Matthew 23:1-22
Dear RTB’ers,
Two simple sentences, both fundamentals of Jesus’ teachings: But the greatest of you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. (vv. 1-2) Humble leadership. We don’t see that much. Our political leaders tend in the opposite direction! Strength! Visibility! Money! Not humble leadership. And our religious leaders… I won’t go there, but we have seen way too many sad stories of religious leaders’ failings. Frankly, I see humble leadership being played out best in the elementary school classroom. These teachers are putting themselves our there for the children, earning all too little monetary reward and all too little recognition for what they do. But they are the best example that I can think of for humble leadership.
Seven woes. Or eight? Both my ESV and NASB translations point to an eighth woe “included” as verse 14: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation. Although verse 14 is probably absent in all your Bibles (or bracketed/set off with a sidebar explanation), to me that verse 14 “woe” speaks the harshest woe of the three others that we read today. Jesus seemed to have a special place in His heart for widows and orphans, and for Jewish leaders to be taking advantage of these fragile widows, He justifiably points to greater condemnation.
So, what sticks out for me today? Personally, Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. (v. 10) I need to be careful not to think too highly of myself, not to take myself or my position too seriously. It’s the Holy Spirit who guides me; I need to be thankful and grateful for that.
And for the rest of you? Any woes or hypocrisies you’d like to divulge? Lent is a good time to get that burden off your heart!!
Blessings.
See also:
I have observed that many physicians (and especially surgeons!) tend to take themselves too seriously. I hope I don’t do that too often. Before my first surgery of the day, I try to remember to say a prayer asking God to allow my hands and mind to be a means of His healing powers for my patients.
Trying to avoid the woe of self importance.
Wow, Dan, good point…! The “woe of self-importance”…! I’ve been all too guilty there! It has certainly been helpful for me these past few years to remember where the gifts came from that God gave me and to use them with that in mind!
I noticed a few of the terms Jesus used in describing the scribes and Pharisees:
Hmmm, did he leave anything out?
I assume that there were scribes and Pharisees in the crowds around Jesus and they had to be livid.
Livid? Yep. You bet — enough to plot to crucify Him not many days later.
The question for us, though, is whether we are like the Pharisees in any way. Or perhaps not whether we are like the Pharisees, but how much like the Pharisees we might be. And the answer, if we are at all honest with ourselves, is probably a lot more like them than we want to admit. A little Lenten evaluation of ourselves might just be in order.