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.
The scribes and the Pharisees had inherited the legitimate institutional authority that had passed down from Moses until their day. This meant that there teaching was not to be ignored. But it did not mean that their example was to be followed. And the risk that people would do both was real. If there was this endless array of difficult teachings extending to even the most minute detail it may have seemed that honor in the sight of others was the proper reward. They could perhaps motivate themselves to follow the teaching of the Pharisees if they too could imagine themselves being seen by others, if they too could widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels, and eventually have places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, and greeting in the marketplaces. The trouble with such motivations was that they made the entire moral law about what one could get out of it rather than what one could give. When these goals came to predominate in an individual heart his ability to love his neighbor would be compromised. After all, what was in it for him to help another with to carry her burden?
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.
Jesus upended the earthly conception of authority, one in which those under authority existed for the sake and at the pleasure of those in power. He proposed instead leadership for the sake of those over whom it was exercised, what we know as servant leadership. He deeply understood the psychology that made leaders selfish, and sought to disempower it by exposing it. But in the place of this motivation to lead and to follow leadership what remained? If doing these things to be seen would not yield good results, what would?
As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.'
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called 'Master';
you have but one master, the Christ.
The followers of Jesus were to remember that any office of leadership in which they served was never properly their own, but a mere stewardship of a higher authority on loan to them from God, precisely for the sake of helping others. They were not to tie any burden heavier than was strictly necessary and were to do all in their power to assist or even to carry entirely those burdens for the sake of those they led. The disciples might never have found the will or the strength to lead in this way if they had not first experienced such leadership from Jesus himself. It was precisely in experiencing and receiving his service that they too were able to become true servants. There really was only one 'Master', and only by union with him could anyone truly hope to lead in this way.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
If we Christians have, as is always a temptation, been more concerned about how we appear than in how we love and lift the burdens of others, now is a great time to turn back more completely to Jesus himself. He will not be content with his own service to us until these sins of ours are completely healed. Only then will we truly be able to eat and enjoy the good things of the land, those that he himself desires to give us.
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be crimson red,
they may become white as wool.
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