In the first seven verses of Matthew 18 Jesus sets the record straight with His disciples who are seeking to be exalted in the Kingdom as the greatest. He tells them that humility will reign in God’s kingdom. In the next 7 verses, Jesus describes His great love for mankind.
STUMBLING BLOCKS
This passage is an extension of the previous bible study where we saw Jesus give an illustration of humility by calling a child to Himself. He said that anyone who receives a humble follower of God with humility does so in His name, but it also came with a warning. Jesus warned in verse 6 that anyone who causes a child to stumble in their belief in Him would find it better to die physically than to face His judgement. Then in Matt. 18:7 He warns about “stumbling blocks”.
Matthew 18:7 – Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling blocks come!
Jesus pronounces a “woe” to the world for its “stumbling blocks. When “woe” is pronounced, it is a warning of impending judgement from God. It’s a certain, coming doom. But what are the stumbling blocks? Well simply put, stumbling blocks are anything that would hinder a person’s walk with God. Sin, being what separates us from God. And Jesus uses the phrase “world” to describe all the pitfalls and stumbling blocks the world and its systems have to offer. The warning here is a personal warning from God to anyone that would create a stumbling block. After this warning, Jesus uses hyperbole to encourage His disciples to be radical in dealing with their own sin. This shows how serious the problem of sin is.
Matthew 18:8-9 – If your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble , pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into hell.
Jesus is continuing to draw distinctions between His kingdom and the world. In the previous chapter, Jesus told the disciples to have a kingdom focus. Here, He is saying the exact same thing! It would be better to suffer difficult infirmities here than to suffer eternal consequences. So, he uses hyperbole to say, be radical with removing sin from your life. Remove whatever is causing you to stumble from you even if it’s something as important as your eye or your hands and feet. It would be better to go through life on earth with some suffering than to stumble eternally.
The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 to “flee immorality”. Which is the same message, get away from immorality, as far as possible. Flee, run from it! In other words, don’t dance around it, don’t dabble near it. Remove it and stay away from it. This is an urgent message from Jesus.
99 AND 1
After pronouncing judgement on those who would cause His children to stumble and exhorting His disciples to radically remove sin from their life. Jesus tells His disciples why they should do this. It’s because of His great love for his children! The bible frequently refers to God’s people as sheep and Jesus as the shepherd.
Matthew 18:11-14 – For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? If it turns out he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. So, it is not the will of you Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
What a wonderful passage! Jesus doesn’t just leave them with a warning, he tells them how much they are loved. In this illustration. Jesus points out to them a reality of being a shepherd. Inevitably some will leave the herd and get themselves into trouble. And when that happens, the shepherd will have to go rescue the one who left.
We have to remember that the context of this passage is still connected to the previous conversation by the disciples about being the greatest. Jesus wants the disciples to catch the vision of loving people in humility and service. After all, they will be the shepherds called on to care for God’s people once Jesus’ ministry here on earth was over. But in giving this lesson we get to see the wonderful love of the Savior!
THE PRODIGAL
The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most well-known parables Jesus told. And it’s remarkably similar to the parable of the 99 and 1 in this passage. In Luke 15:11-32 we get the parable of the son who wanted his inheritance early from his father’s estate so he could go live as he wished. He went off and partied and lived it up and squandered his fortune. When the son was finally destitute enough, he decided it would be better to go back to his father and live as his slave than living the life he was currently living as a result of his foolish sinfulness.
When he returned to his father, his father threw a big party celebrating the return of his son! Not only did the father not make him a slave, but he also restored him as his son and celebrated him with the finest trimmings. The son who had stayed and been faithful to his father was furious. He was the one who deserved the party after all, not the wayward brother. He was filled with self-righteousness and jealousy. But the father’s reaction said it all:
Luke 15:31-32 – And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.”
Of course, in this parable, the father represents Jesus, and the sons are different representations of us. On multiple occasions in the gospels, Jesus reminds His disciples and others listening that “He did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance”. When a sinner repents and follows much like the prodigal son, He rejoices, just like the Shepherd who found the wayward sheep.
Jesus’ point in the two parables is the same. The Lord is merciful, and gracious and He desires that prodigals come home, that the lost sheep be redeemed. He wants His disciples to stop worrying about their own greatness and to focus on the task at hand, finding the prodigals, the lost sheep who need a great shepherd.
CONCLUSION
The disciples were still looking for Jesus to take the earthly throne and rule in power and might. That is still to come, He will return. They were missing the point despite Jesus clear teaching that He would be handed over to suffer and die at the hands of sinners, but that He would also be “raised up on the third day” (Matt. 16:21). Jesus had directly told them that was what was going to happen, but they didn’t understand or want to believe it. The purpose of His first coming was not to set up an earthly kingdom, it was to seek and save the lost. To help people who were dead in their sins and give them new life.
Jesus’ parables of both the 99 and 1 and the prodigal are both illustrations of each of us. Ephesians 2:1 says we are all dead in our sins (transgressions). But Ephesians 2:4 says we have a God that is rich in mercy and came that we may live! What does that mean? It means that each one of us has fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). And not even one of us can do enough good to atone for those sins. Only One was ever good enough to do that, Jesus the righteous.
His death on the cross after living a perfect righteous life, satisfied God’s wrath poured out on our sin. Then he was raised again on the third day overpowering death and now He sits interceding for us in power and glory. This is the Gospel, the good news, that we all need. It’s the reality that restores the wayward sheep to a right relationship with the shepherd.
And in His great love for us, He not only provided the way for us to be redeemed. But He also rejoices over the sinner that comes home. What a great comfort.