Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven

 

 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, it is Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  Jesus has been in the temple in Jerusalem, teaching and disputing with the religious leaders.  Yesterday we read that when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, 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.  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."   Matthew's chapter 23 is a great indictment of the scribes and Pharisees, and their ways of practicing the faith.   My study Bible describes the themes included in today's section of this chapter in the following way:  1) The religious leaders have God-given authority to teach God's Law, but they are personally ungodly and cold-hearted.  Their teaching may be honored, but they cannot be imitated.  2)  God is the true Father and Teacher of all.  A teacher or father on earth is one who leads people to God, but the scribes and Pharisees do the opposite -- even as they place themselves in God's position.  To sit in Moses' seat means to hold the succession of office down from Moses himself, similarly to the way in the Church we have the succession from the apostles.  To be seated in the synagogue was the position of a teacher, and a sign of this authority.  My study Bible says that St. John Chrysostom noted that the scribes were depraved in thought and heart, but Jesus is still upholding the dignity of their office.  This is because the scribes speak not their own words, but God's, from Scripture.  So also within the Church, my study Bible says, the clergy are shown respect as they hold the apostolic office, even though they also are sinners.  Moreover, whatever sins of the clergy may exist, it does not relieve the people from their own responsibilities before God.  

"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.'"  Phylacteries are small leather pouches which contain passages of Scripture, and are worn on the arm or forehead.  My study Bible says that the purpose was to keep God's Law always in mind (see Exodus 13:9).  But the Pharisees, in Christ's description, use them as a show of false piety -- making them ever larger and more noticeable for this purpose.

 

 "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."  My study Bible comments that Christ's warnings against calling hypocrites father and teacher is not an absolute prohibition from using such terms.  "Father" and "teacher" are applied many times to people in the New Testament, and each of these usages are inspired by God.  Teacher is used in John 3:10; Acts 13:1; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11; and 2 Titus 1:11.  We find father used in Luke 16:24; 1 Corinthians 4:15; and Colossians 3:21.  From the earliest days of the Church, my study Bible comments, bishops and presbyters were called "father" not because they take the place of God, but because they act with fatherly care for their flocks, they lead people to God, and they also exercise fatherly authority within the community.  

My study Bible's commentary on the use of the title "Father" is quite useful for thinking about themes in today's passage of Christ's critique of the scribes and Pharisees.  For let us consider the ways in which we expect a good father to behave, the roles in which we expect a good father to act and to fulfill, and the responsibilities that go with such a position.  Of course, our own notions of what is truly the fulfillment of fatherhood come from God, and the ways in which Scripture has expressed to us the character of God the Father.  Please note that this ultimate role model of fatherhood also applies to women who are single parents, or who must take on the role of father for children and extended family for all kinds of reasons, and so the model still applies.  But when we think of the type of historical leadership a father of a family or tribe or extended clan was expected to embody, we have to consider Christ's words taken in their fullness of what He expected from His disciples, who would become the Fathers of the Church, and all those who would follow in their footsteps, even both as Fathers and Mothers of the Church.  What Jesus condemns is the hypocrisy of those who use their positions of authority for show, for clout, and to fulfill their own inflated or arrogant sense of their place in the community.  A good father of a family (or mother in the role of leadership) does not do this to care for family or others either.  Moreover, Christ's repeated emphasis for leadership is on humility.  This comes front and center.  When He emphasizes not to call one another "father" or "teacher," He does this by emphasizing that we all have one Father and one Teacher -- we have God the Father, and we have Christ the Son our Teacher.  Keeping such a thought in mind -- for all of us without exception -- is the real key to humility.  It's also the key to the kind of service that Christ expects from us, when He says, "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."  We remember Whom it is we seek to serve ultimately, and before Whom we need to humble ourselves.   This, again, is the model for a good father or head of a family.  For the flaws of the religious leaders are the flaws of a failed parent; the humility and service Christ teaches His disciples are the hallmarks of devoted and loving parents, especially in a leadership role.  So these teachings form a model for each of us, in the Church, in our communities, among our brothers and sisters, in our families.  Let us be humble in order to be exalted.

That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth

 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

 

- Matthew 23:27-39 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His final sermon of His earthly life, preaching in the temple at Jerusalem:   "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells on it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also." 

 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."  Here Jesus continues the theme we read in yesterday's reading (above), as His sermon focused on the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.  In the beginning of His sermon, as we read on Monday, He said of them that "all their works they do to be seen by men" and so this comment that they appear beautiful outwardly applies in that sense.  They have external signs of holiness (and "cleanliness" in this sense of religious purification) but internally are anything but. 

 

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."  Here is Jesus' theme elaborated that these religious leaders "are full of dead men's bones and all unrighteousness" -- He says they are the same, the very sons of those who murdered the prophets, for they continue in the same behavior.  Jesus gives His own prophecy here of those whom He will send to them, some of whom they will kill and crucify, scourge in their synagogues, and persecute from city to city.  In Greek, the verb that is translated as "I send" is ἀποστέλλω/apostello, the root from which we derive the word "apostle."  So while even now He sends them out (present tense), He speaks of the future when His apostles (prophets, wise men, and scribes) will be crucified, scourged, and persecuted from city to city.  Jesus speaks of those from the beginning, righteous Abel (who was killed by his brother Cain in Genesis 4:1-15)  to Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  While some patristic commentary indicates this was the prophet at the time of Joash the king (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), others as well as modern scholars say it refers to the father of St. John the Baptist, making the contemporary "whom you murdered" make sense.  According to tradition, Zechariah the father of John the Baptist was also murdered in the temple.  In Luke's Gospel, he is referred to in the Greek version of his name, Zacharias (see Luke 1:5-25, 57-80).

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"  My study Bible comments that God's deepest desire is the reconciliation of God's people, yet most do not want God.  The house which is desolate refers both to the temple in Jerusalem and to the nation itself, for "house" can be used to mean also family or tribe (see Psalms 115:12, 135:19).  Both the temple and the nation will be without God's protective presence once Christ departs.

Of course, Christian tradition understands Christ's prophecy of the destruction of the temple (and of Jerusalem) as fulfilled in AD 70, when the temple was destroyed by the Romans at the Siege of Jerusalem.  The prophecy of Jesus is seen in this light.  So, we might ask ourselves, how is it possible for "all the righteous blood shed on the earth" to come to one generation?  For that, we must ask ourselves about spiritual awareness and knowledge and the weight they carry in human lives.  These men to whom Christ speaks in today's reading are the experts in the Scriptures, the keepers of Jewish spiritual and religious history and tradition.  Moreover, these men are the ones responsible for the instruction of Israel, the carrying forward of the spiritual tradition of Judaism, and they have failed, in Christ's eyes, through their hypocrisy and corruption.  Even so, we might ask, how can the full weight of all the righteous blood shed come upon one generation?  First we must understand the responsibility that spiritual knowledge and experience carries.  When one "knows better" there is far more responsibility involved than something done in ignorance.  Second, Jesus gives us a very close hint when He tells them (in yesterday's reading, above), "For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."   Bad habits and practices become extended from one person to another, and from one generation to another, when they are successively taught through practices and ways of thinking and being.  Righteousness is a question of how we relate to the world and all beings and things in the world; therefore unrighteousness can be acquired and learned as well through the imitation of those who fail to live righteousness.  Indeed, in the Orthodox tradition, the world is in a "fallen" state primarily due to the fact that we inherit the conditions created and, in a sense, "descended" from the first sin.  We don't inherit guilt, but we do acquire the habits of the world around us, the conditions into which we're born.  So these religious leaders are responsible for their own behavior, as they know the teachings of righteousness and yet simply accept corruption and its practices, even extended to unrighteous bloodshed and violence.  Jesus speaks of their hypocrisy when He tells them that "you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"   And He prophesies what they themselves will do, including His own crucifixion:   "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."  Christ ties them in to an extended history of what they know to be blameworthy behavior ("you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets'"), and prophesies that they will continue to do the same nonetheless.   Therefore Jesus speaks of the power of spiritual reality at work in our world, which is not only the power of God which sanctifies and brings holiness, enables prophesy and all the varied fruit of the Spirit in our world.  But that same power of sanctification and righteousness is also at work when we fail to uphold what we know to be the good, when we know better, when holiness is standing before us and testifying.  Jesus indicates this when He sends out the apostles and tells them, "And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" (Matthew 10:14-15).  Note also that what we might call this destructive spiritual power (in response to unrighteous denial or rejection of holiness) comes in time; it will be forty years before the fulfillment of this prophecy.  This is understood as merciful, for there is time for people to repent.  Therefore to those who would be blind to it, cause and effect are not necessarily understood; only those capable of repentance could see or sense the spiritual effects of their actions.  So we today who "know better," who are recipients of the spiritual teachings of Christ and the traditions of holiness that are handed to us, bear responsibility for the spiritual treasures and wisdom we have been given through prophets, wise men, and scribes.  For God's holy power is still at work.  Let us consider when we pray the power of holiness and the reality of Christ's words and teachings.  For righteousness and compassion always remain essential to our understanding of the people He calls us to be.

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

Yesterday we read that on the same day Jesus was quizzed by the Pharisees and Herodians about paying taxes to Caesar, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.  But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, 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."   Our readings skip over Matthew 22:41-46, as these verses were included in the reading for the eve of Ascension Day, on May 20th (see that reading here).

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples . . ..  Today's reading is the beginning of what would be Jesus' final public sermon.  It is a grand critique of the ways of the scribes and the Pharisees.  There are several themes which Jesus will include.  First, while the Jewish leaders have God-given authority and teach God's Law, they are personally ungodly and cold-hearted.  This is an important distinction, and will shape the future of Christianity and Jesus' teachings to us.  As those with authority, the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees is to be honored, but they should not be imitated (verses 2-7, which are included in today's reading).  A second theme in this sermon is that God is our true Father and Teacher.  Just has Jesus has spoken of Himself as the One who leads people to the Father, so any teacher or father on earth is one who leads people to God.  But the scribes and Pharisees do the opposite; they place themselves in God's position, my study bible says (verses 8-12, also included in today's reading).  Christ then will proceed with an eightfold indictment of the scribes and Pharisees (verses 13-36).  He will charge them with inverting God's values, and as the commentary in my study bible phrases it, with being mean-spirited, judgmental, greedy, ambitious, absorbed in externals, and blindly self-righteous.  These charges are directed against the Jewish leaders of the day, but my study bible affirms that every single word applies equally to Christian religious leaders today who behave in the same way.

. . . 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."   My study bible explains that to sit in Moses' seat means to hold the succession of office down from Moses himself.  In the synagogue, the teacher would speak while seated as a sign of authority.  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom as commenting that the scribes were depraved in thought and heart, but Jesus still upholds the dignity of their office, as they speak not their own words but God's.  So it is likewise in the Church.  The clergy are shown respect as they hold the apostolic office, although they are also sinners.  Moreover, the sins of the clergy do not remove from the people their own responsibility 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.  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.' "  Phylacteries are small leather pouches which contain passages of Scripture and are worn on the arm or forehead.  The concept is to keep God's Law always in mind (Exodus 13:9), but the Pharisees use them as a show of false piety, making them more and more large and noticeable.   The other highly conspicuous signs of elevated position and religious authority Jesus names we can easily recognize for ourselves.

"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."  Jesus' warning against calling hypocrites father and teacher, my study bible explains, is not an absolute prohibition against using these terms (as some falsely teach).  They are terms used, in fact, many times in the New Testament, each usage inspired by God.  Teacher is used in John 3:10, Acts 13:1, 1 Corinthians 12:28, and 2 Timothy 1:11.  Father is used in Luke 16:24, 1 Corinthians 4:15, and Colossians 3:21.    Since the earliest days of the Church, bishops and presbyters were called "father."  This is not because they take the place of God, my study bible explains, but rather because in their fatherly care for their flocks, they lead people to God, and they also exercise fatherly authority within the community.  In many cases, they have also died for their communities during times of persecution and hostility.

What does it mean to call someone a father?  Or to call someone a teacher?  These words, of course, are masculine words, and so are oriented toward men, but of course teachers come in all genders, and we also have many mothers who may have spiritual children.  So when we think of these words, what do we think of?  In all of Jesus' teaching, He holds firm to the concept that all things must serve God first.  When He's asked the greatest commandment in the Law (in Saturday's reading, above), He lists the first greatest commandment as "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."  This takes priority over all things.  But then He lists the second, allied to it, as follows:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Throughout Jesus' ministry, there has been one theme:  that when one sees Christ, one sees the Father.  He is here to lead all to the Father.  Moreover, He allies a new commandment to His followers to that teaching:  "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34-35).  In this unity of love, we find one insurmountable theme, and that is the theme of truth.  The reality of the God revealed by Christ is the truth, as He Himself is the truth, as expressed in "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  The ultimate truth is the reality of God the Father, reflected clearly in Christ, who is also our Teacher.  And whoever would call themselves father (or mother) or teacher must also lead to and live this truth in order to be qualified to carry such a name.  Otherwise they are false shepherds who mislead, false prophets who are wolves in sheep's clothing (7:15).  And there is really nothing in between.  We are either serving one thing or the other.  People may be confused and well-intentioned, or they may be deliberately misleading.  But either way, the choice is really between these two things:  we are either going (or being led) toward God, the ultimate truth -- or we are being led the other way, possibly by those merely in it for themselves, or misguided themselves.  Either way, it matters little, for ultimately there is repentance and hence correction available to all; a deep lack of repentance is already a sign of a problem.  And here we come to the heart of Christ's teachings in today's reading:  that it is hypocrisy that is the greatest sign of false teachers.  If Jesus is the Person who is truth (again, as in "I am the way, the truth, and the life"), then those who fail to truly lead us to Christ and the Father fail to be true teachers; they fail in caring for the spiritual health and well-being of their flocks.  Neither do they qualify as true spiritual fathers or mothers, for the kind of love that includes freedom in Christ's truth is missing.  Without a heart that is truly humble before and dedicated to God, we can't manage to find our own flaws and hence repentance.  To come to today's reflection of this teaching, we have but to look around us in social media, and how easily we find it is to do what is called "virtue-signalling."  Are we good or God-like because we put up a slogan on Twitter or Facebook?  It really doesn't matter what "side" one is on in terms of expressing some sort of God-like virtue of loving truth or even practicing love for neighbor and reflecting God's love in our own conduct.  It is all too easy to make a statement or slogan, to express oneself to be on the "right side" (whichever that might be), rather than to do the work Christ commands us to do.  Some people might be so busy with activity and sloganeering they forget to take the time to pray and come to terms with what God's calling them to.  We need to take time out for God, and to remember that to love God is done with all one's heart and soul and mind.  This is not achieved through joining up on the bandwagon with the latest slogan or following the group call to somehow "join up" or join in whatever activity is proffered today.  To root ourselves in the places that Christ asks us to be, to be certain that we are acting to avoid hypocrisy, we need a kind of regular withdrawal for prayer, just as Christ does Himself throughout the Gospels.  We need to "check in" with our real Father, and make certain we're on the path He offers; we need to pray with our true Teacher and dedicate ourselves to His teachings, asking for correction where it is needed, and making certain that repentance is for us always possible by remembering the essential need we have for humility, and staying away at times from the public's great cry of today.  We don't want to be like the crowds in the temple, who at one day welcome Christ, and the next are stirred to condemn Him to death on the Cross.  Our true teachers, and real fathers and mothers worthy of the name, will encourage each one of us to do the same, to find ourselves in prayer to Our Father, to come to ourselves (as did the Prodigal) in our true home which is in Christ and in the heart (John 14:23-24).  Especially in a time of public unrest such as we might see today, it is a good time to withdraw for prayer, and to center ourselves in that place where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make their dwelling within us.  We have to remember Christ's words and teachings, and seek first Our Father, so that we know and recognize who are true fathers or mothers and true teachers.  In the Church we are left with many tools for doing this, from worship to the tools of prayer -- especially the Psalms, the Lord's Prayer (or "Our Father"), and the prayers of the Church.  Let us remember that the greatest among us -- those who would be teachers and fathers or mothers -- are those who are true servants, and that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Christ the Good Shepherd, mosaic, c. 425.  Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna

 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

- Matthew 23:13-26

Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples in the temple at Jerusalem, 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."

 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.  Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it."   My study bible tells us that because the example of a leader can be so influential, leaders who don't love God can hinder others from finding God as well.  Therefore, it says, leaders are held to a higher standard (James 3:1).   Here Jesus begins an eightfold indictment of the scribes and Pharisees.  As my study bible lists these charges, Jesus accuses them of inverting God's values and being mean-spirited, judgmental, greedy, ambitious, absorbed in externals, and blindly self-righteous.  Let us note that each of these charges are punctuated by accusations of hypocrisy, and each of these acts constitute part of that hypocrisy.  My study bible adds that while these charges are directed by Jesus to the leadership of His time, every word applies equally to those in the Church who behave this way.  This would be true of our own time, or of any other time.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."  My study bible (which is The Orthodox Study Bible) calls these warnings especially important to Orthodox Christians.  Indeed, they apply to all normal practices of faith in every denomination.   Specifically for the Orthodox, the Church has maintained the ancient practices of tithing (These you ought to have done), sacred vessels, holy rites (verse 27, which will be part of tomorrow's reading), and following the patristic tradition handed down from the earliest Church.  These practices, and indeed the practices in each denomination, in the words of my study bible, can be expressions of deep faith, lead a person to deeper commitment to God, and safeguard our life in Christ, or they can be observed without ever taking them to heart, and lead to condemnation.  Regarding Jesus' words that they strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, this refers to the practice of the Pharisees to attach strainers to the mouths of decanters, in order to avoid accidentally consuming a ritually unclean substance.  To cleanse the inside of the cup and dish is once again turning our attention to the inner life of the heart and soul,  doing the work of seeking true self-knowledge and taking decisive action necessary to correct abusive behavior (18:8-9), away from hypocrisy.

Jesus condemns the leadership in their hypocrisy, and in the practices used that express that hypocrisy.  If we take a closer look at it, we see that Jesus' grand summary really begins with the overall accusation:  they "shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."  In other words, their own practices hinder the members of their flock, the ones in their care, from finding God.  Let us take a look at  today and we'll find  that practices in our own time can have the same effect.  When people are harmed or abused within the Church, what does this do to the individual believer -- especially if that believer is helpless or powerless like a child -- but to seriously harm and put obstacles in the way of their own path to God?  Abuse within His Church is something that Christ addressed early on with the disciples, in chapter 18, soon after the disciples are told about Jesus' forthcoming journey to Jerusalem, and they begin to ask Him who will be the greatest in the kingdom that they imagine will be imminent.  His first act is to prepare them for real leadership by speaking on no uncertain terms about their jobs and responsibilities as those who will presume to any kind of "greatness" in His Church.  His first word is humility, and setting down in front of them the example of a little child as requirement for entering the Kingdom.  But His second warning is the starkest one:  "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!"  In other words, the highest job of a religious leader is the care of the souls of all the little ones, and that those souls reach toward God, each one having that precious weight in the sight of God.  Let us consider, then, Jesus' words regarding the leadership.  He specifically names the practices in which they engage and how they are so harmful.  They cover up their harmful greed with long prayers.  They seek out proselytes only to corrupt them even more than they are corrupt themselves.  They fail to recognize the power of God beyond the structures, gifts, and wealth of the temple.  They will tithe even herbs, but neglect the very substances of God's righteousness:  justice and mercy and faith.   They make such ritual of fastidiousness, and yet they overlook gross and overwhelming affronts to God's desire for clean hearts.  They will care so much about ritual purity, but extortion and self-indulgence lie within, and until that is cleaned, nothing of what remains matters.  In some sense, the last verse in today's reading is a re-statement of another teaching of Jesus, that "not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth" . . . for "those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" and "these are the things which defile" (see Matthew 15:1-20).   We might pay all the attention we can to the externals, put on all the right show to others and make conspicuous actions of faith or purity, but for Christ there is just one real test that matters, and that is the effort to know our hearts and work the real work of faith, to seek to follow the will of God.  In this way, He tells us, we will be family (see 12:49-50).  So in Jesus' words and teachings, we take yet another important step toward understanding real leadership.  It's not simply that we must do our best to lead all toward God, but moreover the way to take on that responsibility is to do our best to live the righteousness He teaches.  That absolutely includes the effort to be aware of and change or discard from ourselves anything that stands in the way doing so.   In this we will not only be good examples, but we will also help others to retain their own faith, and particularly seek -- in the humility required to be really honest with ourselves and before God -- to treat the littlest and meekest with proper care for their own essential journey toward God.  Here, finally, is the true image of the fullness of a human being, what it means to assume the capacities and choices we're given.  It is the requirement for leadership, but also, leadership exists on all levels.  There will be those little ones who suffer from abuse, even in the  Church, even in our families, and our institutions of all kinds, even when we have faith that all of these building blocks of our social fabric are nominally "good."  Let us be the ones who can help to lead all toward God, especially those who are most vulnerable to straying, and even in the times when leadership lets us down.  Like Christ, we are called to the truth He teaches, even in times when we are required to have courage to do so.  In yesterday's reading, we posted an icon of Christ the Good Shepherd.   Here in today's reading we are reminded of the fullness of His care for each of these, and that many are called, but few chosen.

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

Christ the Good Shepherd, icon, 19th century Russian (Netherlands, private collection)

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

Yesterday we read that when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, 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."  Here we begin the final public sermon of Jesus.  Speaking in the temple at Jerusalem, this sermon is a grand critique of the ways of the scribes and Pharisees.  My study bible lists several themes included in Jesus' final sermon, which continues through verse 39 (and which will be extended through our next several readings).  First of all, the Jewish leaders have God-given authority and they teach God's Law.  But they are personally ungodly and they are also cold-hearted.  As illustrated in the parables Jesus has told in the temple, their care for their flock is without compassion, and selfish in nature, without a spirit of service which Jesus seeks to inculcate in His disciples.   Regarding the leadership, in these first few verses in today's reading, Jesus tells us that their teaching is to be honored, but they are not to be personally imitated.  To sit in Moses' seat means to hold the succession of office down from Moses himself.  In the synagogue, my study bible says, the teacher spoke while seated as a sign of such authority.  St. John Chrysostom notes that the scribes were depraved in both thought and heart, but Jesus still upholds the dignity of their office, as they speak not their own words but rather God's.  Also, my study bible notes that within the Church, the clergy are shown respect because they hold apostolic office, although they also are sinners.  Moreover, the sins of the clergy don't excuse 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.  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.' "   Phylacteries are small leather pouches which contain passages of Scripture, and are worn on the arm or forehead.  The concept is to keep God's Law always in mind (see Exodus 13:9).  But, as with so many other religious practices, they could be used as a show of false piety.  Jesus illustrates the latter here, as He contrasts the actions of the scribes and Pharisees (in that they bind heavy burdens upon others, but will not move them with one of their fingers) with the conspicuously larger and more noticeable phylacteries they wear to impress others; i.e. to be seen by men.

"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."  My study bible says that Christ's warning against calling hypocrites father and teacher is not an absolute prohibition against using these terms.  In the New Testament, these terms are in fact applied many times, all of which usages are inspired by God.  Teacher is used in John 3:10, Acts 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 earliest days of the Church, my study bible says, bishops and presbyters have been called "father" not because they take the place of God, but rather because in their fatherly care for their flocks, they lead people to God, and also because they exercise fatherly authority within the community.  Our true Father and Teacher is God; a teacher or father on earth is one who leads people to God.  In Jesus' critique of their choices, the scribes and Pharisees do the opposite; they place themselves in God's position.

What does it mean to lead people to God?  Perhaps this is our highest calling, the highest calling of all of us here in this world.  In the Eastern or Orthodox tradition, the concept of theosis is the deepest calling of our faith.  Theosis is the union with God, an ongoing process of developing deeper communion and dependency upon God in our lives.  It is something to which we hope all things in our lives contribute, the good and the bad, as we seek to place all things in the hands of God, and this is especially true through the practice of forgiveness (such as we pray each day in the Lord's Prayer).  This desire for increasing communion with God and a deepening understanding of our identity within that communion is the fullness of faith, the purpose to which our lives are dedicated.  As such, our religious leaders are meant to be those who help to lead us to God, who give us direction, support, protection, and guidance as they shepherd us and "stand in" for Christ our Shepherd.  Moreover, as my study bible points out, the failure or sinfulness of those in such leadership positions does not take away our own responsibility toward God and community, as we all participate in this work of faith -- not only for ourselves but for one another.  We are all of this one Body.  But hypocrisy prevents this from happening.  Hypocrisy allows us to seal our hearts away from God, while we are pleased and content only through the good opinions of others, and their impression of our piety.  In doing such practices, we fool ourselves, and we are also misled.  Jesus speaks to a deeper calling of the heart throughout His ministry.  He is continually emphasizing and bringing to our attention the state of our hearts.  The one main thing that prevents such dangerous and misleading hypocrisy is the practice of humility.  It is a requirement and a sort of insurance policy against abuses of power and authority.  Jesus teaches, "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."  Let us note that His emphasis is on service.  Those who are in positions of authority are meant not to "lord it over" others (20:25), but rather to help lead all toward God.  Let us note, then, that in our faith we each bear this responsibility to whatever extent it is possible for us, and in whatever circumstances God gives us.  Our faith and trust in Christ, in turn gives us an orientation in which we also may help facilitate and build upon life in which "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).  In effect, it is this service that denotes true leadership in the teaching of Christ; thereby, our own deep and honest practice of our faith (including earnest self-awareness) becomes our potential for helping others. As the icon of Christ the Good Shepherd, above, tells us, there is no higher calling in our faith than to be like Him.  The image of the Good Shepherd is one that Christ has given us Himself (see John 10:11-18).  He describes Himself as the one who will lay down His life for the sheep.  In that description, Jesus gives us an image of service, of selflessness, and especially of devotion and loyalty, and love.  In the icon, Christ turns His head toward the sheep, an expression of compassion and tenderness, and the sheep turns toward Him.  It is an image of Christ who knows our hearts, and our own growing dependence and communion with our Good Shepherd, the one in whom we can ultimately place our trust.  He is the one willing to go the distance to retrieve even the one stray and bring it home (18:12-13).