Matthew 18 Summary

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Matthew 18 starts out with "at that time" to signify that within the same hour of Jesus being accused of not paying the temple tax he also explains the humility it takes to reach the Kingdom (Mitch and Sri, 226). It would logically make sense because Christ speaks about the benefits and reputation of being sons of God who is the Kingdom; moreover, this could stir the disciples to question their own rank in the Kingdom compared to other disciples (Mitch and Sri, 226). However, the authors believe that the disciples questioning of their own rank was ignited by Jesus revealing Himself to Peter more fully because he knew Christ was the Messiah and Jesus gave him a higher authority in teaching and judicial matters by electing him as the rock of the Church …show more content…

I believe when Jesus was giving Peter more responsibility and privileges it caused the disciples to compete for becoming the greatest son of the Kingdom even though they were not fully aware of what made a son of the Kingdom great (Mitch and Sri, 226). Jesus clears up the confusion among the disciples by using a child as a "living parable" (Mitch and Sri, 226). In the early Jewish culture, children were looked upon as lowly people who were low on the social hierarchy and were always under the authority of those older than them (Mitch and Sri, 227). The authors use the words, "radical reorientation" to highlight the transformation of the disciples' views about the Kingdom (Mitch and Sri, 227). Jesus calls the disciples to "turn away from their worldly views" and humble themselves to the point of becoming like children; furthermore, this means they would be almost invisible in the world and be servants to all (Mitch and Sri, 227). Jesus makes a demanding command by saying we must be as humble as children to enter the Kingdom and if we do not humble ourselves we "will not enter" the Kingdom (Mitch and Sri,

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