Matthew 23:1-12 Commentary

Jesus has confounded and humbled the leaders by his words, challenging them in such a way that they have had to realize that they do not, in fact, know it all. As we ended last week, the leaders of the synagogue are not able to answer Jesus’s question about the Messiah and now they do not dare ask him any more questions.

Instead, Jesus turns the tables on them. Addressing the crowds and his disciples, Jesus connects the leaders who have just failed in their repeated challenges and their skewed sense of supremacy to its dangerous fruit among those listening. Though they sit in an authoritative position, the people they lead would do well to remember that those who sit on the “Moses seat” are not the end of authority but only its messenger—and messengers get things wrong, lose sight of the purpose of the message, or even forget that the message is meant for them too.

Of course, in this case the message is the intent of the law. Jesus is willing to grant that they’ve gotten the words of the message right—they do teach the correct content of the law, but they are misapplying it. The hypocritical thinking and lives these particular leaders are living is compounding the suffering they are forcing onto others, making their fruit and method far removed from its source and purpose.

Imagine you are in the crowds and you’re being told that the people you have been listening to and told you ought to obey are being openly questioned and challenged by someone who has proven they are worthy to do so. For some, this was likely the flick of that first domino as understanding clicks into place in their mind, and that feeling they haven’t been able to shake becomes an assertion with shape and clarity. For others, how scary it must have seemed! What happens when something so monumental to the way our lives are ordered turns out to be a lie?

And what is the lie? At the heart of it, the problem is that the Pharisees have given people heavy burdens instead of freedom. From start to finish, the leaders have made for separation between God and the people. They have done so by making the people feel like they are never good enough to be present before God (unable to keep the laws, knowing their sinfulness, etc.). 

They do so with their interpretations and requirements for keeping the laws and for the ways that they put on the airs of being holier than everyone else. They show off their own spiritual endeavours, they show off their spiritual accessories, they’ve come to expect the seat of honour and to be noticed and greeted with respect in the marketplaces. In their minds, they are the stars of the spiritual world (which was the world) to be emulated, revered, and followed.

The way Jesus describes it makes it clear that these folks have gotten completely caught up in themselves and have become completely disconnected from God. Their actions over the last few weeks of lectionary texts have proved this true: they are more concerned with their position being challenged than they are worried that God’s truth is being defiled by this new rabbi gaining popularity and influence.

Worst of all, they have lulled themselves into a false sense of grandeur when it comes to their influence and role. They are the messengers who turned themselves into gatekeepers and very nearly God stand-ins. Jesus tells the crowds to not get swept up in all of it—neither the lifestyles or the expectations or the presumptive influential roles these leaders have come to take advantage of. 

Above all, Jesus tells them that they have who they really need: the one Father in heaven, the one instructor, the Messiah. To see who serves their God, they just need to look for who is serving others and helping them find their freedom. Just as the inversion principle explains the character of the kingdom (the humble are exalted and the self-exalted are humbled), it is the way God’s messengers should work too. People are meant to find freedom, not heavy burdens, in God’s laws and purposes because they are meant to meet God in them. It is just as true today as in Jesus’s time, and none of us are meant to take pleasure in knowing we are ‘holier’ than others, needing to have our ‘holiness’ acknowledged by others, or by needing others to keep proving their holiness by our standards.

Like the leaders that Jesus charges, reviewing what has become of our systems, methods, expectations (especially for others), have we lost God in the process? Are we running the risk of pushing others away from God too? 

Textual Point

The lectionary does not include the seven woes that follow this condemnation of Pharisaical method (binding and loosing as they see fit). It would prove useful to read through them for yourself as you prepare the sermon this week because you will know what Jesus means by his accusation in our text today.

Illustration Idea

Have you ever tried to get out of a monthly subscription? They’ve been in the news lately as some try to beef up consumer protections and address all of the hoops companies make you jump through to stop their services—not to mention the sneaky tactics to get you signed up in the first place! The way that the Pharisees have made the law a heavy burden that is hard to bear feels similar.