The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
The Pharisees had valid authority but used it in a way that was self-serving to the point of being destructive. Abuse of religious authority in that way made them shepherds with no concern for the sheep against whom Ezekiel prophesied.
Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? (see Ezekiel 34:2).
The Pharisees did preached a message, often, perhaps, even a true one. But it was not one that they practiced, nor one which had transformed their own lives. How was such a message to be received as anything other than a difficult burden, hard to cary, if even the Pharisees themselves had better things to do than carry it? If for them the pride of their office, the fancy clothes, and the titles of honor, were what truly mattered, how would those who saw them internalize a different message than that of the primacy of pride?
For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people’s shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen.
Jesus was a different sort of shepherd, one who put the well-being of the sheep first. He saw them troubled and abandoned and was moved with compassion for them (see Matthew 9:36). He was like the shepherd in the parable, not content to rest with the ninety-nine when there was still one missing (see Matthew 18:11-13). He himself would feed his sheep. As the Ezekiel wrote:
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice (see Ezekiel 34:15-16).
He made his sheep lie down in green pastures (see Psalm 23) and fed them with bread from heaven because he himself was the shepherd who was truly Good.
Because Jesus always planned to put his Apostles in positions of hierarchical authority in his Church he warned them that they must not be like the Pharisees, since they would face an analogous risk. They must first seek to allow the message of Jesus to transform their own hearts and minds so that his concern for the sheep would be their own. He taught them by his own servant leadership, not demanding anything that he himself did not demonstrate. If his disciples were truly transformed they would be empowered to help people bear the burden of their teaching. The teaching of the Gospel was not meant to be a heavy burden, but a light one (see Matthew 11:28-30). This would be true in no small part because Christians were called to "[b]ear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (see Galatians 6:2). They were called to share the yoke that Christ had first shared with them and rise together in mutual love.
Do not be called ‘Master’;
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
What motivates us? A real risk facing Christians is that we care more how others see us than how things really are. Are we so concerned with our own image that we are unwilling to be of service to others? Or can we instead embrace true humility, trusting in our one teacher, our Father, and our Master, to be able to use us in spite of our flaws? For it is true that we will never be so perfectly converted as to always practice what we preach perfectly. It can nevertheless still always be the case, if we are careful, that we only preach from pure motives, always desiring to lift the burdens of those to whom we speak.
“I have had a complete account of what you have done
for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death;
you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth,
and have come to a people whom you did not know previously.”
When we act with integrity and a concern for others we will make an impression in a world that thinks that it is necessary to put self first, and image before substance. May we never be said to tie up burdens for others, unwilling to bear them ourselves. May we rather be motivated by a love that draws us beyond ourselves, beyond our routines and comfort, unto God's specific path for us into his Kingdom.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
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