Jesus takes the form a slave and becomes like us.  We who seek to follow him are to become lowly slaves in the same way that he is.  

For us who try to be and live as Jesus, to be first means to be slaves (Mk 10, 43-45). And today’s gospel teaches the same lesson. 

Today, Jesus finds fault with the way the scribes and the Pharisees behave. They are the wise, learned Jews, the scholars. Hence, the people take them to be the teachers of the law who have the duty to study, interpret and explain it. But, in the first place, they do not do what they teach.

In the second place, they make life unnecessarily harder for people. These are already weary and carry heavy burdens. The scholars, though, do not carry the yoke they put on others nor do they help them to bear it.

The scribes and the Pharisees, in the third place, are showy. That is to say, they do things to show off. They want others to know that they are great, outstanding and wealthy teachers. In their view, honor, reverence, greetings and the highest titles fit them. In this way, then, they show that they come not to be slaves but to make slaves of others.

Yet it is the crowds and his disciples that Jesus addresses as he harshly criticizes the scribes and the Pharisees. This suggests that Matthew seeks to warn the people and the Christians. That is to say, they are not to behave as the scribes and the Pharisees.

We should turn into lowly slaves in the same way as Jesus.

No, Jesus does not want us to be like the scribes and the Pharisees. Rather, he wants us to be lowly slaves like him. That is why he asks us to learn from him, for he is meek and lowly of heart.

And, hence, he does not let us lift ourselves up above others. After all, we are all brothers and sisters. For we have but one Father, one Teacher, one Master.

It is right, then, that we get the advice that we do not play the superior or the master (SV.EN XI:313). And it is good, too, that there is the warning about “an excessive clericalism” that keeps lay people away from decision-making EG 102). And it hinders listening, which synodality asks for.

Lord Jesus, make us slaves like you to the end, to the giving up our bodies and the shedding of our blood, to the giving of our very selves. Grant that we do nothing just to show off and that, lowly, we see others as better than ourselves. 

5 November 2023
31st Sunday in O.T. (A)
Mal 1, 14b-2 – 2, 2b. 8-10; 1 Thes 2, 7b-9. 13; Mt 23, 1-12