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 Pharisees had legitimate religious authority that had been passed down to them from previous generations. This authority was known as the chair of Moses just as we today speak of the authority of the bishop of Rome as the chair of Peter. The Pharisees were, however, often and unfortunately an example of how not to wield such authority. They happily preached a very difficult path but did not themselves set an example of following it. They easily sent others off bearing heavy burdens and felt no concern to ease them or to assist. They weren't in the game because they desired to please God or help their neighbor so much as to build up their own pride, doing everything, not for the sake of others, but so that others could see and applaud.
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.
This made things difficult for those who genuinely wanted to follow the way of God. The Pharisees were among those who were qualified to explain that way to them. But it would be all to easy to confuse the example of the Pharisees with their teaching. Others might come to assume that the more they ticked all of the boxes of following the law that as the Pharisees described it the more they too could indulgently and pridefully enjoy the esteem of others and the less they would need to do for them. They could come to imagine that they were moving toward the top of a pyramid of pride and ease that was built on the foundations of the efforts of others.
The example of such Pharisees was actually the opposite of the way of God, as demonstrated and perfectly lived out by Jesus himself. He preached humility and was himself humble. He preached a burden that was easy and light and promised that he himself would help his followers to carry it. He preached against doing religious works to be seen and himself concealed much of his own ministry from the public eye, and even what was seen was not done for the sake of being seen. He did not come to earth to simply sit and enjoy the adoration of the crowds but rather to serve them, even to the point of laying down his life for them.
the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (see Matthew 20:28).
As the followers of Jesus we can safely follow his example and are called to do so. Therefore we must not become Pharisees who simply use religious knowledge to assert our superiority over others. We must not simply dispense our knowledge to tick a box and fulfill an obligation so that we can then sit back and enjoy life. As Paul instructs us we should bear "one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (see Galatians 6:2). Progress is religion should mean progress in becoming the servant of others. Teacher and master are tempting and appealing titles but these roles come with the risk of making us into prideful Pharisees. We are called to share the Good News and in this sense we must teach. There is even a sense in which, since the law of God is absolute, we must command. But we must always strive to do this as the servants of others striving, not to dump burdens upon them, but to share them together, just as Jesus first does for us.
How much of our Christian life is done merely to cultivate self-image? We are called to shed our need to look good in favor of our duty to do good, and to share the burden of others. But this is not any generic burden with which we are called to help. It is the Gospel, which is the cross, yes, but which is preparing all of us for a weight of glory beyond compare.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (see Second Corinthians 4:17).
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