In time they come into Capernaum, Jesus’ base of activity and the hometown of a number of the apostles. There, men who collect the temple tax approach Peter. Perhaps attempting to accuse Jesus of failing to pay taxes, they ask: “Does your teacher not pay the two drachmas [temple] tax?”​—Matthew 17:24.

“Yes,” Peter replies. Back at the house, Jesus is already aware of what has occurred. So rather than wait for Peter to bring the matter up, Jesus asks: “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive duties or head tax? From their sons or from the strangers?” Peter answers: “From the strangers.” Thereupon Jesus observes: “Really, then, the sons are tax-free.”​—Matthew 17:25, 26.

Jesus’ Father is the King of the universe and the One who is worshipped at the temple. Hence, God’s Son is not legally required to pay the temple tax. “But that we do not cause them to stumble,” Jesus says, “go to the sea, cast a fishhook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a silver coin [a stater, or tetradrachma]. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”​—Matthew 17:27.

Soon the disciples are together, and they have a question for Jesus about who would be greatest in the Kingdom. These same men were recently afraid to question Jesus about his coming death, yet now they are not afraid to approach him about their future. Jesus knows what they are thinking. It is something they had already been arguing about as they trailed behind him on their trip back to Capernaum. So he asks: “What were you arguing about on the road?” (Mark 9:33) Embarrassed, the disciples keep silent, because they were arguing among themselves about who is greatest. Finally, the apostles present to Jesus the question that they have been discussing: “Who really is greatest in the Kingdom of the heavens?”​—Matthew 18:1.

It seems incredible that the disciples would have such an argument after nearly three years of observing and hearing Jesus. However, they are imperfect. And they have grown up in a religious climate where position and rank are stressed. Moreover, Peter had recently heard Jesus promise him certain “keys” of the Kingdom. Might he thus feel superior? James and John may feel similarly, having been eyewitnesses of Jesus’ transfiguration.

Whatever the case, Jesus acts to correct their attitude. He calls a child, stands him in their midst, and tells the disciples: “Unless you turn around and become as young children, you will by no means enter into the Kingdom of the heavens. Therefore, whoever will humble himself like this young child is the one who is the greatest in the Kingdom of the heavens; and whoever receives one such young child on the basis of my name receives me also.”​—Matthew 18:3-5.

What a marvelous method of teaching! Jesus does not become angry with his disciples and call them greedy or ambitious. Rather, he uses an object lesson. Young children do not have high status or prominence at all. Jesus thus shows that his disciples need to develop this view of themselves. Then Jesus concludes the lesson for his followers, saying: “The one who conducts himself as a lesser one among all of you is the one who is great.”​—Luke 9:48.

Jesus has just illustrated the attitude that his followers should have. They should view themselves as children, lowly and without status. The disciples should ‘receive such young children on the basis of his name and thus receive Jesus also.’​—Matthew 18:5.

The apostles had recently been arguing over who is the greatest, so they may take Jesus’ words as a reproof. Now the apostle John brings up something else that has just happened: “We saw someone expelling demons by using your name, and we tried to prevent him, because he is not following with us.”​—Luke 9:49.

Does John view the apostles as the only ones who are authorized to heal others or to expel demons? If so, how is it that this Jewish man is successful in casting out wicked spirits? John seems to feel that the man should not be performing powerful works because he is not accompanying Jesus and the apostles.

To John’s surprise, Jesus says: “Do not try to prevent him, for there is no one who will do a powerful work on the basis of my name who will quickly be able to say anything bad about me. For whoever is not against us is for us. And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, I tell you truly, he will by no means lose his reward.”​—Mark 9:39-41.

No, at this time the man does not need to accompany Christ in order to be on Jesus’ side. The Christian congregation is yet to be formed, so the fact that the man is not traveling with Jesus does not mean that he is an opposer or promoting a false religion. The man obviously has faith in Jesus’ name, and what Jesus says indicates that the man will not lose his reward.

On the other hand, it would be serious if the man was stumbled by the words and actions of the apostles. Jesus observes: “Whoever stumbles one of these little ones who have faith, it would be better for him if a millstone that is turned by a donkey were put around his neck and he were pitched into the sea.” (Mark 9:42) Jesus then says that his followers should remove even something as precious as a hand, a foot, or an eye if that causes them to stumble. It is better to be without such a cherished thing and enter into God’s Kingdom than to hold on to it and end up in Gehenna (Valley of Hinnom). The apostles have likely seen this valley near Jerusalem where refuse is burned, so they can understand it as representing permanent destruction.

Jesus also warns: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my Father.” How precious are such “little ones” to his Father? Jesus tells of a man who has 100 sheep but loses one. The man leaves the 99 to search for that lost one, and on finding it he rejoices more over it than over the 99. Jesus adds: “It is not a desirable thing to my Father who is in heaven for even one of these little ones to perish.”​—Matthew 18:10, 14.

Perhaps thinking of his apostles’ arguing about who would be greatest, Jesus urges them: “Have salt in yourselves, and keep peace with one another.” (Mark 9:50) Salt makes foods more palatable. Figurative salt makes what one says easier to accept and thus can help to preserve peace, which arguing does not do.​—Colossians 4:6.

At times, serious issues will arise, and Jesus tells how to handle them. “If your brother commits a sin,” Jesus says, “go and reveal his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” What if he does not listen? “Take along with you one or two more,” Jesus advises, “so that on the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established.” If that does not resolve the matter, they are to speak to “the congregation,” that is, to responsible elders who can render a decision. What if the sinner still does not listen? “Let him be to you just as a man of the nations and as a tax collector,” people with whom Jews would not fellowship.​—Matthew 18:15-17.

Congregation overseers need to adhere to God’s Word. If they find a sinner guilty and needing discipline, their judgment ‘will already be bound in heaven.’ But when they find one innocent, it will have been “loosened in heaven.” These guidelines will prove helpful once the Christian congregation is formed. In such serious deliberations, Jesus says: “Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst.”​—Matthew 18:18-20.

Peter has heard Jesus’ advice on how to handle a difficulty between brothers by trying to settle it one-on-one. Yet, Peter seems to want to quantify the number of times one should make such an effort.

Peter asks: “Lord, how many times is my brother to sin against me and am I to forgive him? Up to seven times?” Some religious leaders teach that one should grant forgiveness up to three times. So Peter may feel that he would be very generous if he forgave a brother “up to seven times.”​—Matthew 18:21.

However, the idea of keeping such a record of wrongs is not in the spirit of Jesus’ teaching. So he corrects Peter: “I say to you, not up to seven times, but up to 77 times.” (Matthew 18:22) That, in other words, means indefinitely. There should be no limit to the number of times Peter forgives his brother.

Jesus then tells Peter and the others an illustration to impress on them their obligation to be forgiving. It is about a slave who fails to imitate his merciful master. The king wants to settle accounts with his slaves. One slave who owes the enormous debt of 10,000 talents [60,000,000 denarii] is brought to him. There is no possible way he can pay that debt. So the king orders that the slave, his wife, and his children be sold and payment be made. At that, the slave falls down at his master’s feet and begs: “Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything to you.”​—Matthew 18:26.

The king is moved with pity and mercifully cancels the slave’s huge debt. Once the king has done so, this slave goes and finds a fellow slave who owes him 100 denarii. He grabs the other slave and begins choking him, saying: “Pay back whatever you owe.” But that fellow slave falls at the feet of the slave to whom he is in debt, begging: “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.” (Matthew 18:28, 29) However, the slave whose debt the king forgave does not imitate his master. He has his fellow slave, who owes much less, thrown into prison until he can pay what he owes.

Jesus then relates that other slaves who see this unmerciful treatment go and tell the master, who angrily summons the slave and says: “Wicked slave, I canceled all that debt for you when you pleaded with me. Should you not also have shown mercy to your fellow slave as I showed mercy to you?” The angry king delivers the unmerciful slave over to the jailers until he repays all that he owes. Jesus concludes: “My heavenly Father will also deal with you in the same way if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.”​—Matthew 18:32-35.

What a lesson that should teach us about forgiveness! God has forgiven us a large debt of sin. Whatever transgression a Christian brother commits against us is small in comparison. And Jehovah forgives us not once but thousands of times. Can we not forgive our brother a number of times, even if we have a cause for complaint? As Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, God will “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”​—Matthew 6:12.

For some time, Jesus has confined his activity mainly to Galilee, where he has found a better response than in Judea. Besides, when he was in Jerusalem and healed a man on the Sabbath, “the Jews began seeking all the more to kill him.”​—John 5:18; 7:1.