Photo by Nellie Valverde
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1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 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. 4 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. 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be 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 do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Matthew 23:1-12 NRSV)
Wonderful Wednesdays begin with time spent in prayer, the word, and listening for God!
My prayer, dear Friend, is that this finds you well, blessed, and behaving! Okay, I know that I've gone from preaching to meddling!
This week found Jesus addressing problems, people, and perceptions. Though this passage finds Him already inside Jerusalem, this issue made His coming to earth necessary in the first place. You have heard me say that the Church of Jesus' time had, for the most part, failed God and failed God's people. There were certain good leaders with God intentions, but that cannot be a blanket statement about all the leadership of the Temple, which represented the Church in Israel. Two of the leading groups in leadership were the scribes and Pharisees. The first group was "married" to the law. It was expected of every Jewish male that they would marry, and given the custom of having pre-arranged marriages, no one easily escaped that destiny. A man feeling called by God to study and write the law could convince his mother and father (yes in that order) that his was a higher calling than for mom to be a grandma. He would then enter into that service and spend the rest of his days copying and re-copying the scriptures. They were called to be the teacher of the law. They were also involved in leadership decisions as we have seen their efforts to thwart Jesus' ministry come across the pages of the four gospels. The other group in this passage were the Pharisees. Their name has continued to be used synonymously with hypocrites, for, as Jesus has described in this text to teach one thing and live quite another. They were the preachers for the Jews, for the study of the law with the scribes, was to equip them to preach the expectations of God. Somehow and somewhere, they got off course.
Deep in my mind are still remarks I heard in the first days of seminary from classmates who confessed their true motives for being in a sacred setting. One young man very openly said, "I want to be a pastor because I know the little work that my pastor does back home. The church has given him a country club membership, they pay him very well, they provide a nicer home than I have, and he studies just enough to produce three points and a poem every Sunday." What?? No confession of faith, no call story of how Jesus invited, or pushed, or challenged him into this holy work. And how I wish to say this was a special case. Please do not think I am saying I am a saint and one exclusively set apart like no other; I struggled with being worthy, and capable of the work that I had seen my pastors dedicated to. I even dropped out after 11 months only to have God find me even where I went to hide! I know that even my mentors and "fathers" in ministry would be among the first to say, please don't place a label of holiest one on me!
The Messiah shares His thoughts in this way. "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach." The photo above shows yours truly seated on the Moses seat of a synagogue in the Holy Land. The custom was for the scribe or Pharisee to stand and receive the scroll from an attendant, reach the word for that day, hand it back to the attendant, go and sit in the Moses seat and preach/teach sitting down. You remember Jesus did this the day he read from Isaiah and declared it to be the day that scripture was fulfilled, much to the dismay and anger of the people. I also remember on a couple or more occasions for my Dad to have told me something similar to this; "Do as I say; not as I do." It took this boy some time to understand fully what he meant, but out of love and respect I said yes, sir.
Jesus is giving away the two for what they truly were, and this angered them all the more. "They do all their deeds to be seen by others.... They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi." Ouch. He further goes on to say that "the greatest among you will be your servant." Imagine hearing that for the first time! "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."
Jesus' teaching was double-sided; one side for the "religious", the other for those seeking God. Nothing Jesus said can be seen or received as being easy; the call from Jesus is always a full and complete surrender to Him. As we near the very end of these 40 days of Lenten preparation and study, we ask the question to ourselves; How really ready are we for all that God will do in the next few days of this coming Holy Week? Will the stress and pressure of being quarantined diminish the impact and importance of it all? In no way! It will all come down to what we do with what we hear, receive, accept, and put into practice. God has a blessing with our name on it, but like all gifts we must take it and open it and use it as it was intended. Even if this year's Easter dresses and suits have Star Wars, Star Trek, or Bugs Bunny on them; inside we will be ready and we will be blessed!
PRAYER: Come, Holy Father into the fullness of this time. Lift me above the fears, worries, and noises of this crisis to Thy holy presence. May the true gifts of Easter flood my soul with joy, peace, love, and compassion. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Lift someone's spirits by sharing this email with them with a note of how you will be celebrating Easter this year in your spirit.
Receive my blessings of joy and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
