Lesson 14: “Who Is My Neighbour?”
Matthew 18
Luke 10
Purpose: To help class members humble themselves, forgive others, and show charity for one another.
Lesson Development
1. Jesus teaches that we must become as little children.
2. Through the parable of the unmerciful servant, Jesus teaches about forgiveness.
3. Through the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus teaches about charity.
Scripture Discussion and Application
If you were ill and had reason to believe that you were going to die within the next three or four months, what would be some of your main concerns in the time you had left? [Accept all ideas, but continue discussion until someone comments about making plans for those you would leave behind, either as dependents in a temporal sense or as those who look to you as the pattern for living their own lives.]
The Savior knew he would soon lay down his life, not from illness but as a sacrifice for the Atonement and to open the way to the Resurrection.
Matthew 16:21
21 From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Matthew 17:22-23
22 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:
23 And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
Along with warning his disciples that he soon would leave them, he tried to prepare them for the time when they would not have him as their daily companion – he did what [class member] suggested we might do: He taught them what they would need to do, how they would need to treat each other as members of his church, to continue living as his disciples even when he had gone away.
Matthew, Chapter 18, is either one long sermon about how members of the Christian community should behave toward each other, or else is a collection of separate sayings of Jesus, presented by the gospel writer to illustrate that theme of how we are to treat each other as followers of Jesus Christ. As we talk about each idea in Matthew, Chapter 18, let’s think about them specifically as instructions for treating each other as members of this ward.
First: When you think about a ward – or at least a typical ward; ours may not be the best example – what ward members have the least to say about how the ward operates – who does what, and when, and how? [Hoped-for response: The children.] Who has the most to say about how the ward operates? [Bishopric, Relief Society Presidency, other ward officers.]
In a typical organization – a business, say, or a political body – if you have some people who make all the decisions, and others who have no voice but do have to abide by the decisions others make, who is considered the most powerful, the most important?
When Jesus begins to teach his followers about the kind of community the people of God must create – that is, the Kingdom of Heaven — he turns that notion of greatness upside down.
Matthew 18:1-4
1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
What does it mean to be “humble as a little child”? What traits to some of the rest of us, who are not humble as children, have that could bar us from the kingdom of heaven? [Accept answers that refer to modesty or simplicity, but emphasize answers that refer to lowly position or powerlessness, which, in context of the entire chapter, seem to be the significant points.]
Jesus actually calls a little child up to him and holds him up as a sort of teaching aid, to demonstrate what it means to be humble in the sense of having little power or position in society. Who – what kinds of people – in our wards today might also be considered as having little power or position?
But simply being powerless as a child is not what fits anyone for the kingdom, is it? What is it about being “the least” in the community that God can turn around and make “the greatest” in the Kingdom of Heaven?
Then Jesus shifts from telling his listeners that they should put themselves in the position of little children, and tells us how we – those of us who are not children – how we ought to treat the humble.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
That word “offense” is something we should talk about. We hear it a lot in public discourse: “I’m offended by this” or “No offense, but …” just before someone says something truly offensive. People are considered offensive if they use the wrong label for a group. Lawbreakers are “offenders.”
The Greek word that the King James translators have given us as “offend” or “offense” has been translated by other Biblical translators as “cause to stumble” or “become a snare” or even “cause to sin.” What are some of the things church members could potentially do that cause each other not only to have hurt feelings, as “offend” suggests, but to “stumble” or “sin”?
7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
How important is your hand, or your foot, or your eye, to your way of life? Would it be easy to get along without one or another of these body parts?
I have to assume that Jesus is speaking metaphorically here, that he is not counseling his followers to undergo amputations in a literal way. But that makes me wonder what the metaphor is, what he does expect us to cast away.
What is there in daily life that seems as essential to us, sometimes, as our hands or eyes, that can sometimes cause us to stumble or sin? [Suggestions might be literal objects, luxuries that tempt us to use our time and means in ways that are not compatible with the Kingdom, or they may be attitudes and appetites, perhaps ones that are actually good in moderation but become problems in excess.]
If Jesus is giving this instruction not just to church members as individuals, but to the church as a whole, how might we interpret it? Is this response to offense anything that should be lightly or thoughtless done? How serious would the problem need to be before you were willing to cut off something as essential to you as your hand or your eye? [Be careful during this discussion. End it quickly if it turns personal. The purpose of even raising the question of cutting off someone from the body of the church is to emphasize that this is not done merely for hurt feelings or insults or misunderstandings or differences of opinion, as might seem contemplated by a word like “offense,” but only when the offense reaches the point of being a snare for the innocent and humble. Note that the rest of the chapter calls for repeated forgiveness of the offender.]
The Savior counsels a more compassionate first step for dealing with church members who are losing their way.
12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Does this seem fair to you? Some of you have been faithful members of the Church your entire lives, doing your best to live the commandments and raise your families to love the Lord. How do you feel about your wayward brother coming back to the fold and getting all the praise and rejoicing? What is your answer to someone (even yourself?) who feels this way? to the older brother of the prodigal son?
Next, Jesus touches on the situation between church members, when one of us inevitably causes harm to another one of us. How are we supposed to handle events like that?
15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
“If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” I think it is no accident that this counsel comes immediately after the parable of the shepherd seeking the lost sheep. If you follow this counsel, if you go to the offending brother privately and try to work things out between you, how are you imitating the shepherd seeking that lost sheep?
Have you ever been party to a time when disputes between ward members were handled incorrectly, through gossip or recruiting other ward members to take sides? What was the effect of such behavior on the ward community?
Can anyone briefly recount an instance when a dispute between ward members was handled properly?
Is it always that easy? That is, can disputes between church members always be handled this smoothly? [v. 17 suggests no.] In that case, what are you supposed to do?
Is every dispute between church members worthy of being taken to this extreme? Why, or why not?
At this point, Peter comes to Jesus with a question. I love impetuous Peter! He’s willing, apparently, to listen quietly to counsel that a millstone be hung around someone’s neck and he be drowned in the sea, and to contemplate cutting off his own arm or plucking out his own eye, but this – this! – is too much for him. You’re kidding, Jesus, right? I’m supposed to forgive a brother who trespasses against me?! Repeatedly forgive him??
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
This instruction on forgiving – over and over and over – comes immediately after the instruction that, under certain circumstances, it is necessary to cut someone off from the community – to treat him as a heathen and an outsider. Do you think there was any purpose for the Savior to emphasize forgiveness again, after he has just spoken about casting someone out?
When we read passages like those in Matthew 18, probably more often than not we think of ourselves alongside Peter, as the ones who have been trespassed against, the ones who are in the position of doing the forgiving. But immediately after telling Peter that yes, he must forgive, not just a few offenses but an unimaginably great number of offenses, he tells a story that reminds us that we – all of us who have any desire to enter the kingdom of heaven – are really in the position of the one who is the offender. Time after time, we are the guilty parties who have need of being forgiven.
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Jesus’s parables are not always very subtle – who is the king and who are the servants in this parable? Each of us in turn is the servant brought before the king, and asked to repay our debt of ten thousand talents. I read this week a calculation in dollar terms of what ten thousand talents of silver would be – and learned that it was greater than the entire worth of the whole Roman Empire. What hope does any one of us have of repaying even a fraction of a debt that size, on our own?
25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Then that servant, forgiven of his massive debt, goes to collect the pocket change that another man owed to him.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Comments?
Conclusion
Soon after beginning to teach his followers that he would soon be called to leave them, the Savior began to teach them what they must do to imitate the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, after he will have gone away. [Adjust this summary to take into account additional insights offered by class members during discussion.]
1. First, he taught them that all who accepted the gospel, even – or especially – those who had no earthly honor to gain by following Christ, were members of the Kingdom. There should be no jockeying for position or honor, because it was the innocent, not the powerful, who would be counted greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
2. Christ’s followers should watch out for each other, and do nothing to cause each other to stumble or commit sin. No matter how beloved or important anything might be, it would be better to leave it behind than to allow it to lead the innocent astray.
3. Nevertheless, if some part of the community did become separate from the rest, it was the duty of the leaders to try to reclaim that lost one. Not only that, but when a lost member was restored to the flock, there should be acceptance and rejoicing – the one returning should be made welcome.
4. When a member of the church began to commit offenses, those who are most directly involved should try to correct the problem. If the offending member didn’t listen, then the Church itself should get involved. There would be times when the offender would refuse to accept correction, and eventually would cease to be a part of the church.
5. Even so, brethren should extend forgiveness, not just once, but repeatedly and continually. After all, Jesus taught, the King of Heaven had patience and compassion to forgive us our own unimaginably great offences – Under those circumstances, followers of Christ can be nothing short of merciful to those who offend us.