This coming Sunday is the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle A. The gospel it taken from Mt 18:21-35. There is a large jump in our Sunday gospels as we move from the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time –Year A (Mt 16:21-27) to the 23rd and 24th Sunday – in fact, the entirety of Matthew 17 is passed over. As shown in Boring’s diagram [“The Gospel of Matthew” 117], we are in a part of Matthew’s gospel in which the focus is community.

Mt 16:13-28 The Confession for Jesus (Jesus as Son of God, Peter as Rock, first passion prediction, Peter as a stumbling stone, the cost and promise of discipleship)

Mt 17:1-27 Moving to Jerusalem (Transfiguration, lessons of faith, second passion prediction, and payment of the Temple tax)

Mt 18:1-35 Life in the Community

vv.1-14 (greatest in the kingdom, temptations to sin, parable of the lost sheep)

1. 15-20 (if a brother sins against you)
2. 21-35 (forgiveness and the parable of the unforgiving servant)

From the beginning of Matthew 16 and continuing through to entry into Jerusalem (Mt 21), Jesus is preparing and readying his disciples for life in a community of faith once Jesus is no longer with them. The way forward is founded on the revelation about Jesus (cf. Mt 16:15-16 and Mt 17:5) and all the implications that it has for life in the nascent community of faith. Chief among the implications of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the charge for the community to understand the depth and breadth of forgiveness.

Image credit: Raphael, Handing-over the Keys, 1515, Victoria and Albert Museum, London | Public Domain