Listen to this ReflectionScripture
Matthew 23:1-12
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Reflection
At my house growing up, it was Daddy's chair. A recliner. Nobody ever sat my sister and me down and explained the rule. There was no sign on it. We knew it the way you know the weather. And you could sit in it. We sat in it all the time. But you sat in it with one ear open. Because if Daddy came into the room, you got up. He didn't have to ask. You just got up. You could be in that chair, but you could not have it.
Every building on this campus has one of those chairs in it.
Jesus says the scribes and the Pharisees sit on “Moses' seat.” They have dug stone chairs out of old synagogues, later than Jesus by a good bit, and those chairs get called the Seat of Moses. But Jesus was using a figure of speech. Somebody came along afterward and cut it out of rock and set it against the wall.
We do that, too. Give us time and we will make immovable furniture out of anything a person says.
Then Jesus tells the crowd to do what those men teach them. He does not say quit listening. He does not take the chair out of the room. The Pharisees are not the villains here. We have made cartoons out of them. And Jewish people have paid for it for centuries. But they were the serious ones. The ones who cared most about getting it right, and who built things so other people could get it right too. They are not our opposite. They’re more like our cousins.
So, the trouble is not the chair. It is not the fringe either. The fringe was commanded. The trouble is the length of it. The fringe let out an inch, so everyone could read it even from the back of the room. They tie up heavy loads, Jesus says, and lay them on other people's shoulders—but they will not lift a finger. Finally, Jesus says “You have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters.” The word here is adelphoi—family. Some translations render it “students,” which is true enough. But, family is harder.
Jesus never asks anybody to get out of the chair. He asks who else it is for.
Prayer
One Teacher, you sat down in the lowest seat in the room and called it the good one.
We love our chairs. We arranged this place ourselves, and we have gotten comfortable in the arrangement. Forgive us the inch we let out on our fringe. Forgive us the loads we tied up and set on other people's shoulders, but then walked away from. Forgive us for taking what you said and making immovable furniture out of it.
Bless the ones who teach here. Let their learning be a doorway and not a wall.
Bless the ones who study here. Let them not be afraid to be beginners.
Bless the ones who keep this place running and never get named. Teach us their names.
Make us brothers and sisters before we are anything else. And when we go reaching for that good seat, be gentle with us. Turn us back around to the service, not the seat. To the name, not the title.
In the name of the one who sat down with us and washed our feet. Amen.
