Mateo 18
Dios Habla Hoy
¿Quién es el más importante?(A)
18 En aquella misma ocasión los discípulos se acercaron a Jesús y le preguntaron:
—¿Quién es el más importante en el reino de los cielos?
2 Jesús llamó entonces a un niño, lo puso en medio de ellos 3 y dijo:
—Les aseguro que si ustedes no cambian y se vuelven como niños, no entrarán en el reino de los cielos. 4 El más importante en el reino de los cielos es el que se humilla y se vuelve como este niño. 5 Y el que recibe en mi nombre a un niño como éste, me recibe a mí.
El peligro de caer en pecado(B)
6 »A cualquiera que haga caer en pecado a uno de estos pequeños que creen en mí, más le valdría que lo hundieran en lo profundo del mar con una gran piedra de molino atada al cuello. 7 ¡Qué malo es para el mundo que haya tantas incitaciones al pecado! Tiene que haberlas, pero ¡ay del hombre que haga pecar a los demás!
8 »Por eso, si tu mano o tu pie te hacen caer en pecado, córtatelos y échalos lejos de ti; es mejor que entres en la vida manco o cojo, y no que con tus dos manos y tus dos pies seas arrojado al fuego eterno. 9 Y si tu ojo te hace caer en pecado, sácatelo y échalo lejos de ti; es mejor que entres en la vida con un solo ojo, y no que con tus dos ojos seas arrojado al fuego del infierno.
La parábola de la oveja perdida(C)
10 »No desprecien a ninguno de estos pequeños. Pues les digo que en el cielo los ángeles de ellos están mirando siempre el rostro de mi Padre celestial.
12 »¿Qué les parece? Si un hombre tiene cien ovejas y se le extravía una de ellas, ¿acaso no dejará las otras noventa y nueve en el monte, para ir a buscar la oveja extraviada? 13 Y si logra encontrarla, de seguro se alegrará más por esa oveja que por las noventa y nueve que no se extraviaron. 14 Así también, el Padre de ustedes que está en el cielo no quiere que se pierda ninguno de estos pequeños.
Cómo se debe perdonar al hermano(D)
15 »Si tu hermano te hace algo malo, habla con él a solas y hazle reconocer su falta. Si te hace caso, ya has ganado a tu hermano. 16 Si no te hace caso, llama a una o dos personas más, para que toda acusación se base en el testimonio de dos o tres testigos. 17 Si tampoco les hace caso a ellos, díselo a la comunidad; y si tampoco hace caso a la comunidad, entonces habrás de considerarlo como un pagano o como uno de esos que cobran impuestos para Roma.
18 »Les aseguro que lo que ustedes aten aquí en la tierra, también quedará atado en el cielo, y lo que ustedes desaten aquí en la tierra, también quedará desatado en el cielo.
19 »Esto les digo: Si dos de ustedes se ponen de acuerdo aquí en la tierra para pedir algo en oración, mi Padre que está en el cielo se lo dará. 20 Porque donde dos o tres se reúnen en mi nombre, allí estoy yo en medio de ellos.
21 Entonces Pedro fue y preguntó a Jesús:
—Señor, ¿cuántas veces deberé perdonar a mi hermano, si me hace algo malo? ¿Hasta siete?
22 Jesús le contestó:
—No te digo hasta siete veces, sino hasta setenta veces siete.
La parábola del funcionario que no quiso perdonar
23 »Por esto, sucede con el reino de los cielos como con un rey que quiso hacer cuentas con sus funcionarios. 24 Estaba comenzando a hacerlas cuando le presentaron a uno que le debía muchos millones. 25 Como aquel funcionario no tenía con qué pagar, el rey ordenó que lo vendieran como esclavo, junto con su esposa, sus hijos y todo lo que tenía, para que quedara pagada la deuda. 26 El funcionario se arrodilló delante del rey, y le rogó: “Tenga usted paciencia conmigo y se lo pagaré todo.” 27 Y el rey tuvo compasión de él; así que le perdonó la deuda y lo puso en libertad.
28 »Pero al salir, aquel funcionario se encontró con un compañero suyo que le debía una pequeña cantidad. Lo agarró del cuello y comenzó a estrangularlo, diciéndole: “¡Págame lo que me debes!” 29 El compañero, arrodillándose delante de él, le rogó: “Ten paciencia conmigo y te lo pagaré todo.” 30 Pero el otro no quiso, sino que lo hizo meter en la cárcel hasta que le pagara la deuda. 31 Esto dolió mucho a los otros funcionarios, que fueron a contarle al rey todo lo sucedido. 32 Entonces el rey lo mandó llamar, y le dijo: “¡Malvado! Yo te perdoné toda aquella deuda porque me lo rogaste. 33 Pues tú también debiste tener compasión de tu compañero, del mismo modo que yo tuve compasión de ti.” 34 Y tanto se enojó el rey, que ordenó castigarlo hasta que pagara todo lo que debía.
35 Jesús añadió:
—Así hará también con ustedes mi Padre celestial, si cada uno de ustedes no perdona de corazón a su hermano.
Matthew 18
EasyEnglish Bible
Who is important in God's kingdom?
18 Soon after this, the disciples came to Jesus and they asked him, ‘Who is the most important person in the kingdom of heaven?’
2 Jesus called a child to come to him. He made the child stand in the middle of them all. 3 He said, ‘I tell you this: You must change and become like little children. If not, you will never come into the kingdom of heaven. 4 This little child does not think that he is very important. You must also think as he does. Whoever does this will be the most important person in the kingdom of heaven. 5 If anyone accepts a child like this because of me, that person also accepts me.’
6 Jesus said, ‘A person who believes in me may not seem important. But you should never make that person do wrong things.[a] Do not do that! It would be better for you if someone tied a big stone round your neck. Then you would sink deep down into the sea and die. 7 Some things in this world will cause people to do wrong things. You can be sure that bad things will happen. But it will be very bad for the person who makes these things happen.
8 If your hand or your foot causes you to do wrong things, you should cut it off. You should throw it away. It is better to have only one hand or one foot and to have God's true life. It will be much worse to keep both your hands and both your feet and still do wrong things. Then God will throw you into hell, where the fire always burns. 9 If your eye causes you to do wrong things, then you should take it out. You should throw it away. It is better to have only one of your eyes and to have God's true life. It will be much worse if you keep both your eyes but then God throws you into hell. There the fire always burns.
10 Be careful! Do not think that any of these little people are not important. I tell you this. They have angels who watch over them. Those angels are always standing in front of my Father in heaven.[b]
11 [I, the Son of Man, came to look for those who are far away from God.][c]
12 Think about a man who has 100 sheep. He discovers that one of his sheep is not there with the others. What does he do? He leaves all his other sheep on the hills. He goes to look for the one lost sheep. 13 And I tell you this: If he finds that lost sheep, he will be very happy. All the other sheep are safe together. But they do not make him as happy as this one sheep does. 14 God, your Father in heaven, is like that shepherd. He does not want any of these little people to be lost, not even one of them.’[d]
A friend does wrong things against you
15 Jesus said, ‘If your Christian friend has done something wrong against you, you must go and speak to him. When you are alone with him, tell him what he has done that is wrong. He may agree with what you say. If he does, then you can call him your friend again.
16 But maybe he does not want to listen to you. Then take one or two other people with you to speak to him. They will then know what wrong things your friend has done. Remember what the Bible says: “There must be two or three people to say certainly that another person has done something wrong. Two or three people must agree what has happened.” 17 If your friend still will not agree that he has done something wrong, then go and tell the church leaders.[e] If he does not agree with the leaders, stop being his friend. He is like somebody who refuses to obey God.[f]
18 I tell you this: You will tell people here on earth what is right for them to do. And you will tell them what is not right for them to do. God in heaven will give you this authority. He will agree with what you say.
19 Two people may agree together to ask God for something. If they agree like that, then my Father in heaven will give them what they ask for.[g] 20 Two or more people may meet together because they believe in me. If they do that, I will be there with them.’
Jesus tells the people about the servant who did not forgive
21 Then Peter came to talk to Jesus. He asked, ‘Lord, if my friend does wrong things against me many times, how many times should I forgive him? Must I forgive him as many as seven times for the wrong things that he has done against me?’
22 Jesus replied, ‘I do not say only seven times. I say you should forgive him 77 times!’[h]
23 Jesus then said, ‘I will tell you a story to show what the kingdom of heaven is like. A king wanted to check how much money his servants should give to him because of their debts. 24 So the king began to check. His men led a servant to him who had a big debt. He must pay back 10,000 gold coins to the king.[i]
25 The servant could not pay his big debt to the king. So the king said to his men, “Sell the servant and his wife and his children and all his things. Then I will keep the money to pay his debt.”
26 Then the servant went down on his knees in front of the king. He said to the king, “Please, please give me some more time, then I will pay you everything.” 27 The king felt sorry for his servant. He forgave him for all the debt and let him go free.
28 But then that same servant went away and he met another servant of the king. This other servant had to pay back a debt of 100 silver coins to the first servant. The first servant took hold of the neck of the other servant to hurt him. He said, “Give me the money that is mine.”
29 The other servant went down on his knees in front of the first servant. He said, “Please, please give me some more time, then I will give you the money.”
30 But the first servant would not agree. He put the other servant in prison until he could pay his debt to him. 31 The other servants of the king saw what had happened. They were very upset about it. So they went to see the king. They told him about everything that had happened.
32 When the king heard this, he told the first servant to come to him. “You are a very bad person,” the king said to the servant. “I forgave you the whole of your big debt to me. I did this because you asked me very strongly. 33 I was kind to you. You should have been kind to that other servant in the same way.” 34 The king was very angry with the first servant. He told his men to put him in prison. They punished the servant there very much, until he could pay all his debt to the king.’
35 Then Jesus finished the story and he said, ‘You must forgive your friends completely. If you do not agree to forgive them, then my Father in heaven will do like that king did. He will not forgive you.’
Footnotes
- 18:6 The person might be someone who does not believe well in God. Or he may be a child. It would be better to die than to cause someone to stop obeying God.
- 18:10 God's word teaches us that there are angels. And these angels are servants of God, who watch over his people.
- 18:11 Verse 11 is in old Bibles. Many Bible students think that someone put it into Matthew's book later.
- 18:14 In this story, God is like the man who takes care of the sheep. The lost sheep is like a person who is not obeying God. God cares that he is lost. He wants to bring him back to himself.
- 18:17 The word ‘church’ means a group of Christians. They meet together because they are obeying Jesus. It does not mean the building where they meet.
- 18:17 This does not mean that we should only be friends with other Christians. We can be friends with other people too. But perhaps a person says that he follows Jesus. But he does not obey Jesus. Then we should not be a special friend of that person.
- 18:19 People must ask God for the right things. They must be things that God wants to give to them.
- 18:22 Jesus is saying that we must continue to forgive people many, many times.
- 18:24 This was a very large amount of money. No man could ever pay all this money to the king.
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