Jesus, Deconstructionist

Yesterday we heard about how radical compassion lies at the heart of Jesus’s gospel and that deconstruction should be an invitation to living with that kind of compassion.

Today we’re going to read a longer passage. It’s part of one of Jesus’s longer sermons. In it he is deconstructing what people thought religion was about. Notice how he critiques things like social standing, justice, and power. Then, take some time to sit in quiet, inviting the Spirit to help you sift through your religious life with the same priorities of Jesus.

Matthew 23:1-12

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

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;  they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.