Saturday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, August 21, 2021

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.”

In paying the tax to Caesar, the tax to the Temple, in teaching the people to respect the authority of the scribes and the Pharisees, and in denying to Pilate that he was establishing his own kingdom on earth, the Lord Jesus shows that he does not intend to overthrow the political and social orders of the time.  In fact, he manifests a certain contempt for them, as if they were practically beneath his notice.  The Kingdom that he did come to establish completely surpasses these, and exists whether or not they exist.  The Christian belongs to this heavenly Kingdom regardless of what country he lives in or what type of government it has.  In living virtuously according to the Kingdom, the Christian ought to obey the just laws made by that government.  As St. Peter writes, “Be subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake: whether it be to the king as excelling, or to governors as sent by him” (1 Peter 2, 13-14).  The Lord Jesus does make the distinction between lawful authority and the humans who possess or wield it: “Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.”  The example that we follow is that of Jesus: “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 4, 16).  

There are those who see authority and think, “Power.”  But the Christian sees it and thinks, with the mind of Jesus Christ, “Service.”  For this reason, the Lord says to his Apostles, “Do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.”  That is, Do not seek for people to call you “Rabbi”.  In the days of the Apostles, any man who went about teaching might be called a “rabbi”.  It was not a formal title bestowed after years of sanctioned study, as today.  A successful rabbi would start his own school and interpret the Law and the Prophets according to his own ideas.  He was his own authority in this.  The Apostles were not to go out and preach the Gospel in this way, but to preach the Gospel of Christ.  Similarly, “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.”  Do not strive for authority so as to exercise it according to your own best interests.  Authority is for service to others, not to oneself: “The greatest among you must be your servant.”  Some Protestants argue that the Catholic custom of addressing priests as “Father” violates this injunction of the Lord.  That is not so, for the Lord is making a greater point than the petty literal one they think he is making.  (They conveniently overlook the fact that since they believe everyone can interpret the Scriptures as they wish, each Protestant becomes de facto his own “rabbi”, “teacher”, and “father”).  However, even if the Lord meant this to be taken literally, St. Paul did not feel constrained from understanding himself as a “father” (cf. 1 Corinthians 4;14-15).

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”  This is both a warning and an exhortation, in light of the above.  We note that whoever exalts himself will be humbled.  This is not, Whoever is exalted will be humbled.  That is, one who is exalted by Almighty God will not be humbled, for he or she is already humble.  The Blessed Virgin, calling herself God’s handmaid, yet rightly says, “From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1, 48).  She, and everyone who follows Christ, exalts him in their praise, and lowers themselves in their own sight.