November 1, 2020
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Matthew 23:1-12[1]
How would you define discipleship? One way is to think of it
as apprenticeship, learning from someone who is a master at a trade or who has
special skills and knowledge. That is how the ancient Greeks understood
discipleship. A person would work closely with a master in order to acquire
practical and theoretical knowledge. Some disciples were even expected to pay
the master in order for the privilege of learning the trade.
Around the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth, a Jewish
student of religion was expected to learn not only the Hebrew Bible Scriptures,
but also the oral traditions, the traditions of the fathers. A man, and yes,
back then they were all men, would attach himself to a Rabbi, who would serve
as a guide for the student as they studied the Scriptures. “One dared not to
interpret the Scriptures independently, and could only speak with authority
after years of study under a master. Since there were several masters, there
sprang up several schools of rabbinical thought, each in competition with the others.”[2]
This is part of what is going on with the scribes and the
Pharisees, as well as the Sadducees. These groups were teachers of the Law of
Moses, but they had some different interpretations of those laws and exactly
how they should be followed. And each group had their disciples. For them, the
disciple was expected to submit to one of the authorities who served as
teacher, guide, and leader. The leaders jealously guarded their position of
authority. This is what their conflict with Jesus was all about.
The authority of the scribes and the Pharisees gave them
power over their disciples, and of the Jewish people in general. They had
carefully studied the Torah and created a legal code of 365 prohibitions and
250 commandments.[3]
This is what Jesus was talking about when he said, “They tie up heavy burdens,
hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others.”[4]
If you take the time to read through all of the Laws of Moses, and try to abide
by them all, you’ll find, as some people recently have, that it is extremely
difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish. The invitation from Jesus at the
end of chapter 11 would have sounded like good news indeed:
Come
to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light.[5]
The scribes and the Pharisees enjoyed having disciples
because they loved the admiration, the respect, and the reverence of others. In
the Monty Python comedy film History of
the World, Part I, Mel Brooks has a great line: “It’s good to be the king.”[6]
Well, it’s good to be a Pharisee. “They love to have the place of honor at
banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect
in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.”[7]
Fame just isn’t fame without the fans, or the paparazzi.
Jesus, however, has a different definition of disciple. In
Caesarea Philippi he asked, “‘Who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered,
‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’”[8]
But just when they’re thrilled that they have figured out who he is, that they
have found the Messiah, Jesus warns them that he has not come to lead a revolt.
He has not come to make them into wise leaders with lots of loyal fans. He must
undergo suffering, be killed, and on the third day rise. “If any want to become
my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”[9]
OK, whoa! Back it up. You want us to what?! We thought we
were going to be important people. We thought we were doing great things, and
that we would get to have the best seats, and respect, and all that. And instead
of all that good stuff, we have to deny ourselves? And what was that about the
cross?
This was a new definition of discipleship, and it turned
their expectations upside down. For starters, the students are supposed to
choose the master. But Jesus chose them. He called out to the fishermen “Follow
me.”[10]
And he even told some who wanted to follow him that they couldn’t, like the
scribe whom he told, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but
the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”[11]
The disciples expected that they would one day be great
leaders. But Jesus told them that the way they must walk was the path of
service and self-sacrifice. “You are not to be called rabbi”[12]
or instructor, or teacher. There is only one whom you may call Teacher. This is
not about titles and power. You will be important; you will be great; you may
even be called a saint. But your greatness will not be measured by the number
of disciples you have; it will be measured by how many people you serve. “The
greatest among you will be your servant.”[13]
It doesn’t sound easy, and it’s not. It is hard work being a
disciple of Jesus. But it is good work. It is the kind of work that will lift
your spirits. By serving others, by helping them to bear their burdens, we find
our own burdens much easier to bear. By listening to another, we might hear
what God is doing in the world outside of our own heads. When we take the time
to help another, when we allow our plans and routines to be interrupted by the
needs of another, we just might be able to release our own anxieties and make
room for God to refocus our attention on what is really important.
To take up our cross and follow Christ means that we will
sometimes have to bear the burdens of others. We will have to suffer and endure
one another, and not so we can fix or control the other, but so that we can
allow them to be free. It is a burden, it is difficult, to allow someone else
to be who they are, to not judge them, to not expect them to conform, to allow
them to be strange, peculiar, broken and scarred, imperfect. When we allow the
needs of another to supersede our own, we just might find our burdens easing.
Who knows, we may find that the other we are serving is the one who knows us
best.
In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, Jesus tried to give
a practical explanation of what discipleship is all about.
I
was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to
drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me
clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited
me… I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members
of my family, you did it to me.[14]
What does discipleship mean? It means that you must humble
yourself. It means to serve the world, in the name and in the manner of Jesus of
Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, our Teacher, the one who has called out
“Follow me.” Amen.
[1]
The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
[2]
Robert L. Deffinbaugh, Th.M., Community Bible Chapel,
Source URL: http://bible.org/seriespage/discipleship-its-definitions-and-dangers-matthew-231-12.
[3] Ibid.
[4]
Matthew 23:4.
[5]
Matthew 11:28-30.
[6]
Mel Brooks, History of the World, Part I,
© 1981, 20th Century Fox.
[7]
Matthew 23:6-7.
[8]
Matthew 16:15-16.
[9]
Matthew 16:24.
[10]
Cf. Matthew 4:19, 21.
[11]
Matthew 8:20.
[12]
Matthew 23:8.
[13]
Matthew 23:11.
[14]
Matthew 25:35-36, 40.
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