He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted

 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.  For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

- Matthew 23:1-12

In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem.  It is what we know as Holy Week, the week of the last Passover of Jesus' life.  Yesterday we read that when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees as they disputed in the temple, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.
  

 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do."  The whole of chapter 23 gives us Jesus' final public sermon, which is in essence a grand critique of the ways of the scribes and Pharisees.  My study bible elaborates on the themes included as:  (1)  The Jewish leaders have God-given authority and teach God's Law, but they are personally ungodly and cold-hearted.  As such, their teaching itself is to be honored, but they are not to be imitated.  (2)  God is our true Father and Teacher.  A teacher or father on earth is one who will lead people to God.  The scribes and Pharisees do the opposite, placing themselves in God's position.  (3)  Finally, in Jesus' eight-fold indictment of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus charges them with inverting God's values, and with being mean-spirited, judgmental, greedy, ambitious, absorbed in externals, and blindly self-righteous.  While these charges were directed against the Jewish leaders of the day, every single word applies equally today to those in the Church who behave in this way.    In the verses noted here, Jesus begins with the understanding that to sit in Moses' seat means to hold the succession of office down from Moses himself. In the synagogue, the teacher spoke while seated as a sign of this authority.  St. John Chrysostom notes on this passage that the scribes were depraved in thought and heart, but Jesus still upholds the dignity of their office, because they speak not their own words but God's.  And, once again, we can reflect on the Church here.  The clergy are to be shown respect as they hold the apostolic office, but they too are sinners.  Moreover, the sins of the clergy do not relieve the people from their own responsibilities before God. 

"For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments."  Phylacteries are small leather pouches which contain passages of Scripture.  They are worn on the arm or the forehead.  The idea is to always keep God's Law in mind (see Exodus 13:9).  However, as is potential with all expressions of devotion, they could be used for outward expression alone, "to be seen by men."  Jesus here condemns the Pharisees use of them as a show of false piety, making them increasingly larger and more noticeable.

"They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ."  My study bible says that Christ's warning against calling hypocrites father and teacher is not an absolute prohibition against using these terms, as some teach.  These terms are applied to men many times in the New Testament, all of which usages are inspired by God.  Teacher is used in John 3:10, Ats 13:1, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11, and 2 Timothy 1:11.  Father is used in Luke 16:24, 1 Corinthians 4:15, and Colossians 3:21.  From the very early days of the Church, my study bible notes, bishops and presbyters have been called "father" not because they take the place of God, but because in their fatherly care for their flocks, they lead people to God, and they exercise fatherly authority within the community.  But Jesus' emphasis here is clear; we are all under one authority, and that authority is God's.

"But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  One more time, Jesus gives us the highest standard of leadership and authority, and that standard is service.  It is apparently not enough to merely mention this once, but His repeated expression of the same teaching tells us that it cannot be emphasized enough.

Jesus emphasizes service in His Church and among His flock as the real key to "Godlike" authority.  No one could put it more clearly nor strongly than He does in the words that we know:  "But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  There is no greater power, perhaps, than that of service.  In Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross, His service is to an entire universe.  His saving service renders Him risen Lord, defeating the power of death and evil for all of us.  This is a great and powerful mystery, but what we can understand of it is right here in this teaching.  Service is God-like.  Humility is God-like.  He humbles Himself to save all of creation and everything in it.  So we are to do likewise.  It is my opinion that our worldly perspective on service is skewed.  We cannot easily grasp the greatness in service and in humility, but it is there where we defeat evil.  It is there where the greatest battles are fought, in this almost poetic place of service and help.  In this notion is grace and mercy.  Do we do good to others, even those who have hurt us?  Are we capable of letting grace work through us?  What can we help to heal in a world that is so broken and so often needs healing?  It is the perspective of the purely worldly that cannot see grace, nor the tremendous exaltation it can bring to those who practice such service.  When we think of sacrifice, we can't necessarily see the implications within sacrifice of transcendence, of elation through the experience of a God-like joy and love that is the character of grace at work through us.  We always seem to leave out the picture of the tremendous freedom that grace brings in action through our own capacity for service, and the message that is there for us of just how capable we are of rendering something to someone else, of resolving old hurts and conflicts, and most of all, of being God-like in our practice of our faith, and in the grace of the Spirit's always surprising work present in us and to us.  To be joyful truly is to understand the great grace in service. It is something we all must experience to know the true height and depth of the faith and grace we've been taught by our true Teacher.