The Height of Humility -- FPC sermon excerpt
They thought they were exceptional, those scribes and Pharisees. Religious role models. Spiritual superstars. Paragons of piety. God’s own Dream Team.
Nothing made them happier than having the place of honor at banquets, the best seats in the synagogues, and the respectful greetings of people in the marketplace. They were kind of like the politicians sitting in the seats of honor at both the Democratic and Republican conventions.
The scribes and Pharisees sat on the seat of the great prophet Moses, dressed as wise teachers of the law, with broad phylacteries and long fringes — the religious bling of first century Judaism. They stroked their beards and beamed with pride when people called them “rabbi.” (Matthew 23:1-7).
They were the height of arrogance. Flying high. Completely out of touch.
And Jesus wanted to bring them down.
“Do whatever they teach you,” he says to his followers, and to us; “But do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach” (v. 2). The scribes and Pharisees are hypocrites — people who talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others,” says Jesus; “but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them” (v. 4). As exceptional men, they believe it is their duty to offer the gift of moral clarity to others. But as for practicing a little charity? That’s someone else’s problem!
In place of arrogance, Jesus recommends inserting some humility. “You are not to be called rabbi” — which literally means “my great one” — “for you have one teacher, and you are all students,” he says to the crowds and to his disciples (v. 8). “Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah” (v. 9).
And then Jesus surprises everyone with a statement that turns the entire social structure upside down, sending the arrogant down to the boiler room and the humble up to the presidential suite. “The greatest among you will be your servant,” he predicts. “And all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (vv. 11-12).
This is a grand reversal of fortune. Call it the height of humility.
Nothing made them happier than having the place of honor at banquets, the best seats in the synagogues, and the respectful greetings of people in the marketplace. They were kind of like the politicians sitting in the seats of honor at both the Democratic and Republican conventions.
The scribes and Pharisees sat on the seat of the great prophet Moses, dressed as wise teachers of the law, with broad phylacteries and long fringes — the religious bling of first century Judaism. They stroked their beards and beamed with pride when people called them “rabbi.” (Matthew 23:1-7).
They were the height of arrogance. Flying high. Completely out of touch.
And Jesus wanted to bring them down.
“Do whatever they teach you,” he says to his followers, and to us; “But do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach” (v. 2). The scribes and Pharisees are hypocrites — people who talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others,” says Jesus; “but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them” (v. 4). As exceptional men, they believe it is their duty to offer the gift of moral clarity to others. But as for practicing a little charity? That’s someone else’s problem!
In place of arrogance, Jesus recommends inserting some humility. “You are not to be called rabbi” — which literally means “my great one” — “for you have one teacher, and you are all students,” he says to the crowds and to his disciples (v. 8). “Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah” (v. 9).
And then Jesus surprises everyone with a statement that turns the entire social structure upside down, sending the arrogant down to the boiler room and the humble up to the presidential suite. “The greatest among you will be your servant,” he predicts. “And all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (vv. 11-12).
This is a grand reversal of fortune. Call it the height of humility.
posted by Henry Brinton | 8:20 AM
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