Tuesday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, February 27, 2024

Matthew 23, 1-12

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

From Chapter 21 to Chapter 28 of St. Matthew’s Gospel, the Evangelist tells us of the Lord’s last week on earth, his Resurrection, and his Ascension into heaven.  Most of the Lord’s teaching concerns itself with the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (at the end of the Jewish rebellion in 70) and with the end of the world.  Here, Matthew reports on how the Lord addressed the very current issue (at the time) of the authority of the scribes and the Pharisees, groups which overlapped to some degree.  The conclusion the Lord reaches helps us in our own understanding of authority in the Church.

“The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.”. That is, the “chair of Moses” did not belong to them — it belonged to the sons of Aaron who would succeed Moses as teachers of the Law (cf. Leviticus 10, 8-11).  The scribes and Pharisees were not of the descendants of Aaron and were not among the priests.  And though at certain times the Scriptures state that the priests did teach the people, it is made clear that this was a very brief resumption of the work assigned to them by Almighty God.  The Scriptures mention, for instance, centuries in which the Passover was not celebrated and even the Sabbath was forgotten.  Those who returned to their homeland after the Babylonian Exile appear almost completely ignorant of their religion so that they had to be taught it again.  This was all the fault of the priests, and particularly of the high priests, who evidently saw no profit in it or who perhaps did not know much of the Law themselves beyond what involved their particular duties in the Temple.  And so, with the severe need for the people to learn the Law and the lack of help by the priests, a void existed which was filled by others who appointed themselves as teachers.  The Pharisees, a reform sect that formed during the times of the later revolt against the Greeks, came to dominate in this.  They did this not through the purity of their doctrine or interpretation of the Law but through lack of organized competition.  And so when Jesus says, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses”, he is not rendering an opinion or a judgment but stating a fact.  “Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.”  Because St. Matthew is writing his Gospel in the early years after Jesus had ascended into heaven, he quotes the Lord Jesus teaching his disciples how to live before there was a definite break with Judaism between the years 50 and 70.  Other verses in his Gospel also make this clear.  See, for example, Matthew 5, 23-26.  Jesus is telling his followers that inasmuch as they teach what the Law teaches, quoting it, they should follow it.  Legitimately appointed or not, if they read the Law to the people they are doing them a good service.  However: “Do not follow their example.”  It is one thing to read the Law; it is another to follow it.  To read is a great skill and to the unlettered it looks like magic for a person to make a few seemingly random squiggles in the dust or on paper and for another person to be able to tell exactly what those squiggles mean.  It is the same case with the bulk of the human race, who cannot read music.  A person who has not studied music hears a very moving melody and when shown what it looks like written down, sees no connection with what was heard.  But the fact of reading or teaching the Law of God should not confuse the student into believing that the teacher is the perfect exemplar of it in his life.  

The teacher of the Law of God, if he is to have integrity and be convincing of his knowledge of it must practice the Law with great attention.  However, the teacher is especially subject to the temptation to believe that he is superior to the student and to those who do not know the Law at all.  This may originate in a deep-seated realization that hardly any of us “deserve” the privilege of teaching the Law and overcompensate for this by puffing themselves up and acting with supreme confidence in themselves.  Others are affected by the need for attention and recognition and so go to great lengths to look like their vision of a holy person, as one in an elevated state, like a ruler in the days of the “divine right” of kings.  We see these among the priests, clergy, and ministers of all religions and in the governments of all levels of government.  We only need be patient with them in our necessary interactions with them and then go on our way.  We do not need to learn holiness from them.  We have the Scriptures, the Sacraments, and the Holy Cross.  It is of great consolation and assistance to us when our leaders and teachers are saints, but it is not strictly necessary for our own salvation.  Fortunately for us.

A word about “Call no one on earth your father, etc.”  The Lord speaks in absolute terms here, and in absolute terms God alone is our Father by virtue of his adoption of us as his children through our union with his Son effected by baptism.  All fatherhood comes from him.  Even natural fatherhood is derived from his Fatherhood and so is, in a real sense, secondary to his.  God is our Father.  All other fathers share in this Fatherhood.  And God’s Fatherhood is absolutely primary to the extent that Jesus is is able to teach, “You have but one Father in heaven.”  The Greek says, “There is one [Father] of you, the heavenly Father.”  And so all men whom we call father, whether as biological or through adoption, or spiritual, are to act in a way which is modeled after The Father.