Have you ever received a package labeled “Handle With Care”? Usually that means the contents are fragile and could be broken if the box was thrown around in the back of a truck or put at the bottom of a heavy stack. 

 

Other packages might need careful handling because they contain dangerous materials. A case of muriatic acid used by masons to clean bricks could cause a messy and hazardous situation if dropped on the floor at the builders’ supply. 

 

Our scripture for the day is more like a case of TNT. Careless mishandling of the text has led to explosive results through history, and has no doubt contributed to the deaths of many, many Jews.

 

What’s so dangerous about this text?

 

 

 

Matthew 23 is unlike most of Jesus’ teachings. The author has fashioned it from a variety of materials that appear in different contexts in the other synoptic gospels (Mark 12:37-40; Luke 11:46-52, 20:43-47).

 

The discourse stands as a sharp rebuke to certain scribes and Pharisees, including a series of scathing “woe” oracles (vv. 13-36) that could lead a casual reader to think that Jews in general were crooked and worthy of condemnation. 

 

That kind of reading has contributed to spells of violent anti-Semitism in which people claiming the name of Christ have perpetrated heartless atrocities against Jews. Centuries of persecution under the Church-sponsored Inquisition during the Late Medieval period come to mind, as does the Nazi-led Holocaust during World War II. While those are the most alarming pogroms, a current of anti-Semitism has continued throughout the modern age. Jews have often been the targets of bigotry in America. A long-running conspiracy theory claims that rich Jews have a secret plan for world domination. 

 

It is appalling that words attributed to Jesus have been used to fan the flames of prejudice and persecution against Jewish people. 

 

Jesus, we must remember, was a Jew. In this text, to the degree it accurately reflects his words, Jesus was critiquing a subset of his own people, just as the Hebrew prophets often spoke against faithless Israelites. Similarly, Christian pastors may feel moved to speak prophetically concerning the church’s complicity in social evils. 

 

Interpretation is important. Think about those who claim biblical justification for the slavery of Africans based on a wildly misguided interpretation of Noah’s curse on Ham’s son in Genesis 9:20-27. Domestic terrorists parading as patriots once called themselves “the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.” We rightly condemn the twisting of scripture to promote white supremacy and racist attitudes – but that does not imply a condemnation of all Christians. 

 

Neither should Jesus’ chastisement of some outspoken critics be taken as a blanket denunciation of all scribes and Pharisees, much less all Jews. 

 

As we keep this in mind, we should also remember that the gospel of Matthew was probably written at least 40 years after Jesus’ time on earth, when synagogues had become more prominent. Addressing a community of Christians who were facing opposition from Jewish leaders, the gospel writer intentionally constructed Jesus’ speech to encourage trust in Christ rather than competing views from the synagogue. 

 

One can disagree with rabbinical teachings without thinking less of the Jewish people, even as we can disagree with other faith groups and still respect them as persons. 

 

 

 

Matthew has placed the teachings in the context of Jesus’ last week on earth as he spent time teaching at or near the temple. Chapter 23 begins an extended discourse following a series of testy conversations with Jewish scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. 

 

Jesus spoke “to the crowds and to his disciples” (v. 1) as he turned from disputations with the authorities to a discourse about them.

 

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat,” Jesus said (v. 2), an indication that they were responsible for interpreting the commandments and other laws associated with Moses. 

 

By Jesus’ day, rabbinic Judaism had added considerably to teachings in the Hebrew Bible, seeking to “build a hedge about the law” by creating hundreds of minor rules designed to prevent people from breaking the larger ones. [DD]

 

The scribes were specialists in remembering and interpreting both the written and the oral law. The Pharisees focused on keeping every nuance of the law. Many were wealthy laymen who sought to separate themselves from ordinary Jews by publicly keeping even the finest points of the law – and some apparently lorded it over those who did not. 

 

“Moses’ seat” may describe a ceremonial chair to be occupied by teachers in the synagogue. We recall that when Jesus taught for the first time in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth, he sat down to teach (Luke 4:20). 

 

Wooden chairs would not have survived the centuries, but the synagogue at Chorizin, from the 3rd-4th century CE, included a low seat made of volcanic basalt that may have represented “Moses’ seat.” [DD]

 

Jesus recognized that knowing and interpreting the law was important. In other contexts, he took issue with certain teachings of the rabbis, but here Jesus was concerned with their actions: “do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach” (v. 3). 

 

Jesus charged the scribes and Pharisees on two fronts. First, they devised heavy burdens to be borne by others, but did nothing to help them (v. 4). 

 

Many of the laws were designed to preserve ritual purity but made it impossible for many ordinary people to do everyday jobs without becoming impure. Only people wealthy enough to pay others to do their dirty work could afford to be fully observant. 

 

Jesus’ second charge was one of misplaced motivation: “they do all their deeds to be seen by others” (v. 5a). As evidence, Jesus pointed to their ceremonial garb: “they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long” (v. 5b).

 

Phylacteries were leather boxes containing small scrolls that strictly observant Jews tied to the forehead and the upper arm with long leather bands – an over-the-top effort to obey the command attributed to Moses that the Israelites should keep the law, teach it to their children, and “Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:8-9). Similarly, Deuteronomy 22:12 contains an instruction to wear tassels on the four corners of one’s cloak. There is no apparent rationale for the practice other than distinctive dress as a sign of obedience. [DD]

 

To better display their piety, Jesus said, the scribes and Pharisees also loved to sit in places of honor, be greeted with respect, and have people call them “rabbi” (vv. 6-7).

 

“Rabbi” literally means “my great one,” but it came to be used as an honorific for teachers, and for some it was music to their ears. We have all probably known people with doctoral degrees of various sorts who act as if they have traded in their given first name for “Doctor,” and dislike being addressed by anything else. 

Neither education nor piety are grounds for excessive pride. 

 

 

 

With v. 8 Jesus turned to his disciples and instructed them to take a different approach. They were not to seek titles, for “you have one teacher, and you are all students” (v. 8). The word “disciple” (mathētēs) means “learner.” No one knows even a small part of all there is to know. Whether it relates to science or relationships or scripture, we are all learners.

 

Likewise, Jesus said, they should avoid the term “Father” as a sign of respect for teachers, acknowledging that the title should be reserved for the “one Father – the one in heaven” (v. 9). Verse 10 repeats the thought of v. 8, using a different word for teacher, one that could also mean “master.” [DD]

 

Jesus wanted his followers to learn from the scribes and Pharisees how not to act, not pridefully or pretentiously, but with humility and service: “The greatest among you will be your servant,” Jesus said, promising that “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (vv. 11-12). The reversal of fortunes was not promised for this life, but for the next (compare Matt. 18:4).

 

We should remind ourselves that Jesus was talking both to and about his own people: both he and his early followers were Jews. We must be careful not to let Jesus’ insider language prompt us to think he was criticizing Judaism in general.

 

Rather than leading us down the path of anti-Semitism, this severe text should prompt our own solemn introspection. How much of our faith is practiced out of guilt rather than love, or for the sake of our reputation rather than an innate desire to do right? 

 

Within our churches, do we seek to serve, or to control? In our living, do we truly act to please God, or to impress others? 

Jesus considered such questions to be serious business. If we truly want to follow Jesus, so should we.