Matthew 23

¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, ³ so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ⁶ and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. ¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Few people railed against the hypocrisy of the religious establishment as passionately as did Søren Kierkegaard. In his Attack Upon Christendom, Kierkegaard launched a broadside against the wealthy, powerful, hypocritical clergymen of his day. For instance, his words dripped with scorn when he wrote:

In the magnificent cathedral the Honorable and Right Reverend Geheime-General-Ober-Hof-Pradikant, the elect favorite of the fashionable world, appears before an elect company and preaches with emotion upon the text he himself elected:  “God hath elected the base things of the world, and the things that are despised”—and nobody laughs.[1]

I read of a famous clergyman who ruled the large church he pastored with an iron fist. When the inevitable news came to life that he was a womanizer he replied, “Great men have great needs.”

One critic referred to a famous Baptist minister of yesteryear as “excessively disputatious, outrageously arrogant, extremely bigoted, and at times desperately paranoid.”[2]

On and on it goes. One is sadly not hard-pressed to find examples of dishonest or crooked or wicked clergymen in either literature or the news. It was the same in the first century. In fact, In Matthew 23, Jesus launches a blistering denunciation of the crooked clergy, we might say. It is a hard chapter for a pastor to get through, for here Jesus calls ministers to a high standard indeed! But He is, of course, right to do so, and so we do not turn away from these great truths. Instead, let us turn toward them.

In the first twelve verses of Matthew 23, we find a contrast between the fallen religious system of the world and the righteous path of the Kingdom of God.

The way of the fallen religious system.

Let us remember the context: Jesus has just silenced the scribes and Pharisees after their relentless efforts to trip Him up under a barrage of ill-intentioned questions. Now, in chapter 23, He goes on the offensive and plainly states the problem with these men. We will group the sins of these religious leaders under three headings: hypocrisy, the placing of burdens upon others, and showiness.

Hypocrisy

We begin with a bluntly-stated assertion of hypocrisy.

¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, ³ so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

Interestingly, Jesus does not dismiss all of their teachings on the basis of their hypocrisy. He says that we should listen to true teaching even if it comes through a hypocritical vessel. What we must do, however, is separate true teaching from false practice. We must reject the practice but keep the teaching. Interestingly, Paul will do something similar in Philippians 1 when he discusses those Christian ministers who are seizing upon his imprisonment to advance their own names and careers, so to speak. Paul writes:

¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Yes, there motives might be corrupt, but, even so, “Christ is proclaimed.” We must be careful with this. None of this is to suggest that we should stay under the leadership of a corrupt minister. It is to acknowledge, however, that God speaks even through corrupt ministers, and a truth does not cease to be a truth just because a bad man says it.

Even so, hypocrisy is a poison and it hurts the church of God. Timothy George and John Woodbridge write:

            Most non-Christians are convinced that Christians are inveterate hypocrites.  One cartoon in The New Yorker (January 26, 2004) cleverly exploits this widespread sentiment.  The cartoon shows a prisoner in a cell turning to another who is sitting on a cot.  The first prisoner has apparently just asked the second man why he is in jail.  The second responds cryptically: “I’m between congregations.”  With a deft touch, the cartoonist had scored Christians—in this instance, a hypocritical clergy member—for not practicing what they preach.  What’s worse, the cartoonist assumed that the readers of The New Yorker, so aware of Christians’ flawed reputations, would not need a lengthy explanation to reveal the cartoon’s barb.[3]

This is hard to hear, to say the least, but this is the way of the fallen religious system in every age: hypocrisy! Flee hypocrisy!

The Placing of Burdens Upon Others

The fallen religious system also puts unnecessary burdens on the people of God.

⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

This is referring, no doubt, to the countless traditions and conventions that the Pharisees had come to present as God’s own truth. They placed these massive burdens on the shoulders of God’s people and demanded more and more religious performance, ostensibly to win the favor of God. How disastrous this is!

But Jesus said in Matthew 11:

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Yes, Jesus told us to carry a cross. This is a call to death-to-self. But Jesus never placed arbitrary or legalistic burdens upon us. In fact, paradoxically, the yoke of Jesus is easy and the burden of Jesus is light. Meaning, we feel more freedom and more joy when we take the cross than we did in what we used to call our “freedom.” But the legalisms of the Pharisees stifle and suffocate and destroy! Why? Because, unlike the cross, we were not meant to take them up. They are man-made markers of a righteousness that simply mask pretension.

Showiness

Furthermore, the fallen religious system of the world loves ostentation, pageantry, a show! Observe:

⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ⁶ and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

Some of these details—phylacteries and fringes—will sound strange to us. R.T. France explains:

Phylacteries are small leather boxes containing scrolls of texts from Exodus and Deuteronomy. Perhaps make broad refers to the size of the straps by which these were (and are) bound on to the forehead and left arm of the Jewish man when at prayer, but it has also been suggested that it refers to wearing the phylacteries (tefillim) during the rest of the day, and not only as prescribed at the hours of prayer. The size of fringes…was a matter of debate, the school of Shammai prescribing longer ones than the school of Hillel. These and other practices were designed to cut a more pious figure in Jewish society, in order to achieve the respect expressed in the title rabbi (lit. “my great one”)…[4]

Jesus is condemning religion that desires “to be seen.” He is condemning the empty externals of the religious leaders of the first century and of our century. He is condemning photo-op religion. They love their phylacteries and their fringes because these things are visible, these things can be seen. And, of course, when we tie our righteousness to externals then the externals must become more and more dramatic. So we must have broad phylacteries and long fringes and the best seats. We must speak with the overly-loud voices of the self-important…a particular pet-peeve of mine, I must say: that excessively loud preacher voice that seems to be aimed at the one being addressed but that, in reality, is aimed at everybody in the room. It positively screams, “See me!”

This is showy religion, and, like a lot of shows, there is not much substance behind the production!

This is the religion of the world. Jesus is particularly incensed that those leaders who should be guiding the flock of Israel in the ways of God were instead using their positions to bolster their own sense of self-importance.

Kierkegaard, again, said:

            Imagine that the people are assembled in a church in Christendom, and Christ suddenly enters the assembly. What dost thou think He would do? He would turn upon the teachers (for the congregation He would judge as He did of yore, that they were led astray), He would turn upon them who “walk in long robes,” tradesmen, jugglers, who have made God’s house, if not a den of robbers, at least a shop, a peddler’s stall, and would say, “Ye hypocrites, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers”; and likely as of yore He would make a whip of small cords and drive them out of the temple.[5]

Sadly, Kierkegaard is correct. Showy religion is as alive today as it always has been.

The way of the kingdom.

But the way of the kingdom is not hypocritical, not burdensome, not showy. It is real. It is authentic. And the realness of the kingdom of God shows up particularly in two virtues: humility and service.

Humility

In the kingdom, it is enough to be a child of God. We do not need titles and flowery speech to feel important or to posture ourselves. Jesus says:

⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.

It is likely the case that Jesus is not trying to set up a timeless legalism of nomenclature here. Instead, He was speaking in a context in which religious titles had become cheap substitutes for actual character and godliness. What is more, in saying this, Jesus is striking at the language that was employed to enforce a radical distinction between the people of God and their religious leaders. The key is this: (1) we have one teacher (Jesus!) and (2) we are all brothers. That is enough! Titles, in this context, were being used to subjugate the people of God and simultaneously unduly elevate their leaders. We have already seen that the word “rabbi” means literally “my great one.” Tragically, many of the religious leaders had come to believe this to be the case! Furthermore, it is likely the case that Jesus is using the common prophetic tool of hyperbole, a way of shocking people out of their complacency to make deeper points. Think, for instance, of Jesus’ instructions to cut off our hands and pluck out our eyes (Matthew 5:29–30). I would suggest that Jesus’ words here rest in this tradition. He does not see “rabbi” and “father” as bad words in and of themselves. Rather, he sees their abuse as odious and is saying it would be better not to say them at all than to say them and miss the great point that, ultimately, we only have one teacher—Jesus—and one Father—God!

What is more, there is evidence that the New Testament writers themselves did not understand Jesus here to mean a literal prohibition on the word “father.” Paul, in Philemon 1:10, writes that he had become a father to Onesimus while in prison. The writer of Hebrews refers to the great patriarchs as “our fathers” and, in Hebrews 12:7, asks, “what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” Then, in Hebrews 12:9, he makes a distinction between “earthly fathers” and our heavenly Father. James, in James 2:21, refers to Abraham as “our father.” In 1 John 2:13, John refers to earthly fathers and then, in the same verse, refers to our heavenly Father. In 1 John 2:14, John again refers to fathers in a seemingly normal sense without any idea of rebuke. Jesus approvingly quoted the commandment, “Honor your father and your mother” in Matthew 15:4.

No, the point is not a legalism of words. The point is the haughtiness of the human heart. Do not traffic in titles that corrupt the soul. Let your contentment be in Christ alone!

Humility is a mark of the kingdom. Many have understood the importance of humility in the world. Consider:

Alexander Pope: “Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.”

Blaise Pascal: “Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.”

Helen Keller: “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”

Rachel Carson: “It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.”

All of these are noble statements in their way. Even so, the greatest expression of humility to ever grace the earth is Christ Jesus our Lord.

Service

There is another mark of the kingdom, and it walks hand-in-hand with humility. It is service.

¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

True greatness is service: “The greatest among you shall be your servant.”

True exaltation is being willing to be the least: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Humility. Service. How very different this is from the fallen religious systems of the world. Religion loves a show. The kingdom of God is a realm of humble service. Religion loves pomp. The kingdom of God loves authenticity. Religion loves the spotlight. The kingdom of God wants the spotlight to be on Christ and Christ alone!

Nowhere are humility and service wedded together more powerfully than in the example of Jesus and nowhere is this connection spelled out more clearly than in Philippians 2.

⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus humbled Himself.

Jesus became a servant.

Jesus showed us the way.

Jesus is the way.

Flee the siren call of plastic, haughty, self-indulgent, self-exalting, phony religion. Let all of that melt away before the cross of Jesus Christ.

See Him there: the very model of humility and service. Embrace the greatness of selflessness. Embrace the exaltation of humility. Take the cross of Christ and live, live!

 

[1] Kierkegaard, Søren. Attack Upon Christendom. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968), p.181.

[2] Patterson, James A. James Robinson Graves: Staking the Boundaries of Baptist Identity. (Studies in Baptist Life and Thought) (Kindle Locations 1583-1586). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition.

[3] George, Timothy, and John Woodbridge, The Mark of Jesus (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2005), p.15.

[4] France, R.T. The Gospel According to Matthew. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985), p.325.

[5] Kierkegaard. Attack Upon Christendom, p.123.