As a college student in preparation for ministry, I had the opportunity to preach in a rural Kansas church with some friends and relatives in the congregation. After the service as I greeted people leaving the sanctuary, a friend from college shook my hand vigorously and said, “I really enjoyed that! Then he paused, backed off a little, and added, “But I wasn't supposed to enjoy it, was I?” Decades later, I can't remember anything I said in that sermon, nor what part of the Bible I based it on. But I have never forgotten his question. We're not supposed to enjoy sermons. It's the preacher's job to make us uncomfortable. Those implications bother me a great deal. Wrong-doing, oppression, abuse, injustice, of course, need to be rebuked and brought to an end. But lives of self-giving service need to be encouraged and celebrated. We need to sing about the “grace that is greater than all our sin.” But today's readings fall within the category of uncomfortable, unenjoyable sermons.

Amos 8:1-14

The Basket of Fruit

8:1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me-a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass them by.

3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,”

says the Lord GOD;

“the dead bodies shall be many,

cast out in every place. Be silent!”

4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy,

and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

5 saying, “When will the new moon be over

so that we may sell grain;

and the sabbath,

so that we may offer wheat for sale?

We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,

and practice deceit with false balances,

6 buying the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”

7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who lives in it,

and all of it rise like the Nile,

and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

9 On that day, says the Lord GOD,

I will make the sun go down at noon,

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning,

and all your songs into lamentation;

I will bring sackcloth on all loins,

and baldness on every head;

I will make it like the mourning for an only son,

and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,

when I will send a famine on the land;

not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the LORD.

12 They shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,

but they shall not find it.

13 In that day the beautiful young women and the young men

shall faint for thirst.

14 Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria,

and say, “As your god lives, O Dan,”

and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”–

they shall fall, and never rise again. (Amos 8:1-14, NRSV)

On December 12, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year Two), comments were repeated with editing and supplement from December 7, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One), when comments were repeated from an email of December 9, 2003, for December 10, 2003. The revised comments are repeated here with editing and supplement:

As noted in Monday’s reading (Dec. 7, 2009), Amos reports a series of visions , interrupted yesterday by the report of his encounter with Amaziah, priest of Bethel (Amos 7:10-17). The series includes judgment by locusts (Amos 7:1-3), by fire (vv. 4-8), and by the plumb line (vv. 7-9). After the account of his encounter with Amaziah, visions continue in today’s reading with the vision of the ripe fruit (8:1-3) and related sayings of judgment (vv. 4-14), and in tomorrow’s reading with the vision of “the LORD standing beside the Altar” (9:1-4) followed by the concluding sayings of judgment (vv. 5-10). After two reading from Haggai, Friday and Saturday, the Sunday daily reading concludes the Book of Amos on the more hopeful note on “The Restoration of David’s Kingdom” (NRSV subtitle in some printings, Amos 9:11-15). For this analysis, compare Gregory Mobley, NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Amos 7:1-9:15; cf. Ehud Ben Zvi, The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on the relevant sections of Amos 7:1-9:15).

So we continue today with the fourth vision in the series, the vision of the ripe fruit (Amos 8:1-3). “This is what the Lord GOD showed me,” he says, “a basket of summer fruit” (8:1). The LORD asks Amos to confirm what he sees. “He said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A basket (bUlK4, k ^elûv) of summer fruit (Cy9q!7, qāyits)’ ” (v. 2a). The word Cy9q!7 (qāyits), the pausal form of Cy9qa (qayits), according to William L. Holladay, means “1. summer” Gen. 8:22; [or] “2. summer-fruit (esp. figs) 2 Sam. 16:1” (A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 4^th impression, 1978, s.v. Cy9qa, qayits, meanings no. 1 and 2). And the LORD explains the vision. “ ‘The end (Cq2, qēts) has come upon my people Israel; / I will never again pass them by’ “ (v. 2b, c). Mobley calls attention to “the pun in Hebrew” in this interpretation. “A basket of ripe summer fruit symbolizes the immediacy of Israel’s end. Note the pun in Hebrew between summer fruit, ‘qayits,’ and end, ‘qets’  ” (op. cit., on vv. 1-3; cf. Ben Zvi, on vv. 1-3). The Lord GOD says that at that time the joyous songs of the temple will be turned to mourning. “ ‘The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,’ / says the Lord GOD; / ‘the dead bodies shall be many, / cast out in every place. Be silent!’ ” (v. 3).

Amos turns from the vision of the summer fruit to direct indictments of Israel’s merchants for oppressive, fraudulent business practices and oppression of the poor. He addresses “you that trample on the needy, / and bring to ruin the poor of the land” (v. 4). He rebukes the merchants for saying, “When will the new moon be over / so that we may sell grain; / and the sabbath, / so that we may offer wheat for sale?” (v. 5a, b, c, d). According to Ehud Ben Zvi, “The text clearly implies that days of religious observance (Shabbath, new moon) are supposed to be kept, though observance of the new moon by ceasing from work is nowhere recorded in Torah legislation. The book of Amos is certainly not against cultic observance. The problem here is that people are eager for the holiday to be over so they can get on with making money through dishonest means” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Amos 8:4-5). Amos spells out the dishonest practices of the merchants. “We,” they say, “will make the ephah small and the shekel great, / and practice deceit with false balances, / buying the poor for silver / and the needy for a pair of sandals, / and selling the sweepings of the wheat” (vv. 5e, f, 6). According to Ben Zvi, “The measure with which the corrupt merchants sell grain is smaller than it should be, allowing them to sell less than an ephah (a unit of dry measure of perhaps 23 liters) for the full price; on the other hand, the weight with which they buy grain is larger than it should be, allowing them to get more for the shekel (about 11.4f gm) than they should” (ibid.). “Buying the poor,” says Gene M. Tucker, revised by J. Andrew Dearman, is “a reference to debt slavery (see 2:6)” (The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Amos 8:6). The LORD, says Amos, has had enough of such dishonest practice. He has “sworn by the pride of Jacob: / Surely I will never forget any of their deeds” (v. 7). The question that follows is rhetorical, announcing inevitable judgment. “Shall not the land tremble on this account, / and everyone mourn who lives in it, / and all of it rise like the Nile, / and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?” (v. 8). According to Mobley, the coming judgment pictured here elicits the picture of “the annual innundation of the Nile (9:5; Jer. 46:7-8)” (op. cit., on v. 8). Amos continues with predictions of judgment. “On that day, says the Lord GOD, / I will make the sun go down at noon, / and darken the earth in broad daylight” (v. 9). “A solar eclipse,” says Ben Zvi, “is a portent of doom and a reversal of the natural order. Compare the description of the Day of the LORD in 5:18-20” (op. cit., on v. 9). Amos takes up the theme of mourning again (cf. v. 3). “I will turn your feasts into mourning, / and all your songs into lamentation; / I will bring sackcloth on all loins, / and baldness on every head; / I will make it like the mourning for an only son, / and the end of it like a bitter day” (v. 10). Mobley comments, “A solar eclipse portends divine punishment and elicits mourning rituals. Sackcloth and baldness were customary expressions of mourning associated with national disaster (e.g. Isa. 22:12)” (op. cit., on v. 10).

Amos delivers a further word of the Lord GOD. “The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, / when I will send a famine on the land” (v. 11a, b). While ruin has thus been predicted, the worst of it will be “not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, / but of hearing the words of the LORD” (v. 11c, d). This absence of God’s words is to be felt as tragic loss and deprivation. “They shall wander from sea to sea, / and from north to east; / they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, / but they shall not find it” (v. 12). “The people will be hungry and thirsty for God’s word,” says Ben Zvi. “Rabbinic sources understand this text as pointing to a time in which the Torah (the words of the LORD) will be forgotten: ‘Our Rabbis taught: When our Masters entered the vineyard at Yabneh, they said, The Torah is destined to be forgotten in Israel, as it is said, Behold the days come, saith the LORD God, that I will send a famine in the land . . .’ b. Shab. 138b [Soncino ET]; and see also t. ‘Ed. 1.1)” (op. cit., on vv. 11-12).

Literal hunger and thirst remains in the predicted judgment. “In that day the beautiful young women and the young men / shall faint for thirst” (v. 13). The chapter concludes with judgment pronounced on idolatrous practices. “Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria, / and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ / and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”–they shall fall, and never rise again” (v. 14). According to Tucker and Dearman, “Ashimah and the way of Beer-sheba are either the names of gods or pejorative titles applied to gods” (op. cit., on Amos 8:14). Mobley elaborates:

Ashimah (or ‘guilt’) of Samaria could be a Syrian deity (2 Kings 17:30) or a disparaging reference (‘the guilt’) to the practice of treating the cosmic LORD merely as the patron of a local shrine, whether in the center of Israel (Samaria), the farthest north (Dan), or the farthest south (Beer-sheba)” (on v. 14 [not on v. 13]).

Revelation 1:17-2:7

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. 19 Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The Message to Ephesus

2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

2 “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. 3 I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God. (Revelation 1:17-2:7, NRSV)

On December 12, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year Two), comments were based on comments on Revelation 1:4-20 from October 29, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to October l26, Year One), when comments were used from earlier, and also on comments from December 7, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One); the comments of December 12, 2007 are repeated here with editing and supplement:

John’s Reaction to the Vision of Christ

John’s vision of Christ is described in yesterday’s reading (Rev. 1:9-16). Today’s reading begins with the effect the vision had on him. “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead” (v. 17a). We may compare Isaiah’s response to his vision in the temple (Isa. 6:5). But the Lord (Christ) raises him up. “But he placed his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last [cf. God as ‘the Alpha and the Omega,’ v. 8], and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades’ ” (vv. 17b, 18). According to David E. Aune, “The fright of the seer is a stock motif of epiphanies narrated in vision reports (see Isa. 6:5; Ezek. 1:28; Dan. 8:17; Lk. 24:5). The first and the last [is] a divine title derived from Second Isaiah (Isa. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12” (The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Rev. 1:17). Aune refers here to his earlier note on Alpha and Omega, in the title which “expresses the idea of totality and symbolizes God’s sovereignty . . . similar in meaning to the first and the last (1:17; 2:8; 22:13) and the beginning and the end (21:6; 22:13)” (ibid., on 1:8). According to Bruce M. Metzger, “Hades, used here with its synonym death, is the abode of the dead; Christ has the keys to release those confined within its gates (Mt. 16:18; Jn. 5:25-29)” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on Rev. 1:18). “In Anatolia, in Hellenistic and Roman times,” says Aune, “there was a widespread belief that the Greek underworld goddess Hekate possessed the keys to Hades” (op. cit., on v. 18).

John is told to write what he has seen. “Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this” (v. 19). According to Aune, “Some have taken this as a three-part general outline of Revelation: what you have seen (1:9-20), what is (2:1-3:22), and what is to take place after this (4:1-22:5). Since 4:1-22:5 refers to the past and the future, however, one should see this as a logical division of the subject (not the book) into past, present, and future” (ibid., on v. 19). John is given an explanation of the “mystery.” “Mystery,” says Metzger, is “truth formerly hidden, but now to be revealed” (op. cit., on v. 20). “As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand,” says Christ, “and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (v. 20). “Angels are assigned to the seven churches,” says Metzger, “as also to nations (Dan. 10:13; 12:1) and individuals (Mt. 18:10)” (ibid.; cf. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Rev. 1:20).

On the Messages to the Seven Churches

John concludes the report of his initial vision of the glorified Christ (Rev. 1:17-20), and turns to letters to the seven churches of Asia, that is, to the “angel” of each church. According to Jean Pierre Ruiz, the message to each church contains “an address, a descriptive phrase referring to the risen Christ, a commendation, or condemnation of the church addressed, an admonition, and a concluding promise and exhortation to the faithful” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Rev. 2:1-3:22). Aune elaborates on the form:

The messages to the seven churches are not in the form of ancient letters . . . but rather resemble the edicts and decrees issued by Persian and Greek kings and Roman emperors. Each proclamation consists of eight stereotypical features: (1) destination, (2) the command to write, (3) the archaic ‘thus says’ formula (these are the words of ), (4) titles of Christ (largely based on the vision in 1:9-20), (5) the ‘I know’ narrative, (6) admonitions and exhortations, (7) the proclamation formula (let anyone who has an ear listen), and (8) the victory formula (whoever conquers and similar phrases). Moral exhortation, present implicitly if not explicitly in apocalypses, permeates these proclamations. (op. cit., on 2:1-3:22)

The Message to Ephesus

The first message is “To the angel of the church in Ephesus” (2:1a), which Ruiz describes as “a seaport city that was the administrative and commercial hub of the Roman province of Asia” (on 2:1-7). The risen Christ is described as the sender of the message. “These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands” (v. 1b). The Lord’s message begins with a “commendation” (cf. Ruiz, above)–what David E. Aune calls “the ‘I know’ narrative’ (cf. Aune, above)–“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false” (2:2). Ruiz compares to the “evildoers” mentioned here “the warning to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29-30; cf. 2 Cor. 11:13)” (op. cit., on v. 2). The commendation continues. “I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary” (v. 3). But the Lord chides the church. “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (v. 4). And so the Lord issues a call to repent. “Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (v. 5). Even so, he offers further commendation. “Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (v. 6). According to Aune, the “Nicolaitans [are] an otherwise unknown Christian sect found in Ephesus and Pergamum (see v. 15), possibly identical to the false apostles of v. 2 and with Jezebel and her followers in Thyatira (vv. 20-23), and often though to be Gnostics (though the evidence is slim)” (on v. 6). Based on verse 15, Metzger identifies the Nicolaitans with those “who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication” (v. 14) as he says the Nicolaitans “taught that Christians were free to eat food offered to idols and to practice immorality in the name of religion (v. 14)” (op. cit., on Rev. 2:6).

After each church is addressed in turn (chaps. 2, 3), the message (or book) is addressed to one and all among Christian believers. “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God” (v. 7). For the “tree of life,” Metzger refers to Genesis 2:9 (ibid., on Rev. 2:7; we might also refer to 22:2). And the Book of Revelation as a whole closes, as we know, with the Lord’s open-ended invitation, “‘Come!’ / And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come!’ / And let everyone who is thirsty come. / Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift” (Rev. 22:17).

Matthew 23:1-12

23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' 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 students. 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. (Matthew 23:1-12, NRSV)

On July 7, 2008 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 6, Year Two), comments were repeated with editing and supplement from December 12, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year Two), when comments were repeated from July 10, 2006 (Monday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 6, Year Two), when they were combined and revised from July 5, 2004 in an email sent July 5, 2004, for July 5-11, and from December 7, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the Second Sunday in Advent, Year Two), where there was some repetition from an email sent December 9, 2003, for December 10, 2003. The combined comments are repeated again here with some editing and supplement.

For recent comments on Mark 12:38-40, where Mark presents a warning about scribes which comes as close as anything in Mark to corresponding to Jesus’ extended and repeated woes against the Pharisees, see the Archive for August 21, 2009 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 17, Year One). Recent comments on Luke 20:45-47 (cf. Mt. 23:5-6) are included within comments in Luke 20:41-21:4 in the Archive for June 18, 2009 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 15, Year One). For parallel verses in Mark and Luke to this reading from Matthew, see the separate file, Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees, Part 1.

A series of debates between Jesus and the Jewish leaders has concluded with Jesus’ challenge about whether the Messiah should be called David’s son or David’s lord (Mt. 22:41-46; Mk. 12:35-37a; Lk. 20:41-44). That episode concluded with Matthew’s statement that “No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions” (Mt. 22:46); compare the similar remark put at the beginning of that episode by Mark and Luke (Mk. 12:34b; Lk. 20:40). What follows is Jesus’ challenge and criticism of the Jewish leadership. “This entire chapter [i.e., Mt.23],” says J. Andrew Overman, “is devoted to Jesus’ critical judgment against the religious leadership” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Mt. 23:1-39).

Matthew reports that Jesus addressed the crowds and his disciples. “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach’ ” (Mt. 23:1-3). Compare Mark’s reference to “the large crowd [that] was listening to him with delight” as he warned against the scribes (Mk. 12:37b, 38a), and Luke’s putting the criticism of the scribes (Lk. 20:46) “in the hearing of all the people” (Lk. 20:45). Jesus acknowledges that “the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat,” and tells the people to follow their teaching but not their actions (v. 3). According to the Matthew, Jesus’ first specific criticism is about heavy burdens laid on the people. “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” (v. 4). In Luke’s parallel to Matthew’s woes (Mt. 23:13-30; cf. Lk. 11:39-52; cf. readings to follow), this criticism is another “woe”: “And he said, "Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them” (Lk. 11:46).

In what appears to be a kind of prologue, or perhaps basis, for the series of “woes” directed to “you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Mt. 23:13, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27, 29; cf. various parallels in Lk.), Jesus continues with a series of further specific criticisms, saying that the scribes and Pharisees “do all their deeds to be seen by others” (Mt. 23:5a), as though their reputations were the motive, and not righteousness for righteousness sake. Mark and Luke list three specific criticisms here: “Beware (Blevpete, Blepete, Mk.; Proevcete, Prosechete, Lk.) of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and (love, filouvntwn, philountōn, Lk.) to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!” (Mk. 12:38-39; Lk. 11:46). Matthew’s equivalent continues the list of criticisms in a form clearly reflecting the Jewish context. In addition to doing “all their deeds to be seen by others,” Matthew’s Jesus continues, “for they make their phylacteries (fulakthvria, phylaktēria) broad and their fringes (kravspeda, kraspeda) long” (Mt. 23:5b; cf. the reference to “long robes” in Mk. and Lk.). The former term is defined as follows: a “leather prayer band and case containing scripture passages, sometimes used as an amulet, prayer-band, prayer-case.” It is added that

one of the literal senses of fulakthvrion [phylaktērion], which occurs only once in our literature, Mt. 23:5, is ‘safeguard, means of protection’ [in examples from Demosthenes, Philo and others], but this sense is only one component of a more complex semantic phenomenon, where the referent reflects the Aramaic (sic) nyL09p9T4, t^efilîn), i.e. two black leather boxes containing scripture passages worn on the forehead and the left arm, in keeping with Mosaic instruction Ex. 13:9, 16; Dt. 6:8; 11:18, where the directives appear to be figurative. (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd ed., 2000, s.v. fulakthvrion, phylaktērion)

Matthew echoes Jesus’ criticism in Mark of their wanting to “have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets” (Mk. 12:39; Lk. 20:46b), but he reverses the order, “They [i.e. the scribes and the Pharisees] love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues” (Mt. 23:6). Matthew reverses the elements in this verse in comparison with Mark and Luke, and does the same with the next, “and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces (Mt. 23:7a; cf Mk. 12:38b, before v. 39; and Lk. 20:46b, before v. 46a). According to Richard A. Horsley, to this “craving for honor,” Jesus adds, “a concrete example of their exploitation of the poor” ((NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Mk. 12:38-40).

In Matthew, Jesus goes on to discuss a form of being “greeted with respect in the marketplaces,” that is, “to have people call them rabbi” (Mt. 23:7b), in another echo of the Jewish context. “But you are not to be called rabbi,” says Jesus, according to Matthew, “for you have one teacher, and you are all students” (v. 8). “ ‘Rabbi’ was not yet an official title for the scribes,” says Krister Stendahl, “but was about to become such in NT times, and Mt. translates it ‘teacher’ ” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, sec. 691 d, p. 792, on Mt. 23:8). And, for a similar reason, the disciples are to “call no one your father (patevra, patera) on earth, for you have one Father (pathvr, patēr)–the one in heaven. With reference to his comment on “rabbi” in verse 8, Stendahl adds, “the same seems to have been true about ‘father’ ” (ibid., on v. 9). In Matthew, Jesus continues in this vein. “Nor are you to be called instructors (kaqhghtaiv, kathēgētai), for you have one instructor (kaqhghthvV, kathēgētēs), the Messiah (oJ CristovV, ho Christos)” (Mt. 23:10). This word “instructor” (kaqhghthvV, kathēgētēs), is defined as “teacher” and cited as so used of Aristotle (BDAG, s.v kaqhghthvV, kathēgētēs). It occurs only here in the New Testament. Stendahl says that verse 10 “may sound as an anticlimax and has been considered as a variant of verse 8 (so Wellhausen, Dalman, et al.), but if ‘master’ (kathēgētēs [kaqhghthvV]) is the equivalent of Heb. môreh [hr@Om], the technical term for the Teacher of Righteousness at Qumrân, then it is the proper climax, making Jesus Christ the ‘Teacher’ ” (loc. cit.). As opposed to various authoritarian structures in the world of his day, Jesus emphasizes “servant leadership.” “The greatest among you will be your servant” (Mt. 23:11; cf. 20:26-27; Mk. 9:35; 10:43-44; Lk. 9:48; 22:26; cf. also Jn. 13:1-20). In concluding the paragraph, prior to the list of woes against the Pharisees, Matthew quotes Jesus as saying, “ All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (Mt. 23:12). Earlier in Matthew, Jesus says, “Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:4). “Reversal of status characterizes the kingdom,” says Dennis C. Duling “(see 20:26-27; 23:11-12; Mk. 10:43-44; Lk. 14:11; 18:14; 22:26; Jas. 4:6, 10; 1 Pet. 5:5)” (The HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Mt. 18:4). “Unlike the scribes and Pharisees ([Mt. 23:]7), says Dale C. Allison, Jr., “Christian authorities are to shun titles. Such titles are inconsistent with the demand for humility and mutuality and the need to restrict certain appellations to God and Christ. It is implied that the scribes and Pharisees enjoy wrongful flattery and think in hierarchical terms” (The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, p. 875, on Mt. 23:1-12).

Matthew, chapter 23, presents exceedingly harsh criticism of Pharisees by Jesus. We are reminded that it was criticism of “some Pharisees, not all Pharisees” (E.E. Tilden & B.M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on Mt. 23:13; emphasis [bold print] added). Stendahl asks, “Is the criticism in this discourse aimed at actual hypocrites among the Pharisees or against 'Pharisaism' as a system which is wrong in its basic principle?” (op. cit., sec. 691 b, p. 792 on Mt. 23:1-36 ). He answers his own question by implying the former for Jesus himself, though Matthew's church was perhaps “on its way to such a clear-cut identification.” But, according to Stendahl, Jesus “did not enunciate principles, nor did he aim at a new approach to religion, but he taught with prophetic consciousness in a nation where he found the strongest resistance among those who were its spiritual leaders. This must have sharpened his eyes for their shortcomings–most of which they would admit themselves, at least when they were among themselves, as the Talmud shows quite clearly” (ibid.). On the last point, Stendahl cites I. Abrahams' book, Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels (1924).

It would not be hard to find similar shortcomings among the Christians. However, since it is Jesus who criticized some Pharisees, we, as Christians, must respect his judgment. But we must also remember that it was not an indictment of all Pharisees–not to mention all Jews, then or now. We have learned that misuse of material from the Gospels by so-called Christians to support anti-Semitism has had horrible effects again and again, but especially in the last century. And, for that matter, some of the same inconsistencies are probably found in Christian groups. Scholars have pointed out criticism of Pharisees by Pharisees in the Talmud. William C. Varner says:

There is a passage, appearing in slightly different forms in both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, that sheds an abundance of light on the self-perception of the Pharisees. This passage describes seven different types of Pharisees. A paraphrase of the difficult Talmudic language describes the following seven: (1) The “shoulder” Pharisee wore his good deeds on his shoulder so everyone could see them. (2) The “wait a little” Pharisee always found an excuse for putting off a good deed. (3) The “bruised” Pharisee shut his eyes to avoid seeing a woman and knocked into walls, bruising himself. (4) The “humpbacked” Pharisee always walked bent double, in false humility. (5) The “ever reckoning” Pharisees was always counting up the numbers of his good deeds. (6) The “fearful” Pharisee always quaked in fear of the wrath of God. (7) The “God-loving” Pharisee was a copy of Abraham who lived in faith and charity (“Jesus and the Pharisees; A Jewish Perspective,” http://www.pfo.org/pharisee.htm, accessed again Dec. 8, 2009)

Most Christian groups probably have some of these kinds of people.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net