Matthew 23:1-12
Humbling Yourself to God
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 be careful to 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, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people 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 with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, 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 instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Jesus' Kingdom is not where you might expect it...You might expect it to be among the well dressed, the knowledgeable, and those greeted with respect in the marketplaces...
Outward appearances and how one dresses does not matter much to Jesus...He wants to help people that need help...He wanted to help those in need, when He walked the earth....When Jesus said the first will be last and the last will be first, He meant that those in need would be helped and He is there to help for those who are last and in need...When He said the greatest among the people would become your servant, He is telling us much of the same thing...
Those who are famous and first and are good at many things may not be in much need...They should humble themselves before God...Those who dress nice, those who love places of honor, those who sit in the best seats, and those who have tassels on their hems have an outward appearance of knowing much are not different from those who cannot afford to dress nice...Appearances often give us a perception of the truth...We are fooled sometimes by how one's looks and how they dress...But Truth goes beyond what one wears and how one looks...Truth comes from the heart...And those who presented themselves to Jesus as knowing much about God did not know about God or Him...We are often fooled by these outward appearances throughout our lives...We sometimes get deceived and hurt by those who look like people we can trust...We sometimes are drawn to people by an outward appearance that causes us to get hurt...
The question for the Pharisees and for us is were they (and are we) being humble to all those around us...For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted...