Breaking the Word

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens (hard to carry) and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.  (Mt 23:1-12)

Jesus is talking to the disciples and the crowds. The disciples and the crowds do belong to those who follow him. The disciples follow him closely: they live with him and work with him. The crowds do follow him but not so closely like the disciples. These are opposed to scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees preach similar principles but they do not follow them.

The scribes and Pharisees are leaders. As leaders they present the crowds with lots of rules, regulations, and traditions. But they themselves do not practice those rules etc. They multiply external practices. They believed that the external practices will reveal the internal dispositions. But in their cases the externals only revealed the internal pretentions.

Followers of Jesus should all be brothers. They should all belong to one family to which God is the only father and they do not impose rules on others and play the role of a master. There is only one teacher and that is Jesus the Messiah.  Service is the only way to express all these. Service to the other is the only thing that links the followers of Jesus with one another.

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them (a scholar of the law) tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."  (Mt 22:34-40)

Jesus was opposed by Priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes.  These four groups were the leading groups in Israel. They were also the powerful groups in Israel. The four together controlled the Jewish society. The Priests controlled the religious aspect of the society and the Pharisees controlled the customs and practices (culture); the Scribes controlled the ‘thought world’ of the society and the Sadducees controlled the wealth (economy) of the society.

In the case of Jesus all the four came together against him. They also opposed him individually and together. They posed questions against him in their own areas of interest and tried to control Jesus and make him part of the social system. Jesus was within the system but he was constantly purifying the system with kingdom values which in certain cases disturbed the leading members of the society.

The answer given by Jesus was within the Scripture traditions and hence none of them could find fault with Jesus. Scripture traditions were the basis for all the leaders of the Jewish community. Individual traditions of the four groups were the product of Bible traditions. Jesus was firmly rooted on the Bible and hence he was out of danger. When he answered one he silenced four so to say.