This is part 6 of a series on forgiveness. See the index here.
Throughout this series we’ve discussed sinning, forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation, and excommunication. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what to do if your brother sins against you (Matthew 18:15-22) and the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:23-35), but we’ve curiously neglected what came before it (Matthew 18:1-14).
Today, we are going to fix that.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying,
And he called to him a little child and set him in the midst of them, and said,
As we will see below, prior to his discussion on sin and forgiveness, he has little children in mind.
I think this is incredibly important. Those of you who have had children understand that children misbehave and their concept of repentance is…. not very strong. And yet on a daily basis, you forgive the offenses your children make. Many times you don’t even punish them because often the best teacher is experience itself.
Imagine if your child sinned against you seven times in one day. Would you forgive them? Of course you would. Unconditionally. What if they sinned against you an eighth time? Would you disown them and kick them out of your home? Of course not! You’d rightly be considered a monster.
What about children themselves? Children understand forgiveness intuitively. They are masters at getting into fights on the playground but forgetting about it by the very next day. They are much less likely to hold grudges—be unforgiving—than adults.
Do you want to be great in God’s kingdom? Be like a child.
Keep all of this in mind when you read Matthew 18:21-22 and Luke 17:3-4.
When Jesus talks about a brother who sins, Jesus isn’t talking to the person who sinned. The focus is entirely on the person who was sinned against (and their reaction).
I read the teaching on stumbling blocks in the same way. One of the reasons we forgive others so freely is so as not to cause them to stumble. By living such love so boldly, we testify to the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ to save. But by withholding forgiveness, we risk causing the sinner to stumble.
The reference to the little children truly emphasizes this. Children are not especially good at repentance. We might be tempted to look down on them, but this would be a mistake.
All that came before was a setup for one of the most important parables of Jesus. It’s subject is, once again, the little children.
The most important part of this parable is that Jesus leaves the 99 sheep that don’t need salvation in order to pursue the 1 sheep that does. It’s not that the 99 who are saved do not need Christ, but that saving the lost is the primary purpose. The 99 can be left in the hands of the hired help, but the owner—Jesus—personally sees to the one that is lost.
So, when Jesus prioritizes the lost, we should take note and do the same.
We are like the 99 who are left behind. We are not unimportant, but we are also not the most important.
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Have you ever considered why is Jesus talking about finding lost children immediately prior to talking about restoring brothers who have sinned against you? Jesus prioritized finding and restoring those who were lost, even at the expense of everything else. Thus, the purpose of church discipline is not to drag your brother before the church in order to excommunicate him, it is to find and restore the lost. The purpose of forgiveness is the same.
Good stuff!
I’m sure you are right; and this also explains the main emphasis of the Prodigal Son parable – i.e. it is the unforgiving brother who is the problem, and not the repentant Prodigal.
Yes!
This is why it could be called “The Parable of the Unforgiving Brother.”
I read “Short Stories by Jesus” by Amy-Jill Levine. And while I did not agree with the majority of her conclusions—indeed I found her explicit Judaism to be actively hostile towards Christianity—she also makes the case (in the chapter entitled “Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son”) that the Prodigal Son was not the focus of the Parable. On that, at least, I agree.
Levine notes that in the Coptic sources, it is called “The Parable of the Lost Son” which I like because it naturally leads one to ask “Which son is lost?”
Incidentally, the Revised English Version calls the three parables in succession “The Parable of the Lost Sheep,” “The Parable of the Lost Coin,” and “The Parable of the Lost Son.” What’s interesting to me is that the REV used to call it “The Parable of the Forgiving Father,” but noted that R.C.H. Lenski called it “The Parable of the Two Lost Sons.”