Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
In the text before us today, Jesus appears to be taking the scribes and Pharisees to task for their hypocrisy and self-promotion. They teach one thing and do another. They love to occupy the privileged place in any social or public gathering. They make a show of their status with their phylacteries and fringes wherever they go.
Ah, those scribes and Pharisees. They are the bad ones. Of course, the pleasurable inference for us is that we are not like them. We are not vain or hypocritical. We don’t even know what phylacteries are!
But then the text shifts. Suddenly in verse 8, Jesus stops talking about the scribes and Pharisees. Here he begins to talk about “you”. He says that “you” should not seek titles such as “master” or “father”. And he continues, saying that “The greatest among you will be your servant.” And then finally, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Just when we think we are in the clear because Jesus is busy chastising the other guy, he turns it on us.
And so, in this Lenten season, we must take a very hard look in the mirror. We must ask ourselves some tough questions.
Where in my life do I say one thing and do another?
Anyone who is a parent knows this is a great temptation. We can give our children great instruction and fail to follow it ourselves. When our daughter was learning to drive, I urged her repeatedly to drive defensively. And then I would catch myself on the interstate pressing down on the accelerator to make sure that a driver in the next lane couldn’t cut in front of me in heavy traffic.
Where in my life do I get lost in the effort to promote myself rather than the Kingdom?
We live in a consumer culture that constantly encourages us to be first and foremost concerned about our image. How do we look to others? How can we improve how we appear to others? Indeed, the mantra of our time is not “I think therefore I am” but “I selfie therefore I am.” And so, we have to ask how we can resist the temptation to focus our energy on creating a favorable image of ourselves and, instead, seek real connection with others.
Where am I acting like a master when I ought to be a servant?
Over the course of my years in teaching, this has been a big challenge for me. Surely, my job as a teacher is to be the master of the classroom. Surely, my job is to command knowledge of the content and impart it to my students. Moreover, I should be a “tough” grader so that students will take me seriously, right? Wrong. As in all positions of leadership, our call is to serve, not to master. My job isn’t to posture myself as the font of knowledge. My job is to enable my students to learn.
Ah, if only this text were about those scribes and Pharisees. If only it could be about them and not about us.
But it is about us. Thanks be to God.
- Sue Trollinger