Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees

Today's Reflections 

 
                                                             

 

Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees 

http://graceandspace.org

Mt 23:1-12

¹Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, ²saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. ³Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. ⁴They tie up heavy burdens [hard to carry] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. ⁵All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. ⁶They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, ⁷greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ ⁸As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. ¹⁰Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah. ¹¹The greatest among you must be your servant. ¹²Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

THEY PREACH BUT THEY DO NOT PRACTICE. Mt 23 carries Jesus’ denunciation of the scribes and the Pharisees. Why the vehemence on the part of Jesus? Were these religious leaders so bad? Were they all hypocrites? The New American Bible explains in its commentary: “While the tradition of a deep opposition between Jesus and the Pharisees is well founded, this speech reflects an opposition that goes beyond that of Jesus’ ministry and must be seen as expressing the bitter conflict between the Pharisaic Judaism and the church of Matthew at the time when the gospel was composed... The speech is not purely anti-Pharisaic. The evangelist discerns in his church many of the same faults that he finds in its opponents and warns his fellow Christians to look to their own conduct and attitudes.”

A Christian leader should have his heart imbedded in God and be content with doing good with the thought that God sees all his actions. To seek recognition and to parade one’s good deeds disqualify any person from Christian leadership, for such manifests a deep-seated egoism and selfishness.

How do you feel when your achievements

are recognized?

How do you react when they are not?