We are the Family of God

Today's Reading: Matthew 23:1-12

 ¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

   ⁵ “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’

   ⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

When we start reading Matthew 23 Jesus is talking to the crowds and his disciples. Verses 2 and 3 say “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you . . .” If there were Pharisees in the crowd can you imagine how “puffed up” they would have become at those words from Jesus, the man they knew very little about and understood even less. The one thing they did know was that they wanted to get rid of him and here he is standing in front of the large crowd and his followers saying, “. . . So you must obey them and do everything they tell you . . .” They may have been so proud at that moment they may have missed his next words and had to have them repeated by someone standing close by. Jesus, continued, “But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach . . . Everything they do is for man to see.” Jesus goes on to talk about how they dress to bring attention to themselves, how they love to sit in the most important seats in the synagogues, and how they love titles. 

Are we very different from that today?  As a servant of God we’re to serve in a way that God shines through, not ourselves. In verse 8 Jesus tells us “. . . you are all brothers.”  We’re all brothers and sisters in Christ, isn’t it wonderful to be a part of such a large family? Jesus tells us that we have one Father and he is in heaven and we have one teacher and he is Christ. He ends this section with “The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

I can’t explain the feeling I get when I stop and think, “I’m part of the family of Jesus Christ and he loves me, just as I am.” Max Lucado says that “Jesus loves us just like we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way.” The Old Testament has a lot of black and white laws to follow, laws to tell you exactly what to do but in the New Testament God changed all of that. He still wants our obedience, but he also wants our heart, a relationship with us; he wants to be our FATHER. When we humble ourselves before God, he takes us in his arms, tells us how much he loves us – so much that he allowed His one and only Son to die on the cross for us – then he says “you are my good and faithful servant.” Can anything be greater than that?

- Kathy Bannister