NOTES for Mat 22:41-23:12
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, |
42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. |
43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, |
44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? |
45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? |
46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions. |
1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, |
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: |
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. |
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. |
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, |
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, |
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. |
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. |
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. |
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. |
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. |
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. |
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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.
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