Ellen Lokker
In this passage, Jesus teaches a timeless lesson about hypocrisy and conceit. The Pharisees, who were successors to Moses as teachers of the law, had become the embodiment of hypocrisy. Jesus instructs his followers to “do and observe” what the Pharisees say, but directs them not to act as the Pharisees do, “for they say things and do not do them.” The Pharisees deliberately disregarded the laws they taught and imposed burdens on the people that they had no intention of fulfilling themselves.
Hypocrisy still plagues mankind today. We have all heard the admonition to “do as I say, not as I do” when someone knows their own actions fall short of desired behavior. Hypocrisy is most troubling in the religious arena. We have all witnessed the public downfall of a religious leader caught in immoral behavior. When the leader has strongly condemned that same behavior from the pulpit, it is often the hypocrisy that we find more troubling than the underlying offense. Hypocritical leaders, as well as hypocritical lay people, tarnish the image of Christianity in the public’s mind and diminish the authority of the church.
Jesus teaches us in Matthew that hypocrisy is rooted in conceit. The Pharisees, for example, routinely made elaborate displays of religiosity in their attire. But Jesus reveals that, in their hearts, the Pharisees were motivated in all that they did by the desire for recognition among men. They “do all their deeds to be noticed by men” and “love . . . being called Rabbi by men.”
Jesus warns against these impure motives and admonishes his listeners not to adopt titles of honor in order to elevate one person above another. Jesus reminds us that there is only one Rabbi, one Father, and one Leader: Christ. Jesus calls us to be servants to one another, explaining that the person who humbles himself will be the one that is exalted, not the other way around.
It is striking how much we need this message in the 21st Century. Can any of us read this passage without a glimmer of self-doubt as to what Christ sees in our heart? Our culture rewards pride and self-promotion. The desire for fame and recognition are driving forces now more than ever before. The notion that a person who humbles himself and behaves like a servant will be the greatest is contrary to secular society’s fundamental message.
PRAYER: Dear Lord, give us the grace to be a servant to others today. Help us to temper our desire for worldly recognition and free us from the driving force of conceit. Work though us so that others will know that there is only one Rabbi, one Father, and one Leader, who is Jesus Christ.
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