Readings:
Isaiah 1:10, 16-20; Psalm 50; Matthew 23:1-12

Addressing the people and his disciples Jesus said, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practise what they preach… Everything that they do is done to attract attention… being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi. You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one Master and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted.‘
Matthew 23:1-3, 5-12

It is astonishing that this clear preaching of Jesus should have been so successfully ignored in the history of the Church, for those in authority still wear distinctive dress, have special places of honour in church and at banquets and are treated with much more obsequious titles than ‘Rabbi’, or ‘teacher’, which sound very modest compared with some of our titles, for example, Your Holiness, Your Excellency, Your Eminence, Your Grace, Your Lordship, Your Reverence.

Jesus proposes a new kind of society in which the greatest become the least, the leaders become the servants, a proposal which would revolutionize Church and State and is, therefore, sedulously avoided by both.

How realistic is this teaching? Can we do without rabbis and teachers, professors and experts, without parent-child relationships? Inevitably, some people are going to be more knowledgeable, capable, intelligent than others, and we are all in need of one another’s expertise. Jesus cannot be denying this truth, but he is warning the more knowledgeable against exercising a tyranny of knowledge over those whom they teach, and also warning the taught not to become subservient to those who teach them. The warning is even more necessary in our bureaucratic, technological age than it was at the time of Jesus, for the multiplication of scientific disciplines and the growth in specialist expertise can lead us to leave everything to the experts. They are delighted that this should be so, and we become increasingly helpless and powerless, surrendering our most precious gift, our freedom. In every profession, including theology and spirituality, there is a jealous protectionism that shows itself in many ways, including an in-language, which mystifies the uninitiated and renders them more helpless. Reflect on your own experience of dealings with doctors, lawyers, educationists, psychologists, clergy, theologians.

One of the most tragic aspects of life in our inner cities is not the shortage of money and food, although that is bad enough, but the inner demoralization of people caught in the poverty trap. They are made to feel they have no worth, no say, nothing to contribute, and nothing they can do to effect change. One of the greatest services which can be given is to listen to people caught in the poverty trap in inner city estates, or in homelessness, and to encourage them to express themselves in their own way and give them some say in the ordering of their lives. But it is not only the economically poor who need this encouragement to rely on their own judgment, to have confidence in themselves and to drink from their own wells. The need is widespread, especially in the Church and in all religious education. The primary function of those in authority in the Church is the function of listening, of encouraging people to express their own thoughts, needs and aspirations, of building up the self-confidence of each person. A clerically dominated Church is a contradiction of Jesus’ clear teaching and is, in fact, destructive of faith. Personal faith in God is impossible unless the believers also have faith in their own judgment. The Spirit dwells within us: the function of all authority in the Church is to enable people to become more aware, perceptive and responsive to the Spirit of God within them.

Prayer
God, you have sent the Holy Spirit, who lived in Jesus and raised him from the dead, into our hearts. Deepen our faith in the presence of your Spirit within us, so that we can recognise you, our teacher, and obey your promptings for our own good and the good of all your people. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.