"Living in Community"
Sermon Presented October 30, 2005
Matthew 23:1-12
Today, Christian ministers who follow the Revised Common Lectionary can use a Reformation Sunday text, an All-Saints Day text or the regular lectionary text. I usually use one of the first two, but decided to again dialogue with Matthew as we have been doing for the past several weeks.
Before I read the scripture passage, I want to define a few terms. "Moses' seat" could be a piece of synagogue furniture where the authorized teacher sat, or it could be a metaphorical expression for the authority of the synagogue leadership. Pharisees were a lay movement in Judaism whose purpose was to help people be more obedient to the law; and scribes were a professional class of legal experts. Fringes were part of the dress of all Israelites and they had tassels on their prayer shawls. (Jesus had fringes on his garments.) Phylacteries are small leather boxes containing parts of the Torah that are strapped to the foreheads and arms of the faithful during the recitation of prayers. (I looked at my pictures of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall and saw that the men at the wall were wearing phylacteries on their foreheads and arms and tassels on their prayer shawls.) This custom continues among the orthodox Jews today.
Now with this background, let's look at our text; Matthew 23:1-12.
Even though we reside in metropolitan Milwaukee, most of us live in small communities. It's the villages of Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, Bayside, and Brown Deer. We live in neighborhoods or retirement communities and belong to a small congregation. It's important to us to be recognized and cared for in community.
I experienced a great change in communities when I moved to a Milwaukee apartment complex from the small town of Marysville, KS. On my first Saturday in Marysville, my son D. A. came to connect my computer and stereo. The next morning at church, I introduced him to someone, who said: "Oh, so you must be the owner of the green truck parked outside the parsonage." When I told another person that I kept D. A. up late to get everything done, she said: "Well, that explains why the lights were on in the parsonage at 12:30 last night." I thought: "Welcome to the fishbowl!" In Bayside, my move went unnoticed.
In Marysville, I lived in that fish bowl. Once when I locked myself out of the parsonage after trudging through the snow to pick up my newspaper, I crossed the highway to the grocery store to call for help, rather than calling from the liquor store that was directly in front of the parsonage. I wasn't about to be seen entering or leaving the liquor store! Living in community has advantages and disadvantages, but we need community to develop as responsible human beings. Now I experience community in my apartment building, with several groups of ministers, in Rotary and especially in this Roundy fellowship.
In our text, Matthew puts together several of Jesus' teachings that speak of living under public scrutiny in a Jewish-Christian community. And it appears that Jesus approves of this scrutiny. He tells his followers to be servants and not pompous like the scribes and Pharisees. He wants them to practice what they preach. He wants them to be humble as he is humble. Jesus has expectations for his followers - then and now.
Matthew's church needs these teachings because there is a family fight going on within the community. Jesus uses the Scribes and Pharisees as examples of what threatens the disciples. The first seven verses focus on what's wrong with the religious leadership, but the words are spoken to Jesus' followers. The last five verses are words of instruction as correctives for these practices.
What's wrong with the first century religious leadership? Jesus says they make a big show of being religious, but fail to live by the standards they preach. They expand the law, making it burdensome for others to follow, but their lives give no evidence that they take seriously the laws they debate. They go out of their way to elicit praise and honor, but don't deserve such honor.
To put it simply, they make a big show of their piety. To receive greater attention, they enlarge their phylacteries, lengthen the fringe on their prayer shawls, claim the best seats at banquets and in the synagogue, and seek honor through how they are addressed in public. They believe they are important and want to be treated accordingly.
Jesus observes the chasm between what they teach and what they live. They know the law! They're experts! But they don't "do" the law! There is a gap between their understanding and their actions. What they teach is great; they just fail to put it into practice. Actions speak louder than words!
In 1985, I attended my first Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas and heard an excellent sermon on forgiveness by the president of the convention. But within the hour, I witnessed him conduct the business of the convention, denying access to the microphones to those who wore buttons supporting the Baptist Joint Committee for Public Affairs and Women in Ministry. After the convention, I spoke with a friend who was the convention's first vice president, and he told me that this "man of God" was the meanest man he had ever known. What he said about forgiveness was true, but he didn't live his message.
It's easy to assume that a text is talking about other people - people in Jesus' day who were obstacles to the reign of God or those today whose lives don't jive with their words like the minister I spoke of. However, Jesus jerks us out of our complacency and calls our names and we realize that we are the Pharisees. We know the right thing to do, but we often fail to do it. We busy ourselves seeking the admiration of neighbors and friends. We enjoy being recognized for our good works. We want our neighbors and fellow church members to think well of us, and our minister to say good things about us when we die. When we're honest, we know that we, too, have a gap between what we say and what we do. We enjoy the adulation of others. "We have met the Pharisees and we are they."
The lust for fame is addictive, and we often become obsessed with receiving glory. Jesus wants to liberate us from this. He wants to free us from a preoccupation with ourselves so we can give faithful and gratifying service to God and God's people.
In the not-so-distant past, the sin of seeking glory in the church was primarily the sin of men. From the first century until recent years, few women had the opportunity to speak, teach or lead. They were to remain silent and supportive of the men. Times have changed and now women have also joined the arena of glory-seeking.
I once attended a Central Region Baptist Women's retreat where the woman who directed the music was making a spectacle of herself. The seminary professor sitting next to me made an insightful observation. She said that because women were oppressed for so long in the church, they often become prideful when given a public role and flaunt it by calling attention to themselves, rather than leading humbly in the ministry they are called to lead. In fairness to the woman, I have seen men lead in this boisterous manner, and maybe she just needed new role models.
Jesus isn't suggesting here that we put ourselves down, have false humility, take no pleasure in our talents or repress our ambitions and dreams. When we love ourselves and have good self-images, we can better love and appreciate others and their gifts. If it's impossible to love ourselves without being prideful, Jesus wouldn't have commanded us to love others as ourselves.
When Jesus turns from his criticism of the scribes and Pharisees, he speaks directly to his listeners. In verse 8 we discover that the behavior of these first century religious leaders is only an illustration, and that the real point isn't a condemnation of them but is aimed at all who act in this manner. We should have seen it coming, but we were lulled into thinking that the text only exposes the sins of those who oppose Jesus, and we cheer as Jesus comes down hard on the religious leaders. Not so fast!
This teaching speaks directly to us! Jesus says that greatness is measured in service, which corresponds to God's values. When we maintain integrity, humility, and a good self-image as we serve others, we will be exalted where it counts.
It's not easy to live in community! It's difficult to refrain from making comparisons between ourselves and others. It's much easier to throw our weight around than to lead with humility. Keeping a healthy balance between self-esteem and humility is tricky - and necessary!
Jesus calls us to be real - to practice what we preach as we live in service to others. I invite you to join me in accepting this challenge. When we accept the challenge and live authentic lives, our lives will be richer and the community will be blessed.
