1 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:13,560 Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Daily Gospel 2 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:18,360 Exegesis Podcast made by Logical Bible Study. 3 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,320 And what we do here in this podcast is we take a look at the 4 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:25,760 literal sense of the text from today's gospel reading at Mass. 5 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,180 So every day when you go to Mass, there's usually 3 6 00:00:30,180 --> 00:00:33,380 readings, sometimes 2. The last reading is the gospel 7 00:00:33,380 --> 00:00:36,580 reading, and that's from Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. 8 00:00:36,820 --> 00:00:39,780 And we take a look at that reading and we're looking at the 9 00:00:39,780 --> 00:00:42,620 literal sense of the text, as in what was the author trying to 10 00:00:42,620 --> 00:00:46,580 convey to his original audience. And by doing that, we can really 11 00:00:46,940 --> 00:00:49,860 get at the meaning of the text. What? 12 00:00:49,860 --> 00:00:52,340 And in fact, that's the best way to find out what it's trying to 13 00:00:52,340 --> 00:00:54,980 say to us today. So today we're looking at a 14 00:00:54,980 --> 00:00:57,580 really, really interesting passage for a number of reasons. 15 00:00:58,230 --> 00:01:01,270 One of the most important, I think, in terms of understanding 16 00:01:01,510 --> 00:01:05,870 Jesus thinking and the Jewish thinking at the time about the 17 00:01:05,870 --> 00:01:08,590 Pharisees, et cetera. So we're looking at Matthew 18 00:01:08,590 --> 00:01:15,590 chapter 23, verses 1 to 12, addressing the people in his 19 00:01:15,590 --> 00:01:18,550 disciples. Jesus said the scribes in the 20 00:01:18,550 --> 00:01:21,270 Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. 21 00:01:21,750 --> 00:01:25,070 You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they 22 00:01:25,070 --> 00:01:27,810 say. But do not be guided by what 23 00:01:27,810 --> 00:01:30,170 they do. Since they do not practice what 24 00:01:30,170 --> 00:01:34,210 they preach, they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's 25 00:01:34,210 --> 00:01:36,850 shoulders. But will they lift a finger to 26 00:01:36,850 --> 00:01:38,650 move them? Not they. 27 00:01:39,450 --> 00:01:43,810 Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing 28 00:01:43,810 --> 00:01:47,690 broad philacteries and longer Tessels, like wanting to take 29 00:01:47,690 --> 00:01:50,730 the place of honor at banquets and the front seats in the 30 00:01:50,730 --> 00:01:54,710 synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market 31 00:01:54,710 --> 00:01:57,670 squares, and having people call them Rabbi. 32 00:01:59,230 --> 00:02:02,950 You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, 33 00:02:03,390 --> 00:02:06,870 since you have only one master and you are all brothers. 34 00:02:07,870 --> 00:02:10,430 You must call no one on earth your Father. 35 00:02:11,030 --> 00:02:14,910 Since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven, you must 36 00:02:14,910 --> 00:02:18,430 not allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have 37 00:02:18,470 --> 00:02:23,140 only one teacher, The Christ. The greatest among you must be 38 00:02:23,140 --> 00:02:26,900 your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will 39 00:02:26,900 --> 00:02:31,420 be humbled, and everybody who humbles himself will be exalted. 40 00:02:35,420 --> 00:02:38,940 So in this passage, there's two really interesting things that 41 00:02:38,940 --> 00:02:43,020 need to be talked about, and those would be the seat of 42 00:02:43,020 --> 00:02:45,500 Moses. In the first half, Jesus 43 00:02:45,500 --> 00:02:48,260 discusses what it means to have the seat of Moses, so we'll talk 44 00:02:48,260 --> 00:02:50,340 a bit about that. And then in the second-half, of 45 00:02:50,340 --> 00:02:52,940 course, there's that common objection against Catholic 46 00:02:52,940 --> 00:02:56,820 teaching, which is that Jesus says call no man father, but of 47 00:02:56,820 --> 00:02:58,780 course Catholics call their priests father. 48 00:02:58,780 --> 00:03:01,340 So this is a really important passage. 49 00:03:01,380 --> 00:03:04,900 Well, I would say this is one of those passages where if we don't 50 00:03:04,900 --> 00:03:09,100 do an analysis of the literal sense of the text and we just 51 00:03:09,100 --> 00:03:11,460 jump straight to the spiritual sense of the text and we're 52 00:03:11,460 --> 00:03:13,580 going to miss a lot of really important information. 53 00:03:14,110 --> 00:03:16,950 So let's jump into it, The literal sense of the text. 54 00:03:17,750 --> 00:03:20,790 Matthew chapter 23. So the setting of this appears 55 00:03:20,790 --> 00:03:23,670 to be in the temple. So Jesus is telling us a few 56 00:03:23,670 --> 00:03:26,430 parables and he has some confrontations with the 57 00:03:26,430 --> 00:03:30,150 Pharisees in the temple here. And this is basically the final 58 00:03:30,150 --> 00:03:33,510 conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees, and it's the most 59 00:03:33,510 --> 00:03:36,390 hated one. Jesus doesn't pull any punches 60 00:03:36,390 --> 00:03:39,550 here. He really digs into the 61 00:03:39,550 --> 00:03:42,980 Pharisees and the way they live their life, and he pinpoints 62 00:03:42,980 --> 00:03:44,820 exactly what his problem with them is. 63 00:03:45,180 --> 00:03:48,220 Earlier in his ministry, he's spoken not very highly of the 64 00:03:48,220 --> 00:03:50,980 Pharisees, but it hasn't been entirely clear what the 65 00:03:50,980 --> 00:03:54,540 fundamental problem is. Here Jesus really tells us 66 00:03:54,540 --> 00:03:57,460 exactly what his problem with the Pharisees is. 67 00:03:58,260 --> 00:04:01,380 First one addressing the people and his disciples. 68 00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:04,900 So notice that we have crowds listening and the disciples 69 00:04:04,900 --> 00:04:06,660 listening. He's addressing both of them, 70 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,680 Verse 2, the scribes and the Pharisees. 71 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,360 So these are the common religious teachers at the time 72 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,040 in Israel. Essentially, they're the Jewish 73 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:18,720 religious authorities. They had the power to interpret 74 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,079 the law, and I would say they actually did their best to 75 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:24,480 interpret God's law. They're not trying to be 76 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,040 deceptive. They're actually doing their 77 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,680 best to teach the people God's law because most people couldn't 78 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,560 read or write. So the Pharisees have the role 79 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,720 of teaching people what the Old Testament says, even if they're 80 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,280 sometimes mistaken, which they certainly are, they're doing 81 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:43,200 their best to teach people God's law. 82 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,680 The scribes is the second group mentioned here. 83 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,040 The scribes were kind of like a subgroup within the Pharisees, 84 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,880 and they were experts in the actual text, the writing, the 85 00:04:53,880 --> 00:05:01,680 words of the Old Testament. So Jesus says the scribes and 86 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:06,880 the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses, the chair of Moses. 87 00:05:07,870 --> 00:05:10,990 So we need to understand this phrase if we're going to 88 00:05:10,990 --> 00:05:15,350 understand Jesus conflict with the Pharisees during Moses's 89 00:05:15,350 --> 00:05:17,350 life. So let's go back to the Old 90 00:05:17,350 --> 00:05:19,070 Testament. So during Moses's life, it 91 00:05:19,070 --> 00:05:22,270 appears as you know, there's these times when people come to 92 00:05:22,270 --> 00:05:24,550 Moses while they're camping in the wilderness. 93 00:05:24,550 --> 00:05:27,670 People would come to Moses if they had a problem, and Moses 94 00:05:27,670 --> 00:05:29,630 would bring a solution or a judgment. 95 00:05:30,310 --> 00:05:32,990 And it appears that during his life there was an actual chair 96 00:05:32,990 --> 00:05:35,870 that he would sit on when he's making judgments and when people 97 00:05:35,870 --> 00:05:38,420 would come to him. Kind of like a throne, but not 98 00:05:38,420 --> 00:05:39,940 really. It's just his chair that he made 99 00:05:39,940 --> 00:05:43,060 judgments from. And whenever he sat in that 100 00:05:43,060 --> 00:05:45,620 chair, it was he was teaching authoritatively. 101 00:05:46,500 --> 00:05:49,220 So it was believed by the Jews at the time that because of 102 00:05:49,220 --> 00:05:54,380 Moses's office as a divinely chosen by God, Moses clearly was 103 00:05:55,100 --> 00:05:58,420 spoken to by God and he clearly had God's approval. 104 00:05:59,220 --> 00:06:02,500 Then the Jews believe that any teaching that was proposed by 105 00:06:02,500 --> 00:06:07,410 Moses to be believed by the Jews was binding, not necessarily 106 00:06:07,410 --> 00:06:09,210 infallible. We don't want to say Moses was 107 00:06:09,210 --> 00:06:12,650 infallible, but he did have the right to create binding 108 00:06:12,650 --> 00:06:15,130 decisions that all Jews were bound to. 109 00:06:16,090 --> 00:06:19,490 And so the Jews believe that this authority of the chair of 110 00:06:19,490 --> 00:06:23,730 Moses or the seat of Moses was then passed on to Joshua after 111 00:06:23,730 --> 00:06:26,610 Moses died. So then Joshua had the authority 112 00:06:26,610 --> 00:06:30,010 of Moses. Then later as Jewish history 113 00:06:30,010 --> 00:06:32,250 progressed, it was passed on to some of the other Jewish 114 00:06:32,250 --> 00:06:34,700 leaders. Maybe Ezra and Nehemiah might 115 00:06:34,700 --> 00:06:37,060 have held that office, and possibly some of the other 116 00:06:37,060 --> 00:06:40,420 prophets as well. We don't have a clear line of 117 00:06:40,420 --> 00:06:43,460 who exactly it was passed down to, but there was this general 118 00:06:44,220 --> 00:06:47,780 idea that the Jews had that the chair of Moses, Moses is 119 00:06:47,780 --> 00:06:52,020 teaching authority to bind, to make binding judgments, was 120 00:06:52,020 --> 00:06:57,340 passed on throughout time, and whoever had the seat of Moses 121 00:06:57,340 --> 00:07:00,580 had the power to interpret the Law of Moses for the Jewish 122 00:07:00,580 --> 00:07:03,970 people. So basically, if you sat in the 123 00:07:03,970 --> 00:07:08,050 seat of Moses, then you could explain to the people what the 124 00:07:08,050 --> 00:07:11,690 Torah meant and they could add in certain disciplines or 125 00:07:13,130 --> 00:07:16,290 regulations about how the law was to be enacted and those were 126 00:07:16,290 --> 00:07:19,490 binding on the people. So by the time of the 1st 127 00:07:19,490 --> 00:07:23,370 century, so the time of Jesus, the authority of Moses and the 128 00:07:23,370 --> 00:07:26,410 seat of Moses had passed to the Pharisees. 129 00:07:26,610 --> 00:07:30,210 The Pharisees were now the official authoritative teachers, 130 00:07:31,950 --> 00:07:34,510 and particularly in the weekly liturgy, it appears that they 131 00:07:34,510 --> 00:07:37,630 literally sat on a special seat that was in a sense considered 132 00:07:37,630 --> 00:07:39,790 to be the seat of Moses. And then they would give their 133 00:07:39,790 --> 00:07:43,030 sermon, during which time they could make official teachings 134 00:07:43,030 --> 00:07:47,590 for their local congregations. And we know that they had this, 135 00:07:48,270 --> 00:07:51,710 the seat of Moses, because Jesus tells us in this passage he says 136 00:07:51,990 --> 00:07:55,110 the scribes and Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. 137 00:07:55,790 --> 00:07:58,230 This isn't often talked about much, but it needs to be. 138 00:07:58,230 --> 00:08:00,900 We often, sort of, you know, we'll often hear that there was 139 00:08:00,900 --> 00:08:03,380 4 competing groups in Jesus time. 140 00:08:03,380 --> 00:08:06,500 You have the Essanes, the Pharisees, the Sedgeses, and the 141 00:08:06,500 --> 00:08:08,460 Zealots. Probably lots of you have heard 142 00:08:08,460 --> 00:08:11,620 of those four groups, and often it's portrayed as though they 143 00:08:11,660 --> 00:08:14,140 all had equal authority with each other. 144 00:08:14,700 --> 00:08:17,380 It appears that really if we look at the Gospels, the 145 00:08:17,380 --> 00:08:20,860 Pharisees were the only ones that had legitimate teaching 146 00:08:20,860 --> 00:08:23,340 authority that was approved by God. 147 00:08:23,340 --> 00:08:25,900 The other groups were kind of just doing their own thing. 148 00:08:28,550 --> 00:08:31,470 So that means, if it's true that the Pharisees had the seed of 149 00:08:31,470 --> 00:08:35,549 Moses's authority, anything the Pharisees officially taught in 150 00:08:35,669 --> 00:08:38,990 Jesus time was authoritative and binding. 151 00:08:39,150 --> 00:08:41,990 Anything the Pharisees taught was to be obeyed, and that's 152 00:08:41,990 --> 00:08:45,030 what Jesus expected. So that's radically different 153 00:08:45,030 --> 00:08:47,390 from what we're often told. We're often told that the 154 00:08:47,390 --> 00:08:49,070 Pharisees were just wrong about everything. 155 00:08:49,150 --> 00:08:52,150 Jesus didn't approve of them. He thought that they shouldn't 156 00:08:52,150 --> 00:08:54,470 exist, and things like that. No, that's not the case. 157 00:08:55,110 --> 00:08:57,750 Jesus is saying you must obey them because they sit on the 158 00:08:57,750 --> 00:09:00,950 seat of Moses. We can look at it this way. 159 00:09:00,950 --> 00:09:03,670 God approved of their teaching office, and in fact he'd given 160 00:09:03,670 --> 00:09:07,950 them their teaching office. But he didn't approve of every 161 00:09:07,950 --> 00:09:11,310 single teaching they proposed. Not every single thing the 162 00:09:11,310 --> 00:09:15,030 Pharisees said was from God. It's just that God has given 163 00:09:15,030 --> 00:09:16,470 that. God knows that the Jewish people 164 00:09:16,470 --> 00:09:18,710 needs leaders, even if the leaders are fallible. 165 00:09:19,870 --> 00:09:23,150 He said He set things up in such a way so that there's always 166 00:09:23,790 --> 00:09:28,070 some sort of Jewish spiritual group of leaders who have the 167 00:09:28,070 --> 00:09:31,270 power to make binding decisions and the people must obey it. 168 00:09:31,270 --> 00:09:36,310 That's how God has set it up. So the Pharisees teachings were 169 00:09:36,310 --> 00:09:40,190 authoritative and binding, but not necessarily infallible. 170 00:09:40,350 --> 00:09:42,790 If we can keep that in mind, that will help us understand the 171 00:09:42,790 --> 00:09:45,750 conflict Jesus has with them. Verse 3. 172 00:09:45,750 --> 00:09:49,030 Jesus says you must therefore do what they tell you and listen to 173 00:09:49,030 --> 00:09:52,200 what they say. So since the Pharisees do have 174 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,840 genuine teaching authority as Jews, the people in Jesus time 175 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:58,360 were bound to do whatever they say. 176 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:00,760 That's what God expects, That's what Jesus expects. 177 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:02,600 That's how God has set things up. 178 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,520 If they make a teaching or discipline, you must obey it, 179 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:10,120 says Jesus. But he adds A caveat here. 180 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:14,480 Do not be guided by what they do since they do not practice what 181 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:18,430 they preach. So this is really interesting. 182 00:10:18,510 --> 00:10:22,070 Jesus tells his disciples that they should follow all teachings 183 00:10:22,070 --> 00:10:25,510 of the Pharisees, anything the Pharisees teach as part of their 184 00:10:25,510 --> 00:10:28,350 teaching authority. He expects his disciples to 185 00:10:28,350 --> 00:10:29,830 follow that because it's binding. 186 00:10:30,350 --> 00:10:33,590 But he says don't imitate their way of life, don't do what they 187 00:10:33,590 --> 00:10:36,590 do, don't live the way they do, don't have their attitude 188 00:10:37,670 --> 00:10:39,830 because they're not particularly holy people. 189 00:10:40,150 --> 00:10:43,670 This is the main criticism Jesus has of them as, as we'll see, 190 00:10:44,030 --> 00:10:45,830 it's not that they are teaching things. 191 00:10:46,310 --> 00:10:48,270 That's not his problem with them, it's the way they're 192 00:10:48,270 --> 00:10:51,150 living their life. And you could extend that to say 193 00:10:51,150 --> 00:10:56,590 the way they're treating people. We soon discovered that as we 194 00:10:56,590 --> 00:10:59,430 read on the passage, the Pharisees do everything to 195 00:10:59,430 --> 00:11:01,990 attract attention. That's the problem. 196 00:11:01,990 --> 00:11:04,070 That's what Jesus says, don't imitate them. 197 00:11:05,030 --> 00:11:07,110 So Jesus here is probably quite frustrated. 198 00:11:07,470 --> 00:11:09,830 He wants the Pharisees to be holy people. 199 00:11:09,830 --> 00:11:12,670 He wishes that they were, because if they were, the whole 200 00:11:12,670 --> 00:11:17,040 situation would be much better. There'd be holy leaders giving 201 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:20,720 wholly authoritative teachings. But that's not the case here. 202 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,640 Verse 4, Jesus goes on. The Pharisees tie up heavy 203 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,640 burdens and lay them on men's shoulders. 204 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,960 So Jesus is telling us that the Pharisees, when they exercise 205 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,680 their teaching authority, are requiring the Jews to follow all 206 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:38,720 sorts of extra rules and disciplines. 207 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:41,720 And of course we can think of the dietary laws at the time, 208 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,040 and also the Sabbath laws. You know, you couldn't pluck 209 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:46,740 grain on the Sabbath. That added in all these extra 210 00:11:46,740 --> 00:11:48,780 tidbits in the way that they interpreted the law. 211 00:11:50,060 --> 00:11:53,740 Now they were binding, So Jesus is not disputing that they're 212 00:11:53,740 --> 00:11:56,100 binding. But what he's saying is they're 213 00:11:56,100 --> 00:11:59,100 tying up heavy burdens and laying them on men's shoulders. 214 00:11:59,380 --> 00:12:01,580 So the Jews do have to follow those teachings. 215 00:12:01,580 --> 00:12:04,460 But will they lift a finger to move them? 216 00:12:04,980 --> 00:12:08,460 No, not they. So the Pharisees adding in all 217 00:12:08,460 --> 00:12:11,540 these extra little rules and Jesus is frustrated with that 218 00:12:11,540 --> 00:12:15,990 because the Pharisees are not considering the impact that that 219 00:12:15,990 --> 00:12:19,510 will have on the Jewish people. In fact, it could make coming to 220 00:12:19,510 --> 00:12:22,710 God harder for them. So Jesus concern here is that 221 00:12:22,710 --> 00:12:25,750 the Pharisees are exercising their authority in such a way 222 00:12:26,350 --> 00:12:29,830 that it might actually be harder for the Jews to come to God 223 00:12:29,830 --> 00:12:31,750 because there's so many little requirements. 224 00:12:34,030 --> 00:12:37,230 So in fact the Pharisees would not actually act like the holy 225 00:12:37,230 --> 00:12:40,430 people that that the Jews required. 226 00:12:40,430 --> 00:12:44,850 So imagine imagine what it would be like if the Pharisees added 227 00:12:44,850 --> 00:12:47,330 in all these laws which they were doing, but on top of that 228 00:12:47,890 --> 00:12:51,090 they acted like holy people, and there were people that the Jews 229 00:12:51,090 --> 00:12:53,450 could imitate. If that was the case, the whole 230 00:12:53,450 --> 00:12:56,130 situation would be much easier because the Jews could follow 231 00:12:56,130 --> 00:12:58,610 all the laws. But then they would have the 232 00:12:58,610 --> 00:13:01,650 Pharisees to look up to and to imitate, and they would be able 233 00:13:01,650 --> 00:13:05,050 to live a holy life. And in that way the rules would 234 00:13:05,170 --> 00:13:07,930 would become less burdensome because they had role models to 235 00:13:07,930 --> 00:13:11,820 look up to. But in fact, the situation is 236 00:13:11,820 --> 00:13:14,140 not that. The situation is the Pharisees, 237 00:13:14,140 --> 00:13:17,380 using their teaching authority, are binding the Jews to follow 238 00:13:17,380 --> 00:13:23,140 all these little authoritative laws and the Pharisees as their 239 00:13:23,140 --> 00:13:27,580 spiritual leaders and not doing anything to help them live out 240 00:13:27,580 --> 00:13:29,100 those laws. They're just adding more and 241 00:13:29,100 --> 00:13:32,580 more things. So I hope that makes sense that 242 00:13:32,580 --> 00:13:34,900 if you're understanding the distinction between the 243 00:13:34,900 --> 00:13:37,960 Pharisees having legitimate teaching authority, but then the 244 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,840 way that they're living their life kind of making it harder 245 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:46,600 for the Jews to access God. This contrast with Jesus yoke. 246 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:48,560 Remember what Jesus says about his burden? 247 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:51,400 He says my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 248 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:54,440 So that's in Chapter 11 of Matthew, verse 29. 249 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,600 In contrast, the yoke of the Pharisees or the teaching, the 250 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:02,360 teaching body of the Pharisees was quite hard for the people to 251 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,240 bear. So Jesus finishes talking about 252 00:14:06,910 --> 00:14:09,270 the Pharisees teaching there, and now he's going to talk about 253 00:14:09,270 --> 00:14:11,990 the Pharisees way of living. Verse five. 254 00:14:11,990 --> 00:14:15,070 He says everything they do is done to attract attention. 255 00:14:15,710 --> 00:14:18,190 So the Pharisees like to be seen as important. 256 00:14:18,190 --> 00:14:20,310 They're motivated by pride. Basically. 257 00:14:21,270 --> 00:14:23,310 They'd like to wear broad phalactories. 258 00:14:23,310 --> 00:14:25,830 So Phalactories are small leather boxes. 259 00:14:25,950 --> 00:14:29,470 You might have seen pictures of the Pharisees from this time 260 00:14:29,470 --> 00:14:31,230 period. They're small boxes and they 261 00:14:31,230 --> 00:14:35,090 contain Scripture passages. So this is based on Deuteronomy 262 00:14:35,210 --> 00:14:39,810 chapter 6, verse 8, where God says, put the law at the front 263 00:14:39,810 --> 00:14:43,210 of your mind and on your hands. And it's kind of like a metaphor 264 00:14:43,210 --> 00:14:45,210 for, like, make sure you always follow the law. 265 00:14:45,690 --> 00:14:48,090 But the Pharisees took that literally to mean we literally 266 00:14:48,090 --> 00:14:50,610 need to put the Scripture passages on our heads and on our 267 00:14:50,610 --> 00:14:53,010 hands. So during the liturgy, they 268 00:14:53,010 --> 00:14:56,010 would wear these little boxes and they would strap them to 269 00:14:56,010 --> 00:14:57,610 their forehead and their left arm. 270 00:14:57,610 --> 00:15:01,970 During the liturgy, it probably represents knowledge and loyalty 271 00:15:01,970 --> 00:15:05,300 to the Torah. It appears that the Pharisees or 272 00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:08,420 the Pharisees in this part of the world were quite, quite 273 00:15:08,420 --> 00:15:11,540 prominent Philactories, so that everyone saw their Philactories 274 00:15:11,980 --> 00:15:14,900 and they appeared to be extra knowledgeable and extra holy. 275 00:15:16,340 --> 00:15:18,660 So is there anything wrong with wearing Philactories? 276 00:15:18,700 --> 00:15:21,100 No, there's not. Jesus is not criticizing that. 277 00:15:21,420 --> 00:15:24,020 That was sort of part of the Jewish way of understanding 278 00:15:24,660 --> 00:15:26,980 obedience to God. But his problem with the 279 00:15:26,980 --> 00:15:30,700 Pharisees is that the reason the Pharisees are wearing the 280 00:15:30,700 --> 00:15:32,460 Philactories is to attract attention. 281 00:15:33,310 --> 00:15:34,630 And then he gives another example. 282 00:15:34,630 --> 00:15:36,310 They love to wear longer tassels. 283 00:15:36,710 --> 00:15:40,590 So tassels were kind of like the end bits of the cloak, and they 284 00:15:40,590 --> 00:15:42,630 were considered to be the religious part of Jewish 285 00:15:42,630 --> 00:15:45,150 clothing. And they particularly 286 00:15:45,150 --> 00:15:48,630 represented for the Jews, the tassels represented the Jewish 287 00:15:48,630 --> 00:15:50,630 responsibility to keep the commandments. 288 00:15:51,190 --> 00:15:55,190 And that's specified in Numbers, chapter 15, verse 38 to 39, 289 00:15:55,710 --> 00:15:59,230 where it says the Jews need to wear certain kinds of tassels as 290 00:15:59,230 --> 00:16:02,110 part of their obedience. So the Pharisees had their 291 00:16:02,110 --> 00:16:05,830 clothes specially designed to have really long tassel so that 292 00:16:05,830 --> 00:16:07,390 everyone could see their tassels. 293 00:16:07,750 --> 00:16:10,030 And everyone would say, well, aren't they so religious? 294 00:16:10,030 --> 00:16:13,790 Aren't they so holy verse six, they love to take the place of 295 00:16:13,830 --> 00:16:18,190 honor at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues so that 296 00:16:18,190 --> 00:16:20,390 everyone can see them, basically, and know how 297 00:16:20,390 --> 00:16:24,350 important they are. So the Pharisees on the whole 298 00:16:24,950 --> 00:16:30,150 are motivated by pride. They love to be greeted 299 00:16:30,150 --> 00:16:33,390 obsecuously in the marketplaces. What a strange word. 300 00:16:33,390 --> 00:16:36,390 Obsecuously that our littergy translation has. 301 00:16:36,390 --> 00:16:39,950 I've never heard that word before until I saw it in today's 302 00:16:40,110 --> 00:16:45,550 littergy translation. An easier translation of that 303 00:16:45,550 --> 00:16:50,070 word obsecuously is They love to have many salutations in the 304 00:16:50,070 --> 00:16:53,670 marketplace, so they expected everyone to give them a special 305 00:16:53,670 --> 00:16:55,630 greeting because of their status. 306 00:16:58,530 --> 00:17:01,130 They also love to have people call them Rabbi. 307 00:17:01,170 --> 00:17:04,050 Now this is a good connector to the next part of the passage. 308 00:17:04,770 --> 00:17:07,290 The Pharisees really liked people calling them the term 309 00:17:07,290 --> 00:17:09,930 Rabbi. So Rabbi was a word in the 1st 310 00:17:09,930 --> 00:17:13,089 century society which had come to mean my teacher. 311 00:17:13,130 --> 00:17:17,210 If you said Rabbi, you were saying that I consider you to be 312 00:17:17,210 --> 00:17:20,810 my teacher, or more literally my great one. 313 00:17:21,010 --> 00:17:22,650 So you wouldn't just call anyone Rabbi. 314 00:17:22,730 --> 00:17:26,210 It was anyone that you respected significantly, my great one. 315 00:17:27,109 --> 00:17:29,750 So a Jew would use it for anyone they consider to be their 316 00:17:29,750 --> 00:17:33,310 authoritative teacher. In the gospel, some people 317 00:17:33,310 --> 00:17:35,790 address Jesus this way. They call Jesus Rabbi. 318 00:17:36,310 --> 00:17:39,310 Sometimes it's to flatter him, like the Pharisees sometimes try 319 00:17:39,310 --> 00:17:42,630 to call Jesus Rabbi. Sometimes it appears people 320 00:17:42,630 --> 00:17:45,190 genuinely mean it. They genuinely see Jesus as a 321 00:17:45,190 --> 00:17:48,470 rabbi, which he is. The difference is that the 322 00:17:48,470 --> 00:17:51,070 Pharisees required people to call them Rabbi. 323 00:17:51,270 --> 00:17:55,550 They said as part of showing us respect, you must call us Rabbi. 324 00:17:56,220 --> 00:17:57,860 So really, again, it's out of pride. 325 00:17:57,900 --> 00:18:00,300 So people, they weren't giving people the option of calling 326 00:18:00,300 --> 00:18:02,020 them rabbi. You're they're saying you must 327 00:18:02,020 --> 00:18:06,140 call us rabbi. They wanted the satisfaction of 328 00:18:06,140 --> 00:18:08,300 everyone considering them to be their teachers. 329 00:18:08,780 --> 00:18:10,860 So again, the Ferris is being selfish. 330 00:18:11,580 --> 00:18:15,460 So we now enter into the part of the passage which can be one of 331 00:18:15,460 --> 00:18:19,020 the hardest to understand and reconcile with both later 332 00:18:19,020 --> 00:18:21,500 Christian teaching and later Catholic teaching. 333 00:18:21,500 --> 00:18:23,140 So we really need to dive into it. 334 00:18:24,060 --> 00:18:27,660 Verse 8 Jesus says you, however, so now he's talking to his 335 00:18:27,660 --> 00:18:31,900 disciples particularly. You, however, must not allow 336 00:18:31,900 --> 00:18:35,540 yourselves to be called Rabbi. So the Pharisees love to be 337 00:18:35,540 --> 00:18:38,420 called Rabbi. But Jesus says, you guys, my 338 00:18:38,420 --> 00:18:41,340 disciples must not let yourselves be called Rabbi. 339 00:18:41,820 --> 00:18:44,140 So Jesus knows it. In the coming years after he's 340 00:18:44,140 --> 00:18:48,060 gone, the disciples would become significant teachers of the 341 00:18:48,060 --> 00:18:51,940 Christian faith and people are naturally going to want to call 342 00:18:51,940 --> 00:18:55,700 them Rabbi. What's the reason Jesus gives 343 00:18:55,980 --> 00:18:58,580 for why you shouldn't let yourself be called Rabbi? 344 00:18:59,020 --> 00:19:04,500 He says it's because you have one teacher and that's God. 345 00:19:04,500 --> 00:19:08,020 God is the only true rabbi. Now sometimes other translations 346 00:19:08,020 --> 00:19:11,700 will have this as master, you have only one master or teacher. 347 00:19:12,020 --> 00:19:14,540 Both of them are kind of like a translation of Rabbi. 348 00:19:15,860 --> 00:19:18,940 So the reason the disciples shouldn't get themselves to be 349 00:19:18,940 --> 00:19:21,540 called rabbi is because God is the only true rabbi. 350 00:19:22,340 --> 00:19:26,570 You are all brothers. So Jesus is saying in a sense, 351 00:19:26,650 --> 00:19:29,010 Jesus is saying this, that in the Kingdom of God, in the new 352 00:19:29,010 --> 00:19:32,330 covenant, the playing field needs to be leveled in a sense 353 00:19:32,330 --> 00:19:36,410 within the Christian community because he's seen how it's so 354 00:19:36,410 --> 00:19:42,010 easy for people in positions of authority in in terms of God's 355 00:19:42,010 --> 00:19:44,890 leaders, in positions of authority, it's so easy for them 356 00:19:44,890 --> 00:19:47,690 to be corrupted. And he wants his disciples to 357 00:19:47,690 --> 00:19:50,010 not fall into that corruption and pride. 358 00:19:50,550 --> 00:19:53,510 He wants him to have a frame of mind which sees God is the 359 00:19:53,510 --> 00:19:57,190 teacher, and then all Christians on an equal level below that. 360 00:19:57,190 --> 00:19:59,150 He says that has to be the starting point. 361 00:19:59,390 --> 00:20:02,750 We don't seek authority for for our own sake, he says. 362 00:20:04,870 --> 00:20:07,590 Now there's a bit more to it though, because as we go on we 363 00:20:07,590 --> 00:20:09,590 see that Jesus is using hyperbole. 364 00:20:09,590 --> 00:20:14,150 He's exaggerating here. He does not literally mean that 365 00:20:14,150 --> 00:20:16,190 it's never OK to call someone rabbi. 366 00:20:16,190 --> 00:20:17,710 That's not what the passage means. 367 00:20:18,150 --> 00:20:20,030 This is why it's really important that we do. 368 00:20:20,450 --> 00:20:23,770 That we dive into the When we're stunning the Bible, we must look 369 00:20:23,770 --> 00:20:26,930 at the cultural context, the way that words were used, the way 370 00:20:26,930 --> 00:20:30,170 that Jesus used phrases. Because if we don't do that, if 371 00:20:30,170 --> 00:20:33,730 we just pluck a verse out of context, we will end up saying 372 00:20:33,730 --> 00:20:36,050 you should never call anyone rabbi or you should never call 373 00:20:36,050 --> 00:20:39,130 anyone father. And we really put ourselves in 374 00:20:39,130 --> 00:20:41,850 some difficult situations there, because that would imply that 375 00:20:41,850 --> 00:20:44,410 we're not allowed to call our own earthly fathers father. 376 00:20:45,050 --> 00:20:47,130 So there must be an element of hyperbole here. 377 00:20:47,950 --> 00:20:51,590 So Jesus, again, he does not literally mean it's never OK to 378 00:20:51,590 --> 00:20:54,550 call someone Rabbi. What he's saying is that he's 379 00:20:54,550 --> 00:20:57,150 trying to contrast the way the Pharisees have set up their 380 00:20:57,150 --> 00:21:01,470 leadership system with how he wants his disciples to set up 381 00:21:01,470 --> 00:21:05,350 their leadership system. In fact, Jesus allowed himself 382 00:21:05,350 --> 00:21:10,270 to be called Rabbi sometimes, so he's not forbidding Rabbi 383 00:21:10,270 --> 00:21:13,550 altogether. He's using exaggeration. 384 00:21:13,550 --> 00:21:16,670 Here he goes. On verse nine, call no one on 385 00:21:16,670 --> 00:21:19,030 earth your father. So this is the second example. 386 00:21:19,190 --> 00:21:20,710 Don't let yourself be called Rabbi. 387 00:21:21,030 --> 00:21:23,870 And now he says don't call anyone else father. 388 00:21:24,550 --> 00:21:26,630 So Jesus has to be exaggerating here. 389 00:21:26,630 --> 00:21:28,710 Think about it. Don't call anyone on earth 390 00:21:28,790 --> 00:21:31,750 father. But everyone calls people on 391 00:21:31,750 --> 00:21:33,390 earth their father. Our dads. 392 00:21:33,470 --> 00:21:37,710 We're going to call them father. So clearly Jesus doesn't expect 393 00:21:37,710 --> 00:21:40,390 his disciples not to call their dad's father. 394 00:21:40,430 --> 00:21:44,810 That doesn't make sense. He has to be exaggerating, and 395 00:21:44,810 --> 00:21:46,370 we'll talk about this a bit more as we go. 396 00:21:46,370 --> 00:21:50,170 He says call no one on earth your father, since you have only 397 00:21:50,170 --> 00:21:54,010 one father and he's in heaven. So apparently the Pharisees 398 00:21:54,010 --> 00:21:57,090 enjoyed being called Father as well, and it had become a real 399 00:21:57,090 --> 00:22:00,770 problem in Jesus time. So Jesus reminds his disciples 400 00:22:00,770 --> 00:22:02,810 that really they only have one father. 401 00:22:02,810 --> 00:22:04,690 He's the source of all paternity. 402 00:22:06,530 --> 00:22:09,970 Why doesn't this verse contradict the Catholic teaching 403 00:22:09,970 --> 00:22:13,890 on the fatherhood of priests? Here's why. 404 00:22:14,250 --> 00:22:17,010 If this passage, if we just had this passage in the New 405 00:22:17,010 --> 00:22:20,290 Testament which said call no one on earth father, even if we 406 00:22:20,290 --> 00:22:23,490 grant that OK, Jesus doesn't mean biological fathers, you can 407 00:22:23,490 --> 00:22:26,210 call them Father. Maybe Jesus means spiritual 408 00:22:26,210 --> 00:22:28,370 fathers Don't call anyone your spiritual father. 409 00:22:29,130 --> 00:22:32,610 Now if we just had this verse to go by, then that might be true 410 00:22:32,610 --> 00:22:35,610 and Catholics might be in a bit of trouble here because the 411 00:22:35,810 --> 00:22:38,290 Catholic teaching that we can call Priest Father would seem to 412 00:22:38,290 --> 00:22:42,490 contradict this verse. But luckily we have other verses 413 00:22:42,490 --> 00:22:45,330 in the New Testament. Later in the New Testament we 414 00:22:45,330 --> 00:22:51,570 see the apostles being called fathers and accepting the title 415 00:22:51,570 --> 00:22:54,930 Father. So Paul calls himself a father 416 00:22:54,930 --> 00:22:58,170 in five Lehman chapter 10. Sorry, five Lehman verse 10. 417 00:22:58,850 --> 00:23:03,050 And John the Apostle John often refers to his disciples as my 418 00:23:03,050 --> 00:23:05,570 little children. So he sees himself as a 419 00:23:05,570 --> 00:23:07,090 spiritual father to these people. 420 00:23:08,580 --> 00:23:11,060 Probably the most famous verse which can be used to support 421 00:23:11,060 --> 00:23:15,100 Catholic teaching here is 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 14 422 00:23:15,100 --> 00:23:19,060 to 15, where Paul says, I admonish you, my beloved 423 00:23:19,060 --> 00:23:22,460 children. Though you have countless guides 424 00:23:22,460 --> 00:23:25,660 in Christ, you do not have many fathers. 425 00:23:26,580 --> 00:23:31,020 I became your I became as your father in Christ Jesus through 426 00:23:31,020 --> 00:23:34,340 the gospel. So here it's pretty clear that 427 00:23:34,340 --> 00:23:38,130 Paul is considered to be a father to this the Corinthian 428 00:23:38,130 --> 00:23:40,370 people, and he wants to be seen as a father. 429 00:23:41,090 --> 00:23:45,730 So if we have people like Paul and John telling people to 430 00:23:45,730 --> 00:23:49,450 consider them to be their spiritual fathers, and they knew 431 00:23:49,450 --> 00:23:52,570 Jesus quite well, particularly the Apostle John, and they knew 432 00:23:52,570 --> 00:23:55,090 what Jesus said here, well then they must have understood that 433 00:23:55,090 --> 00:23:59,970 what Jesus said here in Matthew 23 does not forbid calling 434 00:23:59,970 --> 00:24:02,850 people spiritual father in all circumstances. 435 00:24:02,850 --> 00:24:05,330 That's how they understood it and that's how the Catholic 436 00:24:05,330 --> 00:24:08,810 Church understands it today. So if later parts of the New 437 00:24:08,810 --> 00:24:11,730 Testament allow the term Father to be used for spiritual 438 00:24:11,730 --> 00:24:15,490 fathers, then that means the New Testament writers understood 439 00:24:15,490 --> 00:24:19,170 that Jesus was using hyperbole here and he's not forbidding the 440 00:24:19,170 --> 00:24:21,090 term spiritual father to be used. 441 00:24:21,570 --> 00:24:24,570 So I think that's really cool when we compare this with the 442 00:24:24,570 --> 00:24:28,330 way later usage was used. So if that's the case, what is 443 00:24:28,370 --> 00:24:32,410 Jesus saying Here again, Jesus is exaggerating to make a point, 444 00:24:32,410 --> 00:24:35,450 which is that we can't have the same frame of mind and the same 445 00:24:35,450 --> 00:24:39,250 starting point as the Pharisees when we're constructing the 446 00:24:39,250 --> 00:24:44,290 leadership of the Kingdom of God This 10 Jesus uses one more 447 00:24:44,290 --> 00:24:48,210 title, He says, Nor must you, nor must you allow yourselves to 448 00:24:48,210 --> 00:24:53,210 be called teachers or masters. So apparently that's another 449 00:24:53,210 --> 00:24:55,010 term the Pharisees like to be called. 450 00:24:59,220 --> 00:25:01,460 So you have only one teacher, the Christ. 451 00:25:02,420 --> 00:25:05,740 Now this is interesting because for the first two Jesus says if 452 00:25:05,740 --> 00:25:07,620 you have only one Father who is in heaven. 453 00:25:07,620 --> 00:25:11,060 But this time he says do not let yourselves be called teachers, 454 00:25:11,060 --> 00:25:13,540 for you have only one teacher, the Christ. 455 00:25:13,820 --> 00:25:16,700 So this time it's not God, it's the Messiah, the Christ. 456 00:25:17,380 --> 00:25:20,660 Jesus doesn't say me, He doesn't say you have only one teacher 457 00:25:20,660 --> 00:25:22,980 and that's me. He says you have only one 458 00:25:22,980 --> 00:25:27,070 teacher, the Christ. So Jesus here is affirming that 459 00:25:27,070 --> 00:25:30,870 the only individual who will have true teaching authority in 460 00:25:30,870 --> 00:25:35,870 the present of his disciples or in the future of the Jews is the 461 00:25:35,870 --> 00:25:38,110 Messiah. Jesus says that's the only 462 00:25:38,110 --> 00:25:42,750 person who is a true teacher in and of himself. 463 00:25:43,230 --> 00:25:46,190 He's the only person who's ever going to have true teaching 464 00:25:46,190 --> 00:25:50,790 authority in his own person because of who he is, rather 465 00:25:50,790 --> 00:25:53,310 than the Pharisees who did have teaching authority but only 466 00:25:53,310 --> 00:25:56,550 because of their office. Whereas the Messiah, because of 467 00:25:56,550 --> 00:26:01,030 the very person who he is he has, he's the true teacher. 468 00:26:01,150 --> 00:26:04,470 All other authoritative teachers have it only because of their 469 00:26:04,470 --> 00:26:06,510 position. Hope that makes sense with the 470 00:26:06,510 --> 00:26:10,710 distinction there. Now again, we know that Jesus is 471 00:26:10,710 --> 00:26:14,030 in a sense using the hyperbole here, because later in the New 472 00:26:14,030 --> 00:26:16,550 Testament Paul calls himself a teacher. 473 00:26:16,550 --> 00:26:18,470 He allows himself to be called a teacher. 474 00:26:18,950 --> 00:26:22,350 Second, Timothy one, he does that, and in fact, Paul even 475 00:26:22,350 --> 00:26:26,700 teaches Christians that the office of teaching is a 476 00:26:26,700 --> 00:26:31,180 legitimate church church office. It's an actual role that God 477 00:26:31,180 --> 00:26:33,700 sets up is the office of teacher, and that's in one 478 00:26:33,700 --> 00:26:38,940 Corinthians 12 verse 28. So Jesus, if we put together all 479 00:26:38,940 --> 00:26:41,500 the information from the New Testament, Jesus is using 480 00:26:41,900 --> 00:26:43,700 exaggeration here to make a point. 481 00:26:46,660 --> 00:26:50,020 So let's summarize this part of the passage with the discussion 482 00:26:50,020 --> 00:26:53,780 of these three titles. Rabbi, Teacher, and Father. 483 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,800 Jesus is using exaggeration to teach how sinful and prideful 484 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,280 the Pharisees were for not looking humbly to God as the 485 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,560 source of all authority and fatherhood and teaching, and 486 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,360 instead setting themselves up as the ultimate authorities, 487 00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:13,240 father, figures, and leaders. He's therefore not forbidding us 488 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:18,000 or his disciples to call people these titles Father, Teacher, or 489 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:22,000 Rabbi, but he is teaching us not to ascribe fatherhood or 490 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,060 teacherhood, two people to a degree that they do not actually 491 00:27:26,060 --> 00:27:29,620 have. We must always remember that God 492 00:27:29,620 --> 00:27:32,820 is the ultimate standard for teacherhood and fatherhood. 493 00:27:33,460 --> 00:27:36,460 As long as we keep that in mind, and we don't set these other 494 00:27:36,460 --> 00:27:40,060 people, even priests, up as the ultimate standard of fatherhood, 495 00:27:40,060 --> 00:27:43,540 as it appears the Pharisees we're trying to do, then we're 496 00:27:43,540 --> 00:27:45,820 okay. That will be the Catholic 497 00:27:45,820 --> 00:27:49,500 teaching verse 11. Jesus finishes by saying this 498 00:27:49,500 --> 00:27:52,870 famous phrase, verse 11. The greatest among you must be 499 00:27:52,870 --> 00:27:55,670 your servants. A better translation of this is 500 00:27:55,670 --> 00:27:58,470 the greatest among you shall be your servant. 501 00:27:58,990 --> 00:28:02,270 So Jesus here isn't making a commandment as much as he's 502 00:28:02,270 --> 00:28:05,110 saying. Here's what it's going to take. 503 00:28:05,110 --> 00:28:08,750 In order to be the greatest, you need to be a servant. 504 00:28:09,230 --> 00:28:12,870 So this is the main point Jesus wants to make with his the whole 505 00:28:12,870 --> 00:28:15,350 thing has been saying up till now is leading up till this. 506 00:28:15,750 --> 00:28:19,920 Jesus wants to teach his disciples that in the Kingdom, 507 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:23,080 the one who serves other people will be the one that's 508 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:26,280 considered to be the greatest by God, not the ones who make 509 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:27,760 themselves out to be the greatest. 510 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:29,520 That's what Jesus is trying to get at. 511 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:33,800 God is more interested in how we treat each other than what our 512 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,640 official positions are, and that applies even to today. 513 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,800 So Jesus probably here is speaking specifically to his 12 514 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:44,800 apostles. He knows that soon they are 515 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,940 going to be the authoritative leaders of his church, and he 516 00:28:47,940 --> 00:28:50,580 wants to make sure that they don't fall into the same pride 517 00:28:50,580 --> 00:28:52,380 trap that the Pharisees have fallen into. 518 00:28:53,060 --> 00:28:55,780 He says the Pharisees like to make themselves the greatest. 519 00:28:55,780 --> 00:28:58,140 He says if you want to be the greatest, you have to make 520 00:28:58,140 --> 00:29:01,020 yourself the least. Verse 12. 521 00:29:01,100 --> 00:29:04,460 Anyone who humbles sorry other way around, anyone who exalts 522 00:29:04,460 --> 00:29:07,140 himself. So in other words, anyone who 523 00:29:07,140 --> 00:29:10,700 makes himself great and forces other people to pay respect to 524 00:29:10,700 --> 00:29:14,620 him, a KA, the Pharisees will be humbled. 525 00:29:15,500 --> 00:29:19,850 So this appears to mean that they'll be humbled by God. 526 00:29:19,890 --> 00:29:22,690 In the Kingdom of God, these people will be humbled. 527 00:29:22,930 --> 00:29:25,530 It's not clear whether that means during their own lifetime 528 00:29:25,530 --> 00:29:28,930 they'll be humbled, or in the afterlife it could mean either. 529 00:29:29,490 --> 00:29:33,530 And then he says the reverse. Anyone who humbles himself, so 530 00:29:33,530 --> 00:29:37,050 we're talking here about anyone who makes himself low and serves 531 00:29:37,050 --> 00:29:42,290 others will be exalted. So God will exalt those people 532 00:29:42,290 --> 00:29:45,710 in the Kingdom. And obviously theologians as 533 00:29:45,710 --> 00:29:48,750 scholars have talked a lot about how Jesus here is setting up an 534 00:29:48,750 --> 00:29:51,910 upside down Kingdom. It's the opposite of everything 535 00:29:51,910 --> 00:29:53,990 the Jews would have been familiar with at that time. 536 00:29:54,470 --> 00:30:00,590 The greatest is the one who makes himself the lowest and 537 00:30:00,590 --> 00:30:02,030 that's the end of our passage for today. 538 00:30:02,030 --> 00:30:05,670 After this, if you read on Matthew chapter 23, Jesus gets 539 00:30:05,670 --> 00:30:08,470 even more forceful in his criticisms of the Pharisees. 540 00:30:08,470 --> 00:30:12,950 He calls them blind guys, and he tells them that their conduct is 541 00:30:12,990 --> 00:30:15,150 actually preventing people from getting into the Kingdom. 542 00:30:15,750 --> 00:30:18,510 So I recommend reading the rest of chapter 23. 543 00:30:18,510 --> 00:30:23,150 It's well worth it. So really interesting passage. 544 00:30:23,150 --> 00:30:24,590 Where does this appear in the Catechism? 545 00:30:25,270 --> 00:30:27,790 Only a couple of places. So there's a brief reference to 546 00:30:27,790 --> 00:30:30,310 it in the section on marriage, which is really interesting. 547 00:30:30,910 --> 00:30:34,630 So paragraph 2367 on. It's in the section about the 548 00:30:34,630 --> 00:30:37,550 responsibility to have children in marriage. 549 00:30:37,750 --> 00:30:41,310 It says called to give life spouses share in the creative 550 00:30:41,310 --> 00:30:45,510 power and fatherhood of God. And that's it. 551 00:30:45,510 --> 00:30:47,230 So the paragraph goes on from there. 552 00:30:47,230 --> 00:30:50,710 But that's the only part that quotes this scripture passage. 553 00:30:50,710 --> 00:30:54,430 So that's kind of cool in a sense, just as God is our true 554 00:30:54,430 --> 00:30:59,510 father and all paternity derives from Him, if we have children, 555 00:30:59,510 --> 00:31:04,290 particularly men, then we can share in that fatherhood of God 556 00:31:04,290 --> 00:31:07,890 by becoming, I guess you could say secondary fathers that 557 00:31:07,890 --> 00:31:11,250 derive our fatherhood from God who is the true father. 558 00:31:12,690 --> 00:31:16,090 And then in paragraph 526 is in the discussion about little 559 00:31:16,090 --> 00:31:20,210 child God eternal. So comparing us to God in a 560 00:31:20,210 --> 00:31:23,890 sense, it says to become a child in relation to God is the 561 00:31:23,890 --> 00:31:25,450 condition for entering the Kingdom. 562 00:31:26,050 --> 00:31:29,960 For this we must humble ourselves and become little even 563 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:33,280 more to become children of God. We must be born from above or 564 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,840 born of God. Only when Christ is formed in us 565 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,760 will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. 566 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,480 Christmas is the mystery of this marvelous exchange. 567 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,760 Our marvelous exchange. Man's creator has become man 568 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,160 born of the Virgin. We have been made shearers in 569 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,120 the divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share our 570 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:01,310 humanity. So the reference there about God 571 00:32:01,310 --> 00:32:05,030 being Father and also a requirement to humble ourselves 572 00:32:05,270 --> 00:32:07,710 is brought together really nicely in this paragraph about 573 00:32:07,710 --> 00:32:10,950 how God humbled Himself even though He's our Father. 574 00:32:10,950 --> 00:32:15,750 He humbled Himself to become a man so that we can be partakers 575 00:32:16,070 --> 00:32:21,350 in his own divine life. So I'll put those two, those two 576 00:32:21,350 --> 00:32:23,430 categories and paragraphs into the show notes. 577 00:32:23,980 --> 00:32:25,060 Hopefully you learn something new. 578 00:32:25,060 --> 00:32:27,420 This is one of my favorite passages in terms of 579 00:32:27,500 --> 00:32:30,060 understanding the role of the Pharisees, because the Pharisees 580 00:32:30,060 --> 00:32:34,180 appear so much in the Gospels, and if we don't understand that 581 00:32:34,180 --> 00:32:36,740 they had legitimate teaching authority and Jesus believed 582 00:32:36,740 --> 00:32:40,180 that they did, but he didn't approve of their practice, then 583 00:32:40,180 --> 00:32:42,180 we're really going to struggle to interpret the Gospels. 584 00:32:42,820 --> 00:32:45,260 So if you think there's some people who would appreciate 585 00:32:45,260 --> 00:32:48,660 hearing this information about the Pharisees and Jesus 586 00:32:48,860 --> 00:32:51,900 teachings about fatherhood, etcetera, then please share it 587 00:32:51,900 --> 00:32:54,270 with them. Bit of a longer podcast today, 588 00:32:54,270 --> 00:32:56,630 but hopefully you can see that it's been beneficial. 589 00:32:56,950 --> 00:32:57,710 Thanks for listening.