For those to whom this Gospel was first addressed, the image of the "scribes and Pharisees" embodied both the people who did not accept and condemned Jesus, and the main "internal" threat to their community: after all, the "leaven of the Pharisees" could lead a believer to the same betrayal as then. And so, in the place of Moses the lawgiver and prophet sat "religious functionaries," and then Jesus paints a picture recognizable in every age: the first places at feasts and "in the synagogues."

Christ's disciples, in one way or another, will take up the religious realities familiar to them in order to build the Christian Church, and someone will have to occupy the first places, to lead, instruct, and be "teachers" and "fathers." What then should be done? Christ gives a paradoxical answer: the great must be lesser, the leaders servants, the high low. This is possible only if both the "great" and the "lesser" are first of all children of one Father, disciples of one Teacher.

Before us are the Teacher, His disciples, and the people, thirsting for answers to their many questions. Jesus touches on the problem of spiritual authority. People are surrounded by a variety of "teachers": Pharisees, Sadducees, and so on. And they very much want to understand who is right and whom to follow. This desire belongs to every human being: to know where the truth is, where things are better, with whom one will gain more, especially when the matter concerns one's own salvation. Jesus, describing the situation that has developed, speaks about how one should respond to it. Without rejecting the teaching of the Pharisees, He warns people, read: us, against their behavior (see also Matt. 16:6). Jesus reduces the discussion of teachers to the point that all are equal before God. Moreover, the one Father makes us brothers. And only the law of love (Matt. 23:11) is worthy to be the model of relationships among us.

Does it happen that we speak beautiful, correct words, giving someone advice or teaching, while we ourselves are so far from putting them into practice? And how hard it can be to realize that this is so... And then there is the pride of having helped, advised, and being so very "correct" oneself...

The question asked of the Pharisees about what they think of the Christ echoes the earlier question asked of the disciples about who people take Him to be. But He has not yet revealed to the Pharisees who He is. Nevertheless, into the minds of the Pharisees, filled with dry information, Jesus tries to sow seeds of a deeper understanding of Revelation than what they had habitually memorized. To those accustomed to expecting the Messiah as the heir of King David, entitled to the throne of his glorious ancestor, Jesus makes clear that the Messiah is immeasurably higher and that His coming is incomparable with everything people had grown used to expecting.

Such words may seem to contradict the fact that in the Gospel Christ Himself is called the Son of David. But Jesus' words do not imply a rejection of this messianic title, for He is asking them not to reduce its meaning to a literal interpretation. It must not be accidental that those who were listening stopped asking questions precisely after these words. Apparently they sensed the breath of another, higher world, beside which even the wisest human reasoning appears imperfect.

Yet there is a danger in giving more attention to reasoning than to deeds. Meanwhile, in denouncing the Pharisees, Christ in no way denies the truth of their theoretical convictions, but exposes the gap between their words and their deeds. What He said on this subject then remains relevant to this day. For Christianity is not a set of ideas, but life itself, and a split between theory and practice is especially unacceptable here.

Christ's call not to be called teachers and to be brothers, to call only the Heavenly Father "Father," like many other words of His, may at first cause bewilderment. After all, one has to address one's own father somehow, or a schoolteacher whose profession no one has abolished. But we must remember the many meanings of these words, which are often used improperly. Here the point is that it is unacceptable to place oneself willfully in a position that demands special honor. In that case we risk becoming thieves of what by right should not belong to us.

But if the Lord places us there for service, we should not shrink from it. We need only remember that we have been placed there to work, not to exalt ourselves.