken may be confirmed by the
testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses. And if he will not listen to them, bring the matter
before The Church, and then if he will not listen to The Church, let him be
treated as a heathen or a foreigner. It is absolutely true that what you bind
on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you forgive on earth will be
forgiven in heaven. One thing more – if 2 of you agree on any request here on
earth, My heavenly Father will answer your prayer. For where 2 or 3 come
together in My Name, there am I in their midst.”
Simon Peter then came to him and said, ‘How
often must I forgive my brother if he sins against me? As many as 7x?’ “I tell
you,” said Yeshua, “not up to 7x but to 70 x 7. The kingdom of heaven,
therefore, s like a certain king who decided to go over his accounts with his
servants. He had hardly begun when there came in one of his subjects who owed
him $1,000,000; but as he had nothing to pay with, the king gave orders that he
was to be sold, with his wife and children and everything that he had, in
payment of the debt. At this, the debtor fell prostrate before him, pleading, ‘Lord,
be patient with me and I will pay you every cent.’ The king took pity on his
subject and set him free: in fact, he canceled the whole debt. And then that
same man went out and found a fellow subject who owed him about $20. He seized
him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe me!’
The man fell at his feet and cried out, pleadingly, ‘Give me time and I will
pay for everything.’ But he refused. Rather, he had him thrown into jail to
stay until he had paid his debt. Now, while others saw what had happened, they
were angry, and they went to their master, the king, and reported what had
taken place. The king then sent for him. ‘You wicked servant!’ he said, ‘I
forgave your whole debt because you begged me. Was it not proper that you, too,
should have taken pity on your fellow servant, even as I took pity on you? Then
the king, I wrath, turned him over to be tortured until he should pay all that
he owed. Just so will My heavenly Father di to you if you do not, every one of
you, forgive his brother.”
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