Daily Devotional • December 9
A Reading from Matthew 23:1-12
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’s seat; 3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. 6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them rabbi. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. 9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father, the one in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Meditation
Jesus bitingly criticizes the Scribes and Pharisees, and uses them as a negative contrast to the exhortation to humility. In comparison with Amos’ judgment against kings in yesterday’s reading, however, the focus of condemnation here shifts from power to expertise: the Scribes and Pharisees are religious “professionals.” And Amos’ life as a commoner still bears the measure of truth-telling in this instance.
Jesus’ words here stand as one of the hardest texts for the historic Christian church, at least with our long tradition of priestly “fathers” (including the “Papa” of the Pope) and “doctors” (“Rabbi’s”), habits Jesus openly condemns. Whatever one makes of our traditional nomenclature, Jesus clearly identifies the teacher, master, and father of the truth with Christ and with God the Father, and no one else. What is at stake is not a distinction between creature and Creator. For Jesus, who unveils and explicates the Father (Jn 1:18), the two sides have coalesced. He is both Master and Servant: “but I am among you as one who serveth” (Lk 22:27). Hence, the problem with the professional Scribes and Pharisees is less their pride, than the fact that their self-regard has obscured who God is, and where God is found: in the lowest place. “We hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Is 53:23).
One reason why right and wrong—testified to in the Law and commandments—is not a matter of calculus or strategy is not because right and wrong are not clear—they mostly are—but because the meaning of right and wrong is found in living them. As we follow the Law’s true “teacher,” we discover who God is by His own embodiment of the Law’s content in His own divine body. “Go and sit down in the lowest” seat (Lk 14:10). This is an action of our bodies, a movement, a direction, a following. The problem with the professional Scribes and Pharisees is that they do not move, grow or suffer, and thus never discover. They speak from Moses’ seat; they say and stay. By contrast, there is a whole world of wonder that awaits exploration when we enter into “the lowest” place. “I am the way” to the Father (Jn 14:6); come down and be “buried” with me (Rom 6:4).
The Rev. Ephraim Radner, PhD is Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology at Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto. The author of over a dozen books, Dr. Radner was previously rector of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Pueblo, Colorado. His range of pastoral experience includes Burundi, where he worked as a missionary, Haiti, inner-city Cleveland, and Connecticut.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for: