Matthew 17:22 After they gathered again in Galilee,
Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his
enemies.
23 He will be killed, but on the third day
he will be raised from the dead.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
24 On their arrival in Capernaum, the
collectors of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked him, “Doesn’t your teacher
pay the Temple tax?”
25 “Yes, he does,” Peter replied. Then he
went into the house. But before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him,
“What do you think, Peter? Do kings tax their own people or the people they
have conquered? ”
26 “They tax the people they have
conquered,” Peter replied. “Well, then,” Jesus said, “the citizens are free!
27 However, we don’t want to offend them,
so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish
you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for
both of us.”
Matthew 18
1 About that time the disciples came to
Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2 Jesus called a little child to him and
put the child among them.
3 Then he said, “I tell you the truth,
unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never
get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 So anyone who becomes as humble as this
little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
5 “And anyone who welcomes a little child
like this on my behalf is welcoming me.
6 But if you cause one of these little
ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a
large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
7 “What sorrow awaits the world, because
it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the
person who does the tempting.
8 So if your hand or foot causes you to
sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only
one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your
hands and feet.
9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge
it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye
than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
10 “Beware that you don’t look down on any
of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in
the presence of my heavenly Father.
11
12 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of
them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on
the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?
13 And if he finds it, I tell you the
truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t
wander away!
14 In the same way, it is not my heavenly
Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.
15 “If another believer sins against you,
go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and
confesses it, you have won that person back.
16 But if you are unsuccessful, take one or
two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be
confirmed by two or three witnesses.
17 If the person still refuses to listen,
take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s
decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.
18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you
forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth
will be permitted in heaven.
19 “I also tell you this: If two of you
agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it
for you.
20 For where two or three gather together
as my followers, I am there among them.”
21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord,
how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied,
“but seventy times seven!
23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be
compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants
who had borrowed money from him.
24 In the process, one of his debtors was
brought in who owed him millions of dollars.
25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered
that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to
pay the debt.
26 “But the man fell down before his master
and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’
27 Then his master was filled with pity for
him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
28 “But when the man left the king, he went
to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the
throat and demanded instant payment.
29 “His fellow servant fell down before him
and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he
pleaded.
30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had
the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
31 “When some of the other servants saw
this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that
had happened.
32 Then the king called in the man he had
forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt
because you pleaded with me.
33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow
servant, just as I had mercy on you?’
34 Then the angry king sent the man to
prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do
to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”
