Text: Matthew 23:1-12Revised Standard Version (RSV)
Jesus Denounces Scribes and Pharisees
23 Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; 3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. 4 They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear,[a] and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, 7 and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. 11 He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; 12 whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
Privilege of place has its limits.
The confrontation Matthew describes is part of the escalating “family squabble” between the members of “the congregation,” or the synagogue, and “the church,” or the small group of Jesus’ followers for whom Matthew wrote his gospel.
Originally, all Christians were Jews who had come to believe, as we do, that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the promised Messiah. Right off the bat, this put them at odds with the mainstream of Judaism, but for decades they were still considered Jews, even if they were a little wayward in their beliefs. Followers of “The Way,” as Christianity was called then by those who practiced it, were still allowed to meet in their local synagogues, and they still practiced all the rituals and participated in all the religious observances.
Over the course of time, however, the differences became too great to ignore. A major factor in the rift was the practice of accepting Gentiles into the Christian religion without first becoming Jews; the Apostle Paul was a supporter and an instigator of this, and we can read what he wrote about it in his letters. But probably the straw that broke the camel’s back was that Jewish Christians refused to support the Jewish revolts against Rome, particularly the revolt that took place from 66-73 A.D., at about the time that Matthew’s gospel was written. This refusal “caused them to be regarded as national enemies. From this time few Jews were converted to Christianity.”[1]
Given this background, it’s pretty easy to understand the name-calling and the harshness of the rhetoric between the two groups. However, one commentator, Prof. Sharon H. Ringe, tells us “It is important to note … that Matthew has Jesus begin by acknowledging the powerful political and social position of the Pharisees, and the unassailable ground of their authority: they ‘sit on Moses’ seat’ (23:2).
“What they ‘say’ when they cite the Scriptures is good, but as we have seen through this Gospel, Jesus and his followers do not accept their interpretation (see, for example, 12:3, 5; 19:4, 8-9); 21:16; 22:29, 44-45). The official occupants of ‘Moses’ seat’ (verse 2) can neither interpret [the Scriptures] nor follow them, so Jesus’ (and the church’s) instruction is to follow the Scripture that they read, but not to copy what the Pharisees do or follow what they preach (23:3).
“The first of the things criticized, heavy burdens imposed on others (verse 4), evokes Jesus’ own ministry, where the requirements of such things as Sabbath observance and purity codes are identified as impossible for poor peasants or the urban poor to follow (8:1-9:8; 12:1-12, for example). The detailed emphasis on following these laws was central to the teaching of the Pharisees, and not taking care to mitigate such things for people marginalized by their society, added the burden of religious [endorsement] to the burdens of poverty–disdain on top of suffering.
“The Pharisees’ desire for prestige and honor comes under fire next, with the accusation that they act solely in order to win praise from others. They wear showy prayer shawls with long fringes that will draw attention to themselves, and they always want to be in the most conspicuous places so that folks will see them, treat them with deference, and reward them with titles of honor (verses 5-7).”[2]
In short, the Pharisees were people who were more adept at talking the talk than they were at walking the walk. For all their striving – and I have no reason to doubt that many Pharisees were diligent in their attempts to shoulder the heavy burden of the laws they placed in their own shoulders, they also expected to be honored and even rewarded for their efforts. Additionally, they either refused to recognize – or did recognize but simply didn’t care – that these laws placed an unbearable burden on those on lower rungs of the social ladder; and this is what Jesus found to be intolerable.
Privilege of place has its limits. In fact, in the radical new world that Jesus ushers in, much of the old thinking is to be set aside. In God’s vision of the world, everything that we consider normal and logical gets turned on its head. The high and mighty will be brought low, and those who are on the bottom-most rung of the social ladder will be lifted up. Even titles like “rabbi,” “father,” and “instructor” are to be shunned. The term “father” was especially toxic to Matthew’s community, because it reflected the values of the Roman Empire – the Emperor was called the “father” of the Empire, and even at the level of a household, fathers held the same life-or-death power over their household members as the Emperor held over the Empire. So, the titles the Pharisees craved for themselves which were desirable for those who gave their allegiance to Rome, were utterly unfit for those who followed Jesus.
That might sound a bit extreme even for our ears today – when I think of the word “father,” I think of my father, who was anything but an autocrat who held my life in the palm of his hand. I’ll bet I’m not alone in this. On the other hand, we didn’t grow up in the 1st Century under the thumb of the Romans, either.
And Jesus is referred to throughout the Gospels as “rabbi,” as well. Obviously, he was a rabbi – but unlike others with that title, it wasn’t the focus of his life. His focus, from start to finish, was to call his people to repentance, to prepare them to be citizens of God’s Kingdom. Titles had very little to do with that.
Instead of privilege of place, Jesus admonishes us to know our place. We Midwesterners are known for our modesty. We don’t like to draw attention to ourselves. We get uncomfortable when we’re singled out for praise – like the cowboys in the old Westerns who shuffle their feet and say, “Aw, shucks, ‘tweren’t nothin’, ma’am.”
Well, that’s not what’s meant here. God has given us brains, talents, and drive to accomplish things – and it’s very much “OK” to take pride in what we do. It’s also fine to be proud of our children, proud of our friends and their accomplishments – not a thing’s wrong with any of this.
What is meant is what we read in verse 12: “[W]hoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
This reminds me of the medieval concept of the “wheel of fortune.” I’ve seen pictures from that period, where the wheel of fortune looks a lot like a modern Ferris wheel, complete with little seats with people sitting on them. The people who are at the top don’t stay there long, as the wheel turns and they and their fortunes fall, only later to rise again in an ongoing, never-ending cycle. There’s a poem, written in Latin, from the early 13th Century, “O Fortuna” (“O Fortune”) that describes this – here’s the first verse:
O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
or waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;
poverty
and power
it melts them like ice.[3]
Or, as we read in Psalm 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Mark Davis, on his blog “Left Behind and Loving It,” tells us: “The challenge that Jesus is addressing is not particular to either early 1st century Jewish leadership or to late 1st century emerging Christian leadership … It is a human challenge to embrace that honor is the result of humility, not of exalting oneself.”[4]
Knowing our place, it seems to me, means that we resist the temptation to allow pride to puff us up, and instead allow love to help us to build up.
And imagine what good we can do!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] Ellison, H. L., “The Christian church and the Jews,” Eerdmans’ Handbook to the History of Christianity, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1977, p. 50
[2] Ringe, Sharon H., “Commentary on Matthew 23:1-12,” October 30, 2011, https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=998, emphasis added
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Fortuna
[4] http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-paradox-of-honor.html