Matthew 18-19

1. Matthew 18-19

2. Matthew 18:1-5(Humility) Both the Apostles and the Church grew in importance. The Savior discussed several issues relative to the church and its leaders. The first was His concerned with humility. Doctrine and Covenants 112:10, was one of President Hinckley’s favorite scriptures).

3. Matthew 18:3-4 Humility is important for both a leader and a member of the church. The attribute of absolute dependence upon a higher power. This is especially true regarding the Atonement. An infant who dies is utterly dependent upon the Atonement of Jesus Christ for salvation (Mosiah 3:16,19). In other words, the Atonement is in effect in their lives.

4. Matthew 18:6-14 Causing little ones to stumble. “Little Ones” = Converts to the new kingdom Matthew 18:6 Millstones were large round stones about three feet in diameter. It required the power of a donkey to turn the mill. It would drown someone easily if they were cast into the sea (they were sometimes called “Donkey Millstones”).

5. Matt. 18:6 What is meant by the statement “Whoso Shall offend one of these little ones?” Little ones are children and those who have become as little children by conforming to the principles of the gospel. To “offend one of these little ones,” to cause to stumble or falter because of false example of doctrine, is a grievous sin indeed. The Savior taught that in some cases it would have been better for a person never to have been born than for him to have blocked the eternal progress of another (McConkie, DNTC, 1:420).

6. Matthew 18:8-9 There are two ways to look at this second reminder: • Members of the Church should avoid sin of every kind. • Those members who commit extreme sin and cause others to do so should be removed from the body of the church.

7. Matthew 18:10 Despise not one of these. Greek: To look down on, treat with contempt, condemn, despise, disdain, think little or nothing of these little ones. In other words, all members are equal. Matthew 18:15-20 Dealing with the sinner! Leaders are told to confront those who have sinned in an effort to reclaim them (D&C 102).

8. “The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant” Matthew 18:21-35 The debt of 10,000 talents was equated with each man’s sins. It was an insurmountable debt! In other words, the debt could never be paid back. 1 talent = 75.6 pounds The 100 pence debt (a reasonable debt) was equated with the most another can do to you. It would be equal to 100 days of work. This was 1,250 times less debt owed!

9. Matthew 18:1-19:2(The 4th Discourse) There are two things we should be really good at in this life: 1. Forgiving others 2. Repenting We should be doing plenty of both!

10. Application: Since God had forgiven the disciples of their sins (something they could not do for themselves) they should therefore from their hearts forgive “every one his brother their trespasses” (D&C 64:9-11).

11. Matthew 19(The 5th Narrative) Divergent Views concerning Divorce: In relation to the different opinions upon this subject among the Jewish authorities in the time of Christ, Geikie says: “Among the questions of the day fiercely debated between the great rival schools of Hillel and Shammai, no one was more so than that of divorce.

12. The school of Hillel contended that a man had a right to divorce his wife of any cause he might assign. If it were no more than his having ceased to love her, or his having seen one he liked better, or her having cooked dinner badly. The school of Shammai, on the contrary, held that divorce could be issued only for the crime of adultery, and offences against chastity. If it were possible to get Jesus to pronounce in favor of either school, the hospitality of the other would be roused, and, hence, it seemed a favorable chance for compromising Him.”

13. “Rabbi Akiba (Hillelite) said, “If a man sees a woman handsomer than his own wife he may put her (his wife) away, because it is said, if she find not favor in his eyes.’ The school of Hillel said, ‘If the wife cook her husband’s food ill, by over-salting or over-roasting it, she is to be put away.” On the other had Rabbi Jochanan (a Shammaite) said, “The putting away of a wife is odious.’ Both schools agreed that a divorced wife could not be taken back… Rabbi Chananiah said God has not subscribed His name to divorces, except among Israelites, as if he had said: I have conceded to the Israelites, the right to dismissing their wives; but to the Gentiles I have not conceded it.’ Jesus retorts that it is not the privilege but the infamy and reproach of Israel, that Moses found it necessary to tolerate divorce (Dummelow’s Commentary, 347-348).

14. Marriage and Divorce It focused on the hard heartedness of the Pharisees. Marriage is a very important aspect of Jewish society. Matthew 19:3 In other words, is it alright to get a divorce for any reason? The Savior responded by declaring the higher law! (Matthew 19:4-6, D&C 131-132, Moses 3:18-25).

15. Matthew 19:7 The Pharisees rebutted by saying that Moses allowed it! Matthew 19:8 The Lord tried to impress this upon his disciples that it was only because of the hardness of the hearts of the people, because they failed to keep the commandments that the Lord had given them that Moses granted the putting away of the wife. Today the laws are different, and sometimes wives put away their husbands, but a marriage in the Temple of the Lord should be one that should be considered sacred and holy, never to be violated in any way whatsoever because it means that those who enter such a covenant shall continue after death and have eternal increase and build a kingdom.

16. Now, if there is ever a divorce between a man and a woman married in the temple for time and all eternity, it is because they, one or the other or both, have violated the covenants that they made at the altar of the Lord otherwise they could not separate, and the Lord never intended that a man and a woman be separated in death, but that this marriage was one for eternity. There was no separation in death, and one of the greatest sins that can be committed is for a man and a woman to separate after they have been sealed in the house of the Lord to become sons and daughters of God and members of his household, and to have children come to them, sent by divine approval to be in that household not only for time but for all eternity” (Joseph Fielding Smith, C.R. April 1961, 49).

17. Matthew 19:9 The Savior stated that the only good reason for divorce was when the trust of the marriage was shattered by adultery. Otherwise, if he divorced to marry another, it was the same as committing adultery.

18. Elder Bruce R. McConkie said: Even in the Church today the saints do not abide by the full and perfect law. It is somewhat as it was in the days of Moses; divorce is permitted because of the hardness of the hearts of the people, and the Lord permits his agents to exercise the power to loose as well as the power to bind. Under our circumstances divorced persons who remarry are not always guilty of the crimes they would be if the highest gospel standard were in force (Mormon Doctrine, 203).

19. Eunuchs – Matthew 19:12 (Bible Dictionary page 667) Born from their mother’s womb = impotent Made of men = celibacy Made themselves = castrated These men were trusted over harems for obvious reasons.

20. Matthew 19:16-22The Rich Young Man The cost of discipleship. The question seemed to imply that salvation could be earned by doing one good thing. Matthew 19:18Which? A good question. Living at a time when Judaism was extremely fractured with various religious parties. There were 613 laws in the oral law. The man was perplexed as to which commandments he should keep. The Savior told the man to keep the written law of Moses.

21. Matthew 19:21Be perfect! He was living the commandments of the law of Moses, but the law of Moses will not save a man in the Celestial Kingdom. If one would be perfect, one must shed the material things of this world and follow the Savior. He was content with doing just one thing to inherit eternal life. He was not willing to live the Law of Consecration.

22. Matthew 19:23-24 There have been those who claimed that the needle referred to here was a small gate not meant for large animals to pass through. There is no evidence for such a gate. The statement was meant to be an exaggeration. In Jewish literature, Rabbi Raba said: “This is proved by the fact that a man is never shown in a dream a date palm of gold, or an elephant going through the eye of a needle” (Talmud Berakoth 55b). Jesus saw wealth as a hindrance to spiritual progress!

23. Elder Talmage taught in “Jesus the Christ” that some interpreters insist that a “rope” not a camel, was mentioned by Jesus. Elder Talmage mentioned that it had been asserted that the term “needle’s eye” was applied to a small door or wicket set in or alongside the great gates in the walls of cities; and the assumption had been raised that Jesus had such a wicket in mind when He spoke of the seeming impossibility of a camel passing through a needle’s eye.

24. It would be possible though very difficult for a camel to squeeze its way through the little gate, and it could in no wise do so except when relieved of its load and stripped of all its harness. If this conception be correct, we may find additional similitude between the fact that the camel must first be unloaded and stripped, however costly its burden or rich its accoutrement, and the necessity of the rich young ruler, and so of any man, divesting himself of the burden and trappings of wealth, if he would enter by the narrow way that lead into the kingdom. The Lord’s exposition of His saying was all-sufficient for the purposes of the lesson: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

25. Matthew 19:27 Peter said: “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” The Savior gives a gentle but firm rebuke. The responsibility was that they would judge the 12 tribes of Israel. Their reward was eternal life! Matthew 19:30 The Savior hinted that some outside the apostolic circle would prove in the end more worthy than some of the apostles.