Ted Johnston—Year A Proper 26

Anthony: Our first pericope of the month is Matthew 23:1–12. I’ll be reading from the New Revised Standard Version, the updated edition. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 26 in Ordinary Time, which is November 1.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’s seat; ³ therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. ⁶ They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them rabbi. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. ⁹ And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father, the one in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

So, Ted, Jesus warns against religious leaders who, “do not practice what they teach and who use spirituality to gain recognition and status.” How does the Gospel free us from the need to perform as a religious identity and instead invite us to participate in the authentic life Jesus already shares with us in the Father through the Spirit?

Ted: This is a challenging passage for sure. I’d like to give a little context before I dive into your specific question. The three readings we’re going to look at in Matthew in this episode deal really with the topic of judgment, which typically we hear that word judgment, we think in very negative terms.

But what’s really important, I think, here to understand, is where these pericopes appear in Matthew’s story, and they’re all occurring during Holy Week, just hours before Jesus, who is our judge, takes our sin upon himself and goes to the cross and dies in our place. And I think it’s very intentional that Matthew is making the placement of these parables, which maybe Jesus gave other times too, but he puts them right there.

And here in Matthew 23, where Jesus previously had minimized confrontations with the Jewish religious authorities, he now directly targets them because he realizes his time is now, and he’s intentionally creating a confrontation. Whereas before, he was careful not to do that because it wasn’t his time, but now is his time. And he calls them out with no uncertain words of judgment for their abuse of their authority, which is God-given, but badly used. And Jesus says they are hypocrites who dishonor God by their unconcern for the problems, the heavy loads that their teachings create for ordinary people.

And for that, Jesus calls them to account. And so, these are harsh words, and you can read further in Matthew 23, you see hear his words are even harsher than these. But this is who Jesus is. And Matthew is making it clear that Jesus, the Messiah, is also the judge of humankind, and now he’s bringing judgment upon the religious leaders of the covenant people. And so that’s kind of the context in which we’re dealing with this.

Anthony: He also said that the disciples already have one instructor, and it’s himself. It’s the Messiah.

Ted: Yes.

Anthony: And he said this instruction, “The greatest among you will be your servant.” So, if Jesus himself is the supreme revelation of the triune God, what does this self-giving servanthood, some call it kenosis, tell us about what God is actually like. And how might participation in the life of Father, Son, and Spirit reshape our understanding of leadership, authority, and what people deem great, as apparently the Pharisees are getting it wrong?

Ted: Yeah, Jesus, of course, is speaking these words to his disciples, and there’s others listening in, presumably some of these religious authorities that he is calling into account. But he’s making it clear that his disciples, those who follow him, those who walk in the way of Jesus, are not to seek after status, but rather to follow him in taking the low places to serve.

Leadership, as Paul makes clear, is one of the Spirit’s gifts to the Church, and it is a very different kind of leadership than what is seen in these religious authorities. Jesus’ way of leadership is self-sacrificial, servant-like. And now, again, the context, as Jesus’ sacrificial death draws near, it is judgment time, but it’s a type of judgment that would not have been anticipated. It involves Jesus giving himself by dying to save sinners. It’s judgment wrapped in grace. And as Matthew is making clear, Jesus is the judge. And this judge is the grace of God.

Anthony: Yeah, I’m sitting next to … I’m in a kitchen setting. My wife and I are traveling, Ted, and I’m next to a stove. And when you said judgment wrapped in grace, I was thinking of how much I love — and this is just a weird analogy — how much I love asparagus wrapped in bacon.

Ted: That works great.

Anthony: I tell you what. Judgment wrapped in grace is so much better, isn’t it? That it is encased in the reality of grace, and of course, grace has a face, and that is the face of Jesus.

Ted: I think another way to say that is that Jesus, who is the judge, God’s judgment that has been given to Jesus is inseparable from God’s love. Those are not two different faces of God. They’re the one face …

Anthony: That’s right …

Ted: … the one life of God. And as we’re going to see in these pericopes, grace precedes judgment.

Anthony: Yes.

Ted: That’s an important part of understanding as we get to the next pericope. That’s really important to understand, and even when we get to the third week in this month, that happening there, too. So, yeah, those are key issues to understand, otherwise one can really badly misunderstand the topic of judgment and somehow thinking judgment overthrows grace or is contrary to grace. It’s not the case at all. They’re all one together in the one person of Jesus.

Anthony: That’s right. That’s right. Held together in Jesus Christ. It cannot be bifurcated artificially …

Ted: Amen.

Anthony: … or we end up in bad places. Amen.