Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent – March 2, 2010
Matthew 23:1 – 12
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
"Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them 'Rabbi.'
"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The Pharisees and teachers of the law have a bad Sunday School reputation. We’ve beat up on them for years, cast them as the “bad guys,” as those who were stubborn and opposed to Jesus, as those who stood in the way of God. In truth, their faith expression was much like ours, consisting in prescribed rituals and regulations for life.
Jesus’ main concern with Pharisee-religion was its preoccupation only with the externals of faith, with appearances. Pharisee-religion didn’t touch the heart or transform the deep inner recesses of a person.
The key line in the passage says simply, “Everything they do is done for people to see.” It’s easy to throw stones at the Pharisees, but when faith is distilled to, “Everything they do is done for people to see,” to some degree we are each culpable, too.
Jesus noticed that persons were drawn to a life with God out of self-serving motives. We humans seem much concerned with what others think of us, our appearance and image before other humans. We are not beyond using God to increase our standing with others.
Sometimes in a workshop, class, or conference, I’ll say something about how self-serving most of our faith expressions are. “How many of us would participate in some expression of faith if we thought we wouldn’t get anything out of it?” I’ve stopped being surprised at how many people find that to be a strange question, wondering why I would suggest that self-serving religion was wrong.
The word in contemporary spirituality for this over-the-top concern for image and appearance is the false self. The false self refers to a life of self-centeredness and illusion, given to the image we project into the world and the ways that we defend that image. “Everything they do is done for people to see,” is a statement of the false self, of an orientation to life that is focused on the self’s appearance.
Jesus ends the passage with a word about humility. Humility is not the thinking that “I am worthless” or some way to keep myself in a state of low self-esteem. Rather, humility suggests that I have the appropriate recognition of who I am, both my false self and my truest self, the self that is God-created and God-nourished.
Humility is the acceptance of myself as I am, regardless of what it looks like to others and regardless of what others think about it. Humility values my own God-created worth without needing the validation of other persons. The person who lives this life of humility also has tremendous inner freedom, that is, the inward resolve to live out their God-created essence no matter what the exterior climate is.
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
"Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them 'Rabbi.'
"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The Pharisees and teachers of the law have a bad Sunday School reputation. We’ve beat up on them for years, cast them as the “bad guys,” as those who were stubborn and opposed to Jesus, as those who stood in the way of God. In truth, their faith expression was much like ours, consisting in prescribed rituals and regulations for life.
Jesus’ main concern with Pharisee-religion was its preoccupation only with the externals of faith, with appearances. Pharisee-religion didn’t touch the heart or transform the deep inner recesses of a person.
The key line in the passage says simply, “Everything they do is done for people to see.” It’s easy to throw stones at the Pharisees, but when faith is distilled to, “Everything they do is done for people to see,” to some degree we are each culpable, too.
Jesus noticed that persons were drawn to a life with God out of self-serving motives. We humans seem much concerned with what others think of us, our appearance and image before other humans. We are not beyond using God to increase our standing with others.
Sometimes in a workshop, class, or conference, I’ll say something about how self-serving most of our faith expressions are. “How many of us would participate in some expression of faith if we thought we wouldn’t get anything out of it?” I’ve stopped being surprised at how many people find that to be a strange question, wondering why I would suggest that self-serving religion was wrong.
The word in contemporary spirituality for this over-the-top concern for image and appearance is the false self. The false self refers to a life of self-centeredness and illusion, given to the image we project into the world and the ways that we defend that image. “Everything they do is done for people to see,” is a statement of the false self, of an orientation to life that is focused on the self’s appearance.
Jesus ends the passage with a word about humility. Humility is not the thinking that “I am worthless” or some way to keep myself in a state of low self-esteem. Rather, humility suggests that I have the appropriate recognition of who I am, both my false self and my truest self, the self that is God-created and God-nourished.
Humility is the acceptance of myself as I am, regardless of what it looks like to others and regardless of what others think about it. Humility values my own God-created worth without needing the validation of other persons. The person who lives this life of humility also has tremendous inner freedom, that is, the inward resolve to live out their God-created essence no matter what the exterior climate is.
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