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)

“Chair of Moses” seemed to have been a sought after one. The scribes and Pharisees were after it. Moses was the one who brought the people out of Egypt and he made the people experience God in the desert and he united the people. So he was a political leader, social leader and a religious leader. His leadership was visible in his teachings and particularly in the five books of Moses.

Matthew presents Jesus as the new Moses. The gospel of Moses is written in five blocks which are to remind the reader of the five books of Moses. The five books of the new covenant speak about the new relationship between God and people. Jesus also teaches and preaches.

Jesus questions the attitudes of the leaders and their approach in exercising their leadership. Leadership should not be exercised from the pompous heights. Leadership should be exercised as Jesus had done. For Jesus leadership was on the way to the cross. He had nothing to carry on him on the way; because, he would be nailed to the cross without anything on him. ‘Chair of Moses’ turns to ‘cross of Jesus’. All the teaching of Jesus comes from the cross and only from the cross. 

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 is challenged by Pharisees and Sadducees and the leaders and so on. This itself shows that Jesus was teaching and preaching and doing things different from the rest of them. So representatives from each group come and question him. But the reply of Jesus is more traditional and often times from the Bible itself.

In the Law of Moses there were 613 commandments. These rules grew out of a few rules which were in the beginning and in fact they grew out of the basic understanding of the people when they left Egypt. Their understanding was ‘one God – one people’. It was this understanding that kept them together and brought them out of Egypt into the land of Canaan.

Jesus, as he is preparing the people for a new exodus, is re-emphasising to the people the basics of the rules. They are not orders to be obeyed in our own strength, but invitation and promises to a new way of life in which hatred and pride are removed or left behind so that love becomes a reality. Love is the only reality for Jesus.