23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
23:2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;
23:3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they
do, for they do not practice what they teach.
23:4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of
others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.
23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their
phylacteries broad and their fringes long.
23:6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the
synagogues,
23:7 and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people
call them rabbi.
23:8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are
all students.
23:9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father--the one in
heaven.
23:10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the
Messiah.
23:11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
23:12 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves
will be exalted.
23:12 Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and he that shall humble himself shall he exalted - It is observable that no one sentence of our Lord's is so often repeated as this: it occurs, with scarce any variation, at least ten times in the evangelists. -- from John Wesley's notes
In Wesley's Collection of Forms of Prayers (1738) he listed several questions to be asked on Tuesdays concerning humility before praying, in order to develop this virtue. I share these as a way to get us all thinking about humility which reveals Jesus!
Have I labored to conform all my thoughts, words and actions to these fundamental maxims: I am nothing, I have nothing, I can do nothing? Have I set apart some time this day for thinking upon my infirmities, follies and sins? Have I ascribed to myself any part of any good which God has done through me this day? Have I said or done anything so that others might praise me? Have I desired the praise of others? Have I taken pleasure in it? Have I commended myself, or others to their faces, unless for God's sake, and only then with fear and trembling? Have I despised anyone's advice? Have I, when I thought so, said, "I am in the wrong"? Have I received contempt for unimportant things, with meekness; for doing my duty, with joy? Have I omitted justifying myself where the glory of God was not concerned? Have I submitted myself to be thought by others to be in the wrong? Have I, when treated with contempt, first, prayed God that I would neither be discouraged nor puffed up; secondly, that this action might not be held against the one who shows me contempt; thirdly, that this might correct my prideful ways? Have I, without some particular good to be served, mentioned the contempt I had met with?
Against that background, how much have we co-opted the gospel of Jesus Christ!
OLAS
At one time I read a statistic about how many questions Jesus actually answered with an answer - and how many he answered with another question. Does anyone know where I could find that again?
Thank you for your help..
Pastor Deb
They wear long robes and albs, they enjoy being first in line at pot-luck dinners, they love sitting at the head table, they love it when they sound articulate and well-prepared, they love it when they people show them signs of respect and deference, they love it when people actually call them "The Reverend" . . .
Folks, Jesus is talking about us! This is a sermon made more for a district pastors' meeting than Sunday morning. God save us.
PastorLawyer
Pastor Deb, Jesus taught in the rabbinic manner which was that the one who asked the question was the one in charge. So--questions were answered with another question, etc. A good teacher led the students thoughts with the direction of the question in response. L in Atlanta
An elder who has since joined the church triumphant once told me that he looked for the word "Reverend" in the Bible and finally found it in an old translation of a psalm, "O Lord, you are reverend and wonderful." In the KJV, however, he found that it said, "Jehovah, you are awful and wonderful." Therefore, he said, he would refer to his pastor as "The Awful Mr. Jones."
Neill in TX
Coming from the perspective of a church that was in decline (some would say we still are), you probably don't need to emphasize humbling. The people probable feel pretty humble already--though maybe not quite the way Jesus meant it. However, if you have megachurches in your area or thriving large churches and you are small and getting smaller, you feel humble. If that's the case, this is the day to say hurray for that. We don't have to pretend to be something we're not.
So then you get to emphasize servant leadership. All Christians have servant roles to fill in their community. Highlight those small, yet significant ministries--both the ones you have as a group and the ones that individuals have taken on.
Then the hard part will be to make sure you don't turn this into a cheerleading back-patting sermon, but rather one that demonstrates by our own life examples ways in which even the most humble, small church can lead others to Christ.
Count this as a been there, done that, kind of comment. Maybe still there, still doing that.
Pam in San Bernardino
This is a humbling passage yes, for pastors, especially after last week I preached on 7 men in Genesis and Amazing Grace... I used paul's conversion as example and I said the word Butt in the pulpit---God knocked
Paul on his butt... well, my people didn't even say a word...although probably shocked them LOL... anyway I heard the voice of God,
late that day Mary, you said that word in the pulpit....Well, what did you learn, are you going to do that again? NO GOD NO GOD NO GOD!
Now I Know from sharing this with other preachers they said worse. LOL. But, I have rural, good stock farming people!!!
I think I know what God was doing humbling me after people filling my head with oh what a great funeral service...and my professor at United saying I did well and look at thing
holistic and synthesized well... I was trying not to show it, not to let comments go to head... but I admit I liked being told I did good...God had to knock me down a notch... Has God ever done that to you? Lady pastor in OHIO
Just early thoughts--responding to some of the comments already here. I don't think appreciating being appreciated is really the problem and I don't think that is what Jesus was castigating. I have one otherwise very sweet little old lady in my congregation who absolutely refuses to take a compliment, always runs herself down. I'm sure in her head, she believes that this is "not thinking more of herself than she ought." Yet what happens is that others get a little disgusted with this so-called humility and they also feel put down when they try to compliment or encourage her. There's something about such behavior that ends up being a matter of being the best at being the worst--trying to take first place at being last. I believe that when someone expresses appreciation at something we have done, we should accept that appreciation and be grateful for it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. What we do need to be cautious of, however, is doing what we do solely for the kudos. If we do what we do primarily for the compliments and accolades (such as they are!), then we become hollow. As long as we do the best we can with what we have and we do it for the glory of the Lord, we should be okay. Lots more I could say on this, but you get the gist. the other LP in Co
Some have talked about the small declining churches and that perhaps they don't need to be humbled. Let's don't confuse esteem with humility. I think many small churches suffer from poor esteem but they are not neccessarily humbled in the biblical sense. My experience in my small and getting smaller church is that the folks have difficulty understanding what it means to be great. Great is reaching out and being that light in the darkness for others. Unfortunately, their honest goal is to stay open, not necessarily alive, because the small town has already stuggled to keep other businesses open and they "can't close their church, as well!" I don't call that humility. Any suggestions out there for how to address this issue? I don't want to deny the good that they do, but I also don't want to pat them on the back for being less than they can be. I feel like Eric did last week. lp in CO
Hello friends.
Its been a while since I've had an opportunity to contribute.
I ask that we be very careful about our attitude here. I note that a number of contributors, reveal how humble they are by waiting until the end, before getting their lunch or dinner.
In this, I have to be conscious of my own attitude. It can very easily move into pride, over the basis of how humble I am. Look at me! See how good I am, I go last, I'm setting an example.
I am not trying to detract from the intention, but to highlight how easily it is to fall into the trap of spiritual self-righteousness.
Exalted - humbled. The crucial element or key word, is "themselves". Jesus identifies the role of ourselves in this and recognises, that it is very difficult to fully identify the motive behind the action.
I guess I just want to stress a word of caution, about parading ourselves as an example. We are all faulty and therefore flawed guages of good and right. It is always Christ, who must be held up as the standard.
Thanks for the space.
Regards,
KGB in Aussie
It never rains but it pours!
I couldn't go without, having an attempt at answering DSS. Here is my opinion about what this statement of our Lord's means.
The word "Father" means principle or prime. It describes the root or source of life. This of course came out of a pre 1880 perspective, where it was believed that the 'father' contained the life, and that a woman or mother was simply an incubator for that life. Of course we now know that woman supply the eggs that provide human life, even though the man determines the sexual gender.
When Jesus says, "Call no one father", I don't believe he is speaking about our physical existence, but our spiritual. In this we can only have one principle source. God. Therefore, whilst it is customary and traditional to call a clergy person "Father", in essence it is not theologically correct. We (clergy) simply represent or are ambassadors for "THE" Father!
Jesus also said something about this in refusing the title "good" for himself, stating that in essence there is only one who is good and that is God.
I accept the title as a common courtesy, but I am conscious of my position in accepting it. It is humbling and just a little daunting, when read in conjunction with what I have just said. Jesus knew what he was talking about.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment.
Regards,
KGB
