Matthew 23:1-12 (Year A October 30-November 5) are a collection of prophetic sayings regarding the status of the Pharisees. In the original material Matthew and Luke share, the seven woes here were one oracle. Matthew has joined them adding them to Mark12:38-40.[1] Jesus will differentiate the practice of disciples from those of religious leaders. The woes against the scribes is that they rely on their theological knowledge, they know and preach the will of God, but they do not fulfill it. They have to do with the service and worship of God, but it is they more than others who are in danger. Their casuistry and their idea of merit have led to not taking sin seriously. The result is that they think too well of themselves, becoming self-assured, self-righteous, and loveless. They are separated from God by their theology and their piety. A piety that leads people into pride and self-assurance is an almost hopeless matter. Nothing separates one from God as self-assured piety. Such self-righteous blindness makes one deaf to the gospel.[2]
In Matt 23: 2-3 (unique to Matthew) is a prophetic saying. The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, because they hand on the traditional doctrine that goes back to Moses, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. Here is the only place Jesus adopts a positive attitude to the Halakah.[3] The target is the practice of the Pharisees rather than their piety or understanding of Torah. They do not practice what they preach. If this were all we had of the teaching of Jesus regarding Torah, Christianity would become strictly observed Pharisaism and would reflect a Jewish-Christian sensibility.[4] However, we as readers need to remember that Matthew 5 points to the unique interpretation Jesus gives to Torah that would have conflicted with the scribes and Pharisees. The point Jesus is making is that under certain circumstances, the follower of Jesus should consider seriously what the scribes say, but do not take as seriously what they do. This would suggest that Torah is still in force for followers of Jesus. Since Torah remains in force for Jesus, the disciples, and those who would follow him, at least in the distinctive interpretation it receives from Jesus, the saying is less critical of the position of the religious leaders. An interesting tension occurs between this saying and the accusation that they are “blind guides” in 23:16. Why are we to listen to what they say in some circumstances and recognize them as blind guides in another? Are the crowds to listen to them or are they not? Although such counsel seems contradictory, wisdom teaching is often like that. Contradictions are present only when abstracted from the context. My suspicion is that both statements are “true,” in that you should, in one circumstance, consider them as blind guides, and in another circumstance, consider seriously what they say and avoid what they do. They have the appearance of piety, but do not back it up with their lives. They know Torah but fail to live it properly. They possess head knowledge but fail to allow that knowledge to transform their lives. He will accuse them of hypocrisy in verses 13, 15, 25, 27, and 29. This saying substantiates that charge. Hypocrisy is one of the most nerve-wracking vices to have. It needs an unceasing vigilance. To cultivate this vice is a full-time job. One cannot practice it in spare moments.[5] The saying substantiates their hypocrisy and assumes the teaching of Jesus regarding humble service in the rule of God.
In Matt 23:4 (Luke 11:46b) is a prophetic saying on the heavy burdens scribes and Pharisees put upon others. It criticizes the contradiction between their conduct and the duties they impose upon others. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. The people have become victims of the authoritative teaching of these religious leaders regarding Torah. Jesus criticizes the perverted direction in which their exposition of Torah leads, the burden they lay upon others leads people away from God, from justice, and mercy, and faithfulness, overwhelmed as they are by casuistic and ritualistic obligations, which are the heavy burdens placed upon others.[6] The result is diminished effectiveness in being the people of God, reducing their influence in the world. The contrast is the life of freedom of the children of God to which Jesus calls his followers. [7] The heavy burdens are more hypothetical than actual. It is doubtful that ordinary Galileans followed recommendations of the lawyers in every detail. They may have been indifferent. It may fit later church/synagogue struggle of a later time, than Galilee of Jesus 'day. The verse presupposes some type of concrete activity on the part of the lawyers but refers to it metaphorically as a matter of carrying cargo. Again, a contrast has been observed between the official posture of the lawyers as legislators and their human, all too human, inability or unwillingness to promote fulfillment of the laws they make. Cynics: "And Diogenes used to wonder that the grammarians would investigate the ills of Odysseus but be ignorant of their own. Or that the musicians would tune the strings of the lyre, but leave the dispositions of their souls discordant; that the mathematicians would gaze at the sun and the moon, but overlook matters at their feet; that the orators would make a fuss about justice in their speeches, but never practice it; or that the avaricious would cry out against money, but love it excessively." The point is plain. Such persons say one thing and do another. Some people are always ready to solve everyone else's problems but their own. The use and abuse of authority may be an additional factor. The indiscriminate exercise of power always ultimately works against itself. Instead of demonstrating the extent of one's strength, the result is diminished effectiveness and a reduced range of influence.
In Matt 23:5-7 (Mark 12:38-39, Luke 11:43, 20:46) is a prophetic saying that points to the privileges of the scribes and Pharisees. Scribes were petty, local officials, who, because they could read and write, conducted much official and legal business by drawing up contracts, making written records, and the like. They were clerks or local bureaucrats. He condemns their vanity. He points to desire for praise and respect that demonstrates false piety. It is an example of ostentation on the part of those seeking the kind of respect paid to the scribes. Jesus advises those in the crowd in the temple to be wary of the arrogance of the scribes. Jesus urges his hearers to beware of the behavior of the scribes. He rejected their air of superiority and feeling themselves worthy of respect and admiration.
They do all their deeds to be seen by people; Jesus will accuse them of putting their piety on parade, enjoying the privileges that accompanied their piety too much. Their actions are for the sake of being seen by others, thereby masking who they truly are. The point is that the actions of the follower of Jesus are to be visible, but never done for the sake of their visibility. Followers of Jesus let their light shine and cultivate the right behavior without paying too much attention to how right that behavior will appear to others.[8] This type of public performance among the learned is typical when they are deprived of political power and wealth.
and they love (φιλοῦσι) the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being called the usual title of the Jewish teacher, rabbi by others. Another example of their love of visibility is that they liked being invited by a well-heeled host to a banquet who would then show off his own importance and good taste by having a learned scribe and his pupils sitting in the best and easily viewed seats. Jesus was concerned enough with this that he crafted a parable regarding it (Luke 14:7-11). They love the visibility of the best seats in the synagogue, which would be in the front, next to the scrolls of the ark containing the scrolls and facing the congregation. Tradition dictated that common people should respectfully rise to their feet when a scribe walked past. They excused only certain skilled tradesmen working in the marketplace from this social gesture of respect. In matters of spirituality, the greatest danger is striving for others to see you as exceptional. The scribal parade of pomp and circumstance is a plausible setting for Jesus’ biting criticism. The problem Jesus pinpoints is not that these scribes receive deference and honor. The problem is they like it too much. They have confused the respect intended for the position they hold with respect for their own abilities and advancements. Little steps add up. Do one little thing, one average thing, every day, out of your commitment to Jesus Christ. Over time, it will make a difference.
In verses 8-12, the sayings address only the disciples. Jesus points to the type of community his followers are to form. Here on a small scale is a collection of saying gathered into a small catechism of rules for the community.[9]
In Matt 23:8-10 (unique to Matthew) is a community rule, a saying in legal form that offers a prescription for the Christian community,[10] in which Jesus focuses upon the danger of attachment to a title, in which he is conscious of the piety that distinguishes the community he is forming from that of the synagogue.[11] Jesus restrains ambition. They are to always be learners. Behind such a saying may the Qumran community and its veneration of their “teacher of righteousness.” But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all companions. In verse 9, And call no man your father on earth, a title of honor, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. It was the custom to address distinguished people as abba, father. The followers of Jesus are not to do this, for that honor belonged to God, showing his reverence to for the word.[12] In what appears to be a secondary saying drawn from verse 10, Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ (ὁ χριστός), the only other time this title is on the lips of Jesus in the synoptics is Mark 9:41.[13] Jesus uses the practices of the scribes and Pharisees to tell his followers that they should look at each other as students who have one rabbi or teacher. Jesus reminds us of the power of viewing the communal nature of following Jesus as the communion of saints.[14] Followers of Jesus are to shape a different form of communal life than he finds exhibited in the Jewish society of his time. The focus his community is service rather than status. It also suggests, considering later theology, that the Word of God becomes the master and teacher that shapes the lives of those who follow Jesus. As followers today, we are always students of the Word, receiving its instruction in a prayerful way and under the direction of the Spirit.[15]
In Matt 23:11 (unique to Matthew) Jesus points to the value of being a servant among others. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant (διάκονος). In his epic poem, Paradise Lost, John Milton includes these famous words, spoken by Satan:
The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less then he
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th’ Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n. (lines 254-263)
In Matt 23:12 (Luke 14:11, 18:14), a two-membered Jewish proverb, the focus is on the virtue of humility but placed in an eschatological context: Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. To make the eschatological impulse clear: God will exalt the one who makes oneself the servant of others, but God will abase the one who exalts oneself above others.[16] Jesus urges the crowds and disciples to understand that the rule of God is marked by humility. The rule of God involves God exalting what God exalts and humbling what God humbles, suggesting that God and human beings will have contrasting views. It suggests the reversal of roles. This proverb was already in use, for Hillel could be quoted in a similar setting by R. Simeon ben Azzai, “My humiliation is my exaltation, and my exaltation is my humiliation.” It is a piece of practical wisdom, in which pride will have a fall and humility will be rewarded. It is a call to renounce self-righteous pretensions and to self-abasement before God. [17]The idea that God humbles the proud and exalts the humble is a common theme of Hebrew wisdom:
A person’s pride will bring humiliation,
but one who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. (Prov 29:23)
Exalt that which is low and bring low that which is exalted. (Eze 21:26)
In addition, Jesus frequently advocates reversal of roles. Such role reversal is a glimpse of the great reversal of accepted values that the coming rule of God will bring (1:50-53). While these values may not be human values, they will be the values at God's table. God is the one who "exalts" and "humbles." People fail to observe the counsel against arrogance and boldness that one can find throughout the Old Testament. The theme recurs in the epistles of the New Testament: James 4:6 and I Peter 5:5, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble; James 4:10, Humble yourselves before the Lord, and the Lord will exalt you.
Application
Some epistemological humility needs to characterize followers of Jesus. Humility is a sign of self-confidence. Humility suggests that we are secure enough in who we are that we can alter our views as we gain added information and face new circumstances. If all we want to do is confirm what we already believe, if we engage in debates with only a view to winning, then we have missed an important part of humility, that of achieving a greater understanding of truth. Humility will value collective wisdom. We are better off if we have within our orbit people who see the world different than we do. Humility is a virtue that once we notice it in ourselves, we have less of it. If we become aware of the depth of our humility, pride is already beginning. The reason for this is that any virtue has the design of lessening our interest in self and increasing our interest in others. Humility does not mean a low opinion of our talents our character. Humility will lead to a proper evaluation of our gifts and passions and place them in the service of the rule of God. Humility will lead to proper love of self as a creation of God and gratitude for the time God has given us. Humility will also lead to proper love of and gratitude for others.[18]
Let us pause for a moment on the notion of humility.
Have an average day. That may seem like a strange way to encourage someone, but I came across an article in Utne that helped it make sense. Lyndon Duke came to believe that the enemy of happiness is “the curse of exceptionality.” Very simply, a series of average day can lead to your own way of making a difference in the lives of others, even if in small ways.
The first time my son really liked a grunge rock group, I tried to listen, but the voice seemed so bad that even I could have sung that bad. “Dare to be average,” I said of the music. I still do not like it, but it does show that average is not what I value.
We can learn from this notion of an average day in spirituality as well. Think of scribes and Pharisees. Read Matthew 23:1-12. They wanted to think of themselves as examples of exceptional spirituality. Yet, they missed its heart. These leaders have all the appearance of piety, but none of the action. They are like the son who says that he will obey his father and then fails to do so (21:28-32), the invited guests who mistreat the messengers (22:6), or the tenants who have been entrusted the care of the vineyard but kill the owner’s son (21:33-44). They have a special privilege by their very position as those who sit on Moses’ seat, but they have used their position to lock people out of the kingdom (23:13), to misguide (v. 16), to feed their self-interests (vv. 25-26) and to kill God’s messengers (vv. 29-36). Instead of following the example set by the religious teachers, Jesus urges the crowds and disciples to understand that the kingdom is marked by humility. Those who would enter need not rely on their own self-righteousness or false piety. Those who would follow Jesus must answer to one Father, and not revel in any honor due to their familial heritage (v. 9). Those who follow the Son must recognize only one Master, the Christ (v. 10). It is not possible both to be self-serving and to practice God’s commandments. This kingdom, as Matthew reminds his readers again and again, is one of reversal: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (v. 12).
It feels just as strange to say, “If you want to be great – serve.” I think that would be an exceptional spirituality. Yet, maybe in spirituality, the greatest danger is striving for others to see you as exceptional. Maybe our spirituality, or spiritual formation, and the way we live our lives as Christians, could find some help if we could just say, “Lord, help us today to do one thing, even one small, unnoticed thing, out of our sense of being faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.”
Here are a few things about which I am thinking.
First, being exceptional is not easy. Lyndon Duke, who studies suicide, has found that when people try to be extraordinary, everyone fails. They end up feeling like losers. They are unhappy. There must be a better way. Fortunately, there is — one that involves humility. Mr. Duke tells of feeling unhappy one day, when he heard a neighbor singing while mowing his lawn. He had the insight that he was missing the simple pleasures of an average day. He needed to accept the pleasures of the ordinary life he had with his family. In fact, the next weekend, he was with his son, who was in his first semester in college. His son was trying to excel. He then spoke clearly to his son: “I expect you to be a straight C student, young man. I want you to complete your unremarkable academic career, meet an ordinary young woman, and, if you choose, get married and live a completely average life!” His son, of course, thought he had flipped. The result of this advice was quite surprising. No longer feeling any pressure to be exceptional, his son did an average amount of studying for his final exams. His grades were outstanding: straight A’s. He then called his dad and apologized.
Here is the point. An average-life philosophy carries with it a paradoxical promise: If you focus on living an ordinary life each day, the cumulative effect of many average days is quite extraordinary.
A professor of mine at Asbury Seminary was David Thompson. He and I came from the same church in Austin, Minnesota. I was getting quite down on myself. I made some time to meet with him. His encouragement to me was that while I may not have had large, dramatic experiences, he could see the influence of the daily walk with Christ. He reminded me of the teen I had been in Austin, shy, backward, almost afraid, in contrast to whom I was then in my late 20’s. Many average days in walking with Christ can have a considerable influence out here, years later.
You can apply this insight in many areas of your life. An hour a day with your children adds up to 90 hours in three months, and then 1,800 hours over the course of five years. You know that such an investment is going to have an enormous impact. A hundred hours of writing over a three-month period is enough to complete a book, and at that rate you could write two books, some poetry and a screenplay over the course of a year. If you work in sales and speak to 100 new prospects over the course of a month … well, you get the idea.
Little steps add up. Do one little thing, one average thing, every day, out of your commitment to Jesus Christ. Over time, it will make a difference.
Second, I would like to offer some hints for the humble. In contrast to the Pharisees (verse 3) practice what you teach. “Do as I say and not as I do” is not an effective way to live in front of family or friends. People watch to see if our words and deeds match in some way. Yet, a harsh reality might set in as well. Realizing how far beneath you live from what you teach will invite you down a humble path. In addition, and again in contrast to the Pharisees (verse 4) offer a helping hand. Finally, the focus of our behavior needs to be approval before God rather than others (verse 5), usually a parent, but eventually a sub-culture tribe we value. Dietrich Bonhoeffer captures this notion in his book The Cost of Discipleship.
Our activity must be visible, but never be done for the sake of making it visible. “Let your light so shine before [others]” . . . and yet: Take care that you hide it! . . . That which is visible must also be hidden. The awareness on which Jesus insists is intended to prevent us from reflecting on our extraordinary position. We have to take heed that we do not take heed of our own righteousness. Otherwise the “extraordinary” which we achieve will not be that which comes from following Christ, but that which springs from our own will and desire.[19]
Each of us deserves “honor” and “respect,” both from others and from ourselves. Humility does not mean being a doormat in life. In that sense, what Jesus suggests moves against a quite natural desire for self-respect. Humility is far easier to praise than to do. As Mark Twain recognized, the moment a person seems to have achieved real humility, the pride of having accomplished it destroys it. Yet, we can find some virtue in simple spirituality, in contrast to exceptional spirituality.
Humility seems to have gone out of fashion. Yet, we see here that humility is an essential virtue of the follower of Jesus. Personally, I think some epistemological humility needs to characterize followers of Jesus. Humility is a sign of self-confidence. Humility suggests that we are secure enough in who we are that we can alter our views as we gain added information and face new circumstances. If all we want to do is confirm what we already believe, if we engage in debates with only a view to winning, then we have missed an important part of humility, that of achieving a greater understanding of truth. Humility will value collective wisdom. We are better off if we have within our orbit people who see the world different than we do.
An old phrase involves eating humble pie. The origin of the phrase is from the Middle Ages and its eating of umble pie. The pie had liver, heart, and other inner parts of the cow, deer, or pig. People thought of it as inferior food. One ate it if one was part of the lower economic class. If someone of high economic class needed public humiliation, he or she would have a bowl of umble pie. Sometimes, circumstances compel humiliation. Although such an experience can lead to recovering our sense of humility, the experience is not humility.
With any of the virtues, once we become aware of their presence within us we have the beginning of a spiritual problem. Humility is a virtue that once we notice it in ourselves, we have less of it. If we become aware of the depth of our humility, pride is already beginning. The reason for this is that any virtue has the design of lessening our interest in self and increasing our interest in others. Humility does not mean a low opinion of our talents our character. Humility will lead to a proper evaluation of our gifts and passions and place them in the service of the rule of God. Humility will lead to proper love of self as a creation of God and gratitude for the time God has given us. Humility will also lead to proper love of and gratitude for others.[20]
I came across a hymn that I find quite powerful and worthy of our reflection on these matters.
Clothe me in humility,
Loving Lord, I pray.
You who've given all I am,
Take this pride away.
Free my thoughts to thankfulness,
And clothe me in Your praise.
Free my thoughts to thankfulness,
And clothe me, Lord,
Clothe me in Your praise.
Clothe me in humility;
Help me not to judge.
You would understand them, Lord.
You would lift them up.
Let me speak as You would speak,
And clothe me in Your love.
Let me speak as You would speak,
And clothe me, Lord,
Clothe me in Your love.
Clothe me in humility
With this simple truth:
You are every breath I breathe;
You alone are good.
Every moment come in love
And clothe me, Lord, in You.
Every moment come in love
And clothe me, Lord,
Clothe me, Lord, in You.
Words & Music by Ken Bible
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[4] H. F. Weiss, TDNT, IX, 42-3, where he will take this as a sign of the Jewish-Christian perspective of Matthew.
[5] W. Somerset Maugham
[6] K. Weiss, TDNT, IX, 85.
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[10]
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[14]
[15]
[16] Grundmann, TDNT, VIII, 16-17.
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[18] Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters, Chapter XIV, 63.
[19] (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, R. H. Fuller and Irmgard Both, trans. [New York: Touchstone Books, Simon and Schuster, 1995], p. 157.)
[20] Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters, Chapter XIV, 63.
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