XXXI SUNDAY: Matthew 23:1-12

An accusation and a warning

In his chapter 23, Mathew presents a very outspoken Jesus, who does not mince his words, making a frontal attack on the attitudes of the Pharisees. Jesus showed himself to be a fearless prophet who stands up to the leaders of the people and points out their failures very clearly.

Mathew 23 is a chapter that should be read by all leaders, because it will help them to scrutinize themselves and see how far they have strayed from true leadership. According to Jesus, true leadership is service, meaning that the leader must put himself at the service of the people. In Jesus’ accusation against the Pharisees, we can point out some important points:

• Their life is a lie. They appear to be holy and present themselves as perfect, rigorously keeping the law in all its details, but, in fact, they use double standards. They don’t do what they preach.

Any leader must be true to himself and to the people. If not, people will find him out, and stop trusting him. True leadership must be based on trust, not on power that imposes itself. People have to see the leader guiding himself by the same principles that he presents to the others.

• They put heavy burdens on the shoulders of the common people, while they don’t move a finger to lift them. How true it is! In the countries in deep economic crisis, the taxes are increased, the benefits reduced, and many jobs are lost, while the ones who daily speak about it and seat in continuous meetings to find solutions, get fat salaries and even fatter allowances.

And the same can happen in the Church. From the top down, the leaders may be too harsh no people, lacking compassion and being unable to understand the daily life of the people.

• Jesus accuses the Pharisees of being self-conceited. The name Pharisees was given to them as a nickname, meaning “separated”, because they would not mix with the ones they considered sinners. They had no sins to be confessed or forgiven; they did not need conversion; in fact, they were already saved.
• They looked for prestige and influence. They wanted to be respected and considered “honourable”. They liked to show off and to present themselves as important. And they demanded to be given the first places in any function. They wanted to be called “masters”, “teachers” and “fathers”. Separating themselves religiously from the sinners, they were separating themselves socially as well from the ones they consider as second-class people. 

A true leader must be always in touch with people and be among them as one of them. The Bemba proverb says: Mulangishi wa bantu alapalama. The true leader always remains close to the people.