Proper 26
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
There is much material that is unique to Matthew in the final chapters of his Gospel. Not all of this material is incorporated into the Matthean lectionary. Matthew 23 and 24 are primary examples of this reality. Matthew 23 is composed of Jesus' teaching to the crowds and disciples on the nature of the religion of the Pharisees. This week's text includes the first twelve verses of Jesus' discourse. Matthew 23:13-39 is omitted from the lectionary completely. So are the first 35 verses of Matthew 24. We touch upon the material in Matthew 24:1-35 in Chapter 34 in our discussion of the text appointed for the First Sunday in Advent. We will include some comments in this chapter on the omitted portion of Matthew 23.
The teaching material in Matthew 23 that closes Jesus' public ministry does not stand in narrative analogy to very much other material in Matthew. It is didactic material that stands on its own. The goal of our comments, therefore, will not be directed towards discovering narrative analogies for preaching but in giving some shape for a teaching sermon on Matthew 23.
We need first of all be clear on the addressee of this material. Jesus is not addressing the Pharisees! He is addressing the crowds and the disciples with the intention of calling them to repentance. Robert Smith, of course, reminds us of his thesis that this type of material in Matthew is addressed to the church leaders of Matthew's and perhaps of our day.
The key to this interpretation is the sudden switch in 23:8-12 from "they" (talking about scribes and Pharisees) to "you" (obviously addressed to Christians). In these verses Matthew tips his hand concerning his real interest. He is not reporting Jesus' opposition to Pharisees for the sake of the historical record. No. He recalls Jesus' sharp criticism of scribes and Pharisees in order to criticize the same or parallel faults in his own contemporaries.1
The worst thing we can do with this material, therefore, would be to spend our time critiquing the religion of the Pharisees who seem by their religion to call attention to themselves rather than to God. Here, rather, is teaching material for the leaders of our congregations, beginning with ourselves!
Many biblical scholars note that this chapter filled with woes is a kind of darker image of the chapter filled with blessings, i.e. the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. Many themes are treated in both sections of Matthew's Gospel. The teaching in Matthew 23 begins with a warning about preaching and not practicing in vv. 1-12, this week's appointed text. In vv. 13-36 there follows a list of seven woes. This is the most sustained material of denunciation in the entire New Testament! Finally, in vv. 37-39, there is a closing lament with an implicit call to repentance unto blessing.
Smith summarizes that which is condemned and that which is valued in Jesus' address to crowds and disciples.
Condemned: preaching without practicing (v. 3), aggression towards pupils (v. 4), love of flattery and prestige (vv. 5-12), blocking and judging (vv. 13-15), evasive word games (vv. 15-22), superficial spirituality (vv. 23-24), posturing (vv. 25-28), resistance to the divine word (vv. 29-31). Valued: deeds in harmony with teaching (v. 3), enabling toward righteousness (v. 4), humility and a spirit of service (vv. 5-12), desire to enter God's kingdom and to open the way to others (vv. 13-15), simplicity and sincerity (vv. 16-22), justice and mercy and loyalty (vv. 23-24), generosity (vv. 25-26), integrity (vv. 27-28), attentiveness to the voice of God (vv. 29-32).2
In the verses appointed for this week there are a couple of connecting comments that need to be made. The problem with Pharisees who preach and do not practice, says Jesus, is that they lay hard burdens on those who would follow. This stands in marked contrast with Jesus who has said to his followers that his yoke is easy and his burden, light (Matthew 11:28-30).
As we heard from Smith above, Jesus' teaching in v. 8ff. is addressed to "you." It is addressed to Christian leaders who are to learn from the Pharisees and practice a new form of egalitarian leadership in which no one is called rabbi. There is just one rabbi, one teacher, one Father and one Christ. Jesus is the heart and center of the new community. Is Matthew here already leveling a critique of hierarchies that had developed in the early church? What do Jesus' words mean for our church structures today? Is ours an egalitarian community where even the "little ones" have their place?
It is not easy to preach on these matters. If there is an indictment present in these verses it would appear to be leveled precisely at us who are today's rabbis and teachers. It would certainly not hurt matters for us in our preaching and teaching on this text to raise questions publicly about ecclesial authority (most especially ours!) in our present context.
Matthew 23:11-12 continues on the theme of the nature of leadership in the community. The greatest is to be the servant. The exalted one shall be humbled and the humble one exalted. Matthew touches these themes elsewhere: 18:1-4 and 20:20-28. Neither of these stories is appointed in the Matthean lectionary and could certainly be told alongside this week's text. This narrative possibility, at least, does exist for this week.
It is probably not surprising that the lectionary omits the remaining verses of this chapter. We and our people are spared the woes! But the word of woe cannot always simply be omitted. In some years, on some occasions, we ought to include them in our teaching/preaching on Matthew 23. We will need to contemporize them, of course, so that we see the parallel religious behavior patterns in our day as well. Tell them. Contemporize them. Let them stand as an invitation to repentance. There are many religious practices alive among us today for which we most certainly ought to repent!
The final woe (vv. 29-36) and the closing lament (vv. 37-39) turn our attention to the inability of humans to recognize the prophets among us. The history of the human race from A to Z (Abel to Zechariah, v. 35) is a history of killing the prophets. The blood of the prophets has been shed continually according to this "miniature history of the world" that Jesus unfolds for us in vv. 29-36. (Cf. Other "histories in miniature" in Matthew 1:1-17; 21:33-43; 22:1-14.) Jesus laments over this reality. He laments over Jerusalem, the city of David and the city of God, which epitomizes this blood-shedding aspect of human life.
And that scriptural story is not a closed book. For Jesus suddenly announces, All this will come upon this generation. This sad story will reach its climax in this generation. These verses prepare the way for Matthew's unique report about the spilling of Jesus' righteous blood and the defiling of the temple by Judas's return of the blood money (27:3-10). That report connects the murder of Jesus to the whole long history of disobedience to God's agents.3
Jesus' blood will be shed. Another prophet will be killed by those whose religion blinds them to the presence of God's prophets among them. Jesus laments. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" Jerusalem has been reduced to this! Think of her glorious history. Glory now turns to ashes. The City of God will become the city that kills God. And we are Jerusalem! Jesus' word is addressed to us. We are convicted for our blindness. But we are also invited to repent. Perhaps we murderous Jerusalemites will sing aloud the next time a prophet rides into Jerusalem: "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 268.
2. Ibid., pp. 269-270.
3. Ibid., p. 279.
The teaching material in Matthew 23 that closes Jesus' public ministry does not stand in narrative analogy to very much other material in Matthew. It is didactic material that stands on its own. The goal of our comments, therefore, will not be directed towards discovering narrative analogies for preaching but in giving some shape for a teaching sermon on Matthew 23.
We need first of all be clear on the addressee of this material. Jesus is not addressing the Pharisees! He is addressing the crowds and the disciples with the intention of calling them to repentance. Robert Smith, of course, reminds us of his thesis that this type of material in Matthew is addressed to the church leaders of Matthew's and perhaps of our day.
The key to this interpretation is the sudden switch in 23:8-12 from "they" (talking about scribes and Pharisees) to "you" (obviously addressed to Christians). In these verses Matthew tips his hand concerning his real interest. He is not reporting Jesus' opposition to Pharisees for the sake of the historical record. No. He recalls Jesus' sharp criticism of scribes and Pharisees in order to criticize the same or parallel faults in his own contemporaries.1
The worst thing we can do with this material, therefore, would be to spend our time critiquing the religion of the Pharisees who seem by their religion to call attention to themselves rather than to God. Here, rather, is teaching material for the leaders of our congregations, beginning with ourselves!
Many biblical scholars note that this chapter filled with woes is a kind of darker image of the chapter filled with blessings, i.e. the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. Many themes are treated in both sections of Matthew's Gospel. The teaching in Matthew 23 begins with a warning about preaching and not practicing in vv. 1-12, this week's appointed text. In vv. 13-36 there follows a list of seven woes. This is the most sustained material of denunciation in the entire New Testament! Finally, in vv. 37-39, there is a closing lament with an implicit call to repentance unto blessing.
Smith summarizes that which is condemned and that which is valued in Jesus' address to crowds and disciples.
Condemned: preaching without practicing (v. 3), aggression towards pupils (v. 4), love of flattery and prestige (vv. 5-12), blocking and judging (vv. 13-15), evasive word games (vv. 15-22), superficial spirituality (vv. 23-24), posturing (vv. 25-28), resistance to the divine word (vv. 29-31). Valued: deeds in harmony with teaching (v. 3), enabling toward righteousness (v. 4), humility and a spirit of service (vv. 5-12), desire to enter God's kingdom and to open the way to others (vv. 13-15), simplicity and sincerity (vv. 16-22), justice and mercy and loyalty (vv. 23-24), generosity (vv. 25-26), integrity (vv. 27-28), attentiveness to the voice of God (vv. 29-32).2
In the verses appointed for this week there are a couple of connecting comments that need to be made. The problem with Pharisees who preach and do not practice, says Jesus, is that they lay hard burdens on those who would follow. This stands in marked contrast with Jesus who has said to his followers that his yoke is easy and his burden, light (Matthew 11:28-30).
As we heard from Smith above, Jesus' teaching in v. 8ff. is addressed to "you." It is addressed to Christian leaders who are to learn from the Pharisees and practice a new form of egalitarian leadership in which no one is called rabbi. There is just one rabbi, one teacher, one Father and one Christ. Jesus is the heart and center of the new community. Is Matthew here already leveling a critique of hierarchies that had developed in the early church? What do Jesus' words mean for our church structures today? Is ours an egalitarian community where even the "little ones" have their place?
It is not easy to preach on these matters. If there is an indictment present in these verses it would appear to be leveled precisely at us who are today's rabbis and teachers. It would certainly not hurt matters for us in our preaching and teaching on this text to raise questions publicly about ecclesial authority (most especially ours!) in our present context.
Matthew 23:11-12 continues on the theme of the nature of leadership in the community. The greatest is to be the servant. The exalted one shall be humbled and the humble one exalted. Matthew touches these themes elsewhere: 18:1-4 and 20:20-28. Neither of these stories is appointed in the Matthean lectionary and could certainly be told alongside this week's text. This narrative possibility, at least, does exist for this week.
It is probably not surprising that the lectionary omits the remaining verses of this chapter. We and our people are spared the woes! But the word of woe cannot always simply be omitted. In some years, on some occasions, we ought to include them in our teaching/preaching on Matthew 23. We will need to contemporize them, of course, so that we see the parallel religious behavior patterns in our day as well. Tell them. Contemporize them. Let them stand as an invitation to repentance. There are many religious practices alive among us today for which we most certainly ought to repent!
The final woe (vv. 29-36) and the closing lament (vv. 37-39) turn our attention to the inability of humans to recognize the prophets among us. The history of the human race from A to Z (Abel to Zechariah, v. 35) is a history of killing the prophets. The blood of the prophets has been shed continually according to this "miniature history of the world" that Jesus unfolds for us in vv. 29-36. (Cf. Other "histories in miniature" in Matthew 1:1-17; 21:33-43; 22:1-14.) Jesus laments over this reality. He laments over Jerusalem, the city of David and the city of God, which epitomizes this blood-shedding aspect of human life.
And that scriptural story is not a closed book. For Jesus suddenly announces, All this will come upon this generation. This sad story will reach its climax in this generation. These verses prepare the way for Matthew's unique report about the spilling of Jesus' righteous blood and the defiling of the temple by Judas's return of the blood money (27:3-10). That report connects the murder of Jesus to the whole long history of disobedience to God's agents.3
Jesus' blood will be shed. Another prophet will be killed by those whose religion blinds them to the presence of God's prophets among them. Jesus laments. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" Jerusalem has been reduced to this! Think of her glorious history. Glory now turns to ashes. The City of God will become the city that kills God. And we are Jerusalem! Jesus' word is addressed to us. We are convicted for our blindness. But we are also invited to repent. Perhaps we murderous Jerusalemites will sing aloud the next time a prophet rides into Jerusalem: "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 268.
2. Ibid., pp. 269-270.
3. Ibid., p. 279.
