Sunday, November 5, 2023

5 November 2023 - one Teacher


The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.

It is important to be able to separate the truth or lack thereof of what someone says from the quality of their character. We shouldn't reject something that is true because the person speaking it does not embody it in his own life. In fact, to some degree, we too are like this. We proclaim (and must proclaim), "be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (see Matthew 5:48), and yet none of us have reached that perfection. But there is a difference between us, for whom such truth is aspirational, and the Pharisees, who found genuine truth and holiness a matter of indifference and used them to enhance their own honor and reputation.

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.

The difference between sincere but imperfect and Christians and Pharisees can be seen in the attitude that Christians ought to have when teaching something which they do not yet perfectly embody. We ought to be transparent about the fact that we too need the truth we proclaim, that it is not something we have over and against those others who need to hear it. We ought not use the truth as a weapon to elevate ourselves over those who possess less of it. Rather we would, if possible, share the yoke. Because of this, because we know that the strength to carry the burdens is not in us, we try to lead others to the yoke of Jesus himself who is gentle, whose yoke is easy, and in whom burdens become light. We must not make the mistake of believing we have already arrived. But we do know the destination, and that is vital. We are meant to invite others on the journey with us toward that destination, to be rather the servant of those with whom we journey, not the master.

As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.'
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.

Insofar as our teaching points toward ourselves and not away from us and unto Jesus it is useless and vain. Nothing that is uniquely our own in this sense can be anything but superfluous distraction. We ultimately want everyone to realize the truth taught by John the Evangelist:

But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him (see First John 2:27).

Such fatherhood as exists on earth, whether that of parents or priests, is only a shadow of a deeper reality that is present in God himself:

Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.

Earthly fathers have their fatherhood as a stewardship and must therefore exercise great care that they never eclipse the fatherhood of God himself. The legitimate authority bestowed on earthly fathers is always accountable to the Father and heaven and should be lived as such.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (see Ephesians 3:14-15).

Are we able to trust Jesus about his call to be servants? Or does the world have us convinced we first need politics and power to arrange everything neatly so that those who so choose may, if they like, act as servants?

Do not be called 'Master';
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.

Jesus is inviting us to act as servants in a world that is not perfect, a world in which to be a servant seems like a dangerous risk. It was in fact, in this sense, a dangerous risk for Jesus and the saints. But we see in them that it was a risk worth taking.

We do have something to give, an important service that the world needs from us. It is not something which originates from within us, but something which we ourselves have received and continue to receive, the word of God:

And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly,
that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us,
you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God,
which is now at work in you who believe.

It is from this word living within us that we may gain the peace spoken of by the psalmist:

Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.

This is the very opposite of heavy burdens, hard to bear. May all of us together, under the yoke of Jesus, arrive at such peace.



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