Bible Passage: Matthew 23:1-12
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: November 5, 2023

Bulletin November 5, 2023

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

We are the culture of “supersizing.”  Just think of all the things you can “supersize.”  You can supersize your order at the fast food restaurant.  You can supersize the fountain drink you get at the gas station.  Auto makers a while back figured out they needed to “supersize” the cup holders in the vehicles they make so they could accommodate the supersize drinks people were buying.  You can supersize your furniture and supersize your bed and buy an oversize pillow to go on your supersized bed.  Of course, one result of oversizing all our food is the market for oversized clothes.  And finally, if need be, you can purchase a supersized casket.

Now, don’t misunderstand the point.  Not all supersizing becomes a moral issue.  But some does.  We have chosen the word “supersize” to describe the problem Jesus identities with the people in our text.  He warns about people who want to “supersize” everything about themselves.  They “supersized” their power and control over people.  They supersized their own visibility and exposure.  They supersized the recognition and honor they coveted.  In short, they “supersized” themselves.  Jesus’ instruction today is this:  Don’t Supersize…Minimize.

Jesus speaks as he does in our text because of the usual suspects.  He is addressing what he sees in the religious leadership, the scribes and the Pharisees.  Jesus says he is talking about those who sit in Moses’ seat (v. 2).  Moses had been Israel’s leader and teacher.  Jesus is talking about those who held positions of leadership and teaching in the synagogues.  We note, Jesus does tell his hearers to practice and observe whatever they tell you. (v. 3)  They do hold positions of authority and the 4th Commandment tells us to honor and obey authority.  But Jesus adds, But do not do as they do (v. 3).  What did they do?

First of all, they “supersized” their own power and control over the people.  They tie up heavy loads, burdens that are hard to carry, and place them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to help them. (v. 4)  The rabbis counted 613 laws in the Torah.  And they were bulldogs about enforcing them!  For example, recall how some of the Pharisees objected when Jesus’ disciples ate a little grain in a grainfield on a Sabbath.  “They are harvesting!  That’s work!”  Or they protested that the disciples ate with “unwashed hands.”  The constant drumming from the leadership was, “Do this!  Don’t do that!”  They supersized the burden on the people.

They also supersized their own visibility.  They do all their works to be seen by people.  They make their phylacteries wide and lengthen the fringes of their garments. (v. 5)  They were not zealous to serve and glorify Yahweh.  They wanted to be seen!  Phylacteries were little leather pouches that some would bind on their forehead, or on the upper part of the left arm, close to their heart.  In these leather pouches they put Scripture passages they had written down.  These people “supersized” their phylacteries so that you couldn’t miss it!  “Did you see THAT phylactery?”  And they supersized the fringe on their garment.  They would wear a shawl called a tallit that had tassels attached to the hem.  And between the number of knots and threads on the tassels you come up with the number 613, the number of laws!  Some of the Pharisees supersized these tassels.  “Wow!  He doesn’t just have tassels!  He has supersized tassels!”

Finally, Jesus will identify how these people “supersized” the recognition and honor they coveted.  They love the places of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, the greetings in the marketplaces, and being called “Rabbi” by the people. (v. 7)  They loved being escorted to the head table.  They loved being the one at the front of the synagogue who got to unroll the scroll and read and explain.  They loved being recognized when they were out and about.  “Shalom, rabbi!”  Rabbi.  It literally means “my great one.”  Oh, they loved to hear that!  They were filled and governed by supersized pride.

Not so with Christ’s followers.  Jesus says we are not to be called rabbi, or father, or leader.  The word Jesus uses for “leader” is a word that is still used in modern Greek.  It is the word for professor.  Jesus here is referring to all the coveted titles he just warned against.  Rabbi.  Father.  He isn’t saying that we can’t call our dad our father.  But once again, revered rabbis were often called “father.”  Leader, professor, doctor of theology.  Don’t crave and covet those titles.

Easier said than done!  We are inbred and born with supersized narcissism!  We are governed by ungovernable pride by nature.  Man disconnected from God and God’s purpose for man believes himself to be the sun at the center of his little solar system and everything else orbits around “me.”  “Obey me!  Honor me!  Notice me!  Adore me!”  What can free us from this desperately sad existence?

The greatest among you will be your servant. (v. 11)  Wait!  That’s really Jesus!  “The greatest among you.”  There had never been anyone greater!  In Jesus the very Son of God walked among us in a skin suit.  And, brace yourself, he came to be your servant.  He didn’t come to get the best seat at all the hottest dinner parties in Jerusalem and be called “rabbi” and “professor.”  He came to be called a glutton and drunkard, an ally of Beelzebub, an illegitimate child, a Samaritan, and to take his place on a cross to die for sins that were not his own.

We’re with him!  Our identity is now wrapped up in our Jesus!  You don’t need power over people, or recognition in the marketplace, or prestigious titles to feel “worth” or to convince yourself you’re somebody.  Your worth was fixed at Jesus’ cross.  You must be “somebody” because you are somebody to Jesus.  Take the world, but give me Jesus!  Christ becomes the center; we orbit him.  It was John the Baptist who famously said,  He must become greater, I must become less.  That’s it, isn’t it?  Supersize Christ!  Minimize self.

Amen.