Text used – Matthew 23:1-12

• Sometimes, when we read Scripture, we find ourselves in the midst of passages that challenge us.
  • Challenge the way we think
  • Challenge the way we believe
  • Challenge us in that they challenge the status quo of the world around us
  • Challenge us in that they point out flaws and failings we’d rather turn a blind eye to – flaws and failings in ourselves and in our society that we’ve done a perfectly good job ignoring and glossing over up to this point, thank you very much.
  • But as the incredibly profound and undeniably prophetic Rachel Held Evans wrote in her book Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again[1], the Bible we read and study and memorize and love is a Bible that rarely behaves. And yet as those who claim and covet the sacredness of this book, we are called not only to read it for the sake of reading it but also to wrestle with it in the same way that Jacob wrestled with God – a way that cannot help but leave us changed.
• Today’s passage = just such a wrestling, calling-out, leave-you-changed sort of passage
  • May seem easy to read and explain away on the surface – “That’s just the scribes and the Pharisees that Jesus is condemning here. He was always butting heads with them because they were just wrong. But that’s literally ancient history – ancient Jewish history. It’s not today.” → And yet, when has God ever called us to a shallow, surface faith? Throughout the history of Scripture and the history of the Church, when has God ever called people to the comfortable message or the easy understanding?
  • So before we dive into today’s text, let’s talk a little bit about where we find it situated in Matthew’s gospel.
    • Scholar digs into this for us: With its harsh and sustained polemic, Matthew 23 may strike congregations as a bit of a shock. But Matthew has prepared its audience for this speech by escalating the conflict between Jesus and various authorities. … Things really intensify when Jesus enters Jerusalem and creates a disturbance in the temple. At that point the chief priests and the scribes express consternation (21:14-15). On the next day the chief priests and elders challenge Jesus’ authority directly (21:23). … Jesus then tells two parables, the Two Sons (21:28-32) and the Tenants (21:33-41), which the chief priests and the Pharisees take as an attack upon themselves (21:45). … This series of controversies pits Jesus against the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, the Pharisees, the Pharisees’ disciples, the Herodians, and the Sadducees, sometimes in teams. … Jesus’ criticisms throughout chapter 23 constitute a final response to the pressure he’s been receiving throughout his stay in Jerusalem.[2]
    • Also important to remember that the intended audience for Mt’s gospel is the wider Jewish community → Matthew wrote specifically for the Jews, so of course, the example that he gives them is one that they would culturally understand – an example of those in positions of leadership and power failing to walk the walk, as we would say today.
      • Scholar: Passages like this persuade scholars that Matthew was written for a community alienated from and competing with the synagogue. … Matthew, including in this passage, shows profound respect for the authority of the Hebrew Scriptures and the riches of the Jewish tradition. … Matthew also recognizes that the vanity, hypocrisy, and arrogance that trouble Jesus are a universal human characteristic, not something specific to the Jewish leaders. The point of this passage concerns the true nature of discipleship, rather than a condemnation of a particular people or religion.[3] → So make no mistake, friends. While the surface reading of this is a condemnation of the Jewish authorities surrounding Jesus at the time, it goes both deeper and wider than that.
• You see, friends, at it’s core, this is a passage about authenticity – about genuine witness and genuine
  • Jesus begins passage by highlighting the Pharisees’ authority – text: “The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say.”[4]
    • Phrase “Moses’ seat” = referencing the teaching and administrative authority of the synagogue leadership, scribes and Pharisees → the custodians of the tradition, literally and figuratively caretakes of the Scriptures through both their handling of the holy scrolls and their interpretation/teachings
  • So Jesus gives them this little nod of recognition before turning the tables. – text goes on: “You must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.”[5] → This part of the passage speaks to those ways that the authorities were using their interpretive influence to set the bar too high for those around them, especially when it’s a bar they themselves don’t even attempt to reach.
    • Lots of Christian voices out there trying to tell people who doesn’t belong in the family of God – who doesn’t get to call God “Father” (or “Mother” or “parent”) … who doesn’t get to call Christ “teacher” à But Jesus is pretty clear in this passage that the only ones failing are the ones drawing the lines … the ones pushing people out, not the ones making genuine attempts at faith – at living together as siblings in Christ.
    • Reminds me of the way various groups of Christians insist that any lack of health – physical or mental – is a failing of prayer
      • Stories that make the news every so often of children who die of completely treatable conditions because whatever religious group their family belongs to refuses medical intervention in favor of prayer
        • E.g. – refusal to treat Type 1 diabetes because they’ve been led to believe they can just “pray it away”
      • Story of our friend from a number of years ago (*Ruth – name changed)
        • Struggled with mental health, mainly anxiety and depression
        • Told by the Christian community around her that she simply wasn’t praying hard enough … often enough … well enough → Which, as a strongly committed Christian, only made her more anxious and depressed because she felt like, with everything else she was struggling with, she was also failing in her faith.
        • Finally sought medical help for her mental health → And her life improved dramatically with the help of medications for anti-anxiety and anti-depressants.
    • Now, I’m not saying that medical help is always the answer. I know and dearly love others who have sought and tried basically every medical intervention out there for their own mental health struggles, and none of them have worked. But let me be clear, friends: the state of your prayer life – whatever that may be – does not affect your body’s ability to balance brain chemicals or heal. If you need medical intervention for your health in any way – physical, mental, emotional, whatever – it does not say anything negative about your faith. Period.
      • Effect prayer does have on the brain (according to studies done by Dr. Andrew Newberg and detailed in his book How God Changes Our Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist[6]): Engaging in 12 minutes of personal reflection and prayer each day makes a profound impact on our brain. It strengthens a unique neural circuit that specifically enhances our social awareness and empathy and helps us love our neighbor by developing a heightened sense of compassion and subduing negative emotions.[7]
• This actually leads us into the second point about authenticity that Jesus makes with this passage today. It’s a point about the dangers of hypocrisy – about saying one thing and yet doing another.
  • One of the biggest dangers (even sins) of hypocrisy is the way it denigrates and minimalizes the contributions of others by lifting up a false ideal → And we see this in our text. All the things that Jesus lifts up in those middle verses are about appearing to be the most fervent, the most religious, and therefore making everyone else feel “less than.” – text: Don’t do what they do.For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do, they do to be noticed by others. They make extra-wide prayer bands for their arms and long tassels for their clothes. They love to sit in places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. They love to be greeted with honor in the markets and to be addressed as ‘Rabbi.’ But you shouldn’t be called Rabbi, because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly. Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher.[8] → Now, is Jesus realistically saying we shouldn’t call another soul “Father” or another soul “teacher”? No. Jesus is saying that with our words and our actions, we should not be elevating anything or anyone above God and Jesus. And finally, we should not be lifting ourselves up above others either.
    • Last portion of text: But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant. All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.[9] → That’s the real heavy lifting, friends – lifting others up above ourselves. Frankly, it’s not hard to try to elevate ourselves, right? Even if we aren’t people who like to brag about our accomplishments, we polish up our social media feeds with filters and carefully-staged photos of lives that make everything look happy and beautiful and perfect. #BestLife, right? But how often do we lift up those around us in the same way? How often do we highlight the accomplishments of others? How often do we shine a spotlight – be it on social media or in the intimacy of our own homes – on the good being done and said and lived by those around us?
      • Nationally, we are beyond failing at this → As a nation, we are spending so much time posturing and preening for those around us – those on the other side of the political aisle, those in the next tax bracket, those with the bigger house … the nicer car … the better whatever … As a nation, we’ve spent so much time and effort lifting ourselves up that we have neglected and abandoned and abused those who need us the most. “All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.”
        • Speech from Remember the Titans: “Anybody know what this place is? This is Gettysburg. This is where they fought the Battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fightin’ the same fight that we’re still fightin’ amongst ourselves today. This green field right here was painted red, bubblin’ with the blood of young boys, smoke and hot lead pourin’ right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men: ‘I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family.’ You listen. And you take a lesson from the dead. If we don’t come together, right now, on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed — just like they were. I don’t care if you like each other or not. But you will respect each other. And maybe — I don’t know — maybe we’ll learn to play this game like men.”

• • • • • Scholar: Equality before God insists not only that the proud humble themselves but that the marginalized take their place among God’s children. Not everyone has the same gifts or fulfills the same role in the community, but all are children of the same God and students of the same teacher. Everyone has a role to play and gifts to contribute in God’s kingdom.[10] → That is the real heavy lifting, friends: lifting up the contributions of others as good, as worthy, as faithful, as pleasing to God … especially when their gifts don’t look like yours. Amen.

[1] Rachel Held Evans. Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson), 2018.

[2] Greg Carey. “Commentary on Matthew 23:1-12” from Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-31/commentary-on-matthew-231-12-6.

[3] Tim Beach-Verhey. “Proper 26 (Sunday between October 20 and November 5 inclusive) – Matthew 23:1-12, Theological Perspective” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – Year A, vol. 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 260.

[4] Mt 23:2-3a.

[5] Mt 23:3-4.

[6] Andrew Newberg. How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist. (New York: Ballantine Books), 2010.

[7] https://www.westmont.edu/how-faith-and-prayer-benefit-brain#:~:text=First%2C%20engaging%20in%2012%20minutes,compassion%20and%20subduing%20negative%20emotions.

[8] Mt 23:3b-10.

[9] Mt 23:11-12.

[10] Beach-Verhey, 264.