Being a servant

Matthew 23:1-12 (a short exegesis)

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples”

That's how Jesus begins, speaking not to the Pharisees, not to the scholars, but to the crowds and the disciples. And that includes us, he gathers us up close and says, listen carefully, because what I'm about to tell you will save your soul, or it will expose it!

“‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practise what they preach’

There it is right in front of us. The oldest sickness in the human heart. The gap. The space between what we say and what we do. And Jesus puts His finger right in that gap and presses down hard!

‘They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them’

Do you know the feeling of that heavy burden? Because most of us are carrying it right now. A burden of rules that we never asked for, but it got laid on our shoulders by someone who was supposed to help us carry it. A burden of shame. A burden of "try harder." A burden of "you're not enough." And the sad truth is that the ones who laid it on us walked away and left us with it.

This text is hard, but there’s mercy to found in it. Because Jesus sees the burden. And he sees the finger that never got lifted to help. And the mercy to be found is that he’s not like them.

‘Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the market-places and to be called “Rabbi” by others.

As we read these words it’s easy to sit back and think, "Those hypocrites."

But oh boy do we need to be careful here. Because the heart that craves the best seat isn’t just a Pharisee's heart. It’s the human heart. It’s my heart and it’s your heart! Because we aren’t spectators in this story. For we are the crowd that Jesus is speaking to.

So he say’s ‘But you are not to be called “Rabbi”, for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth “father”, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah

Every title that we grab at is a title that we would steal from Him. Every seat that we climb toward is a throne that is already occupied by him.

And then He says the thing that turns the whole world upside down.

The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Do you hear it? This is not a lecture on humility. This is a portrait of Jesus!

Because the One speaking these words is about to do them all.

He is the Teacher, and He will wash feet.

He is the Leader, and He will be led to a cross.

He is the Son of the Father, and He will cry out, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"

He didn’t bind burdens on our shoulders and walk away. Instead he took our burdens; your burden, my burden, the whole crushing weight of it; and He carried it up a hill called Golgotha and He let it nail Him to the cross.

He humbled Himself. And therefore God has highly exalted Him.

So what do we need to do?

We need to stop performing. We need to stop measuring our worth by the seat we sit on or the title men give us. We need to take the lowest place. Lift the finger. Carry the burden. And serve the one who can’t serve us back.
We’re not to do them to be seen. Or so that we can be praised. But we are to do them because we have been seen by a Father who loves us, and praised by a Christ who calls us His own.

The temple courts were loud that day. But the quietest thing in the room was the heart of the Man speaking. And He is still speaking today.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

 Have a great day, and God Bless,

Trev.