The Hard Sayings of Jesus in Matthew 18...Matthew 18:21-35
A beautifully restored barn in the Kawuneeche Valley of the Rocky Mountain National Park. It probably took a lot of work to bring it back to life. Restoring something take that. Repairs, replacing and reinforcing are also usually part of the process. So it is with the restoring of relationships. I see a lot of that in the lessons taught by Jesus to His disciples in Matthew 18. Just finishing the chapter this Sunday, here are some of my highlights from the chapter. The disciples are disputing and questioning Jesus about who is the greatest (the GOAT) in the kingdom of heaven and Jesus redirects their thinking and vision not to the prideful but the humble. Jesus declares that sin needs to be taken seriously. Repair needs to happen when we sin and heaven forbid when we entice others to sin. Sin is not to be patched over or ignored but replaced with repentance and forgiveness. Jesus also declares that we are not to despise t...