Matthew 18:14

“Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”

In the same way as the shepherd cares for his sheep, so does the Father care for the little ones who believe in Him. However small, however unimportant they may seem to be, it is not His will that any of them should perish. How much safer His little ones are, therefore, as compared with the sheep. For the will of the Father cannot be thwarted (John 10:29). It is not therefore to guardian angels that we should look but to our Father in Heaven.

The use of ‘your Father' here stresses the personal love of the Father for His own, for this is the only use of ‘your Father in Heaven' following Matthew 10:29 (although see Matthew 13:43; Matthew 23:9). Since that point Jesus has always spoken of ‘My Father in Heaven' (Matthew 10:32; Matthew 12:50; Matthew 15:13; Matthew 16:17; Matthew 18:10; Matthew 18:19; Matthew 18:35) or the equivalent (Matthew 11:25; Matthew 16:27; Matthew 20:23; Matthew 24:36; Matthew 25:34; Matthew 26:29; Matthew 26:39; Matthew 26:42; Matthew 26:53). Prior to that the emphasis had been on ‘your Father in Heaven' or the equivalent (Matthew 5:16; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 5:48; Matthew 6:1; Matthew 6:4; Matthew 6:6; Matthew 6:8; Matthew 6:14; Matthew 6:18; Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:32; Matthew 7:11; Matthew 10:20; Matthew 10:29) with ‘My Father' only being used when their doing of His will and the facing of the future judgment was in mind (Matthew 7:21). Having initially made clear to them therefore that God was their own Father, He then began the self-revelation in which He wanted to emphasise that God was His Own Father in a unique way (especially see Matthew 11:25), and that as His Son they must now follow Him in His special relationship with the Father, knowing the Father through Him.

Some important Greek manuscripts do have ‘My Father' here (B Theta f13), but the majority favour ‘your Father (Aleph, D, W, f1, 28, 565), and in view of the above usages ‘your Father' is the harder reading, and it fits well here as stressing the Father's relationship with His sheep.