A word about Matthew 23:9-13

IT ALWAYS SADDENS ME TO SEE PEOPLE MISINTERPRETING SCRIPTURE! Take Matthew 23:9-13, for example, which some people attempt to take literally, instead of using some common sense:

Matthew 23:. 9. And do not call yourself Father[1] for your Father is one who is in heaven. 10. And you should not be called leaders, because one is your leader, the Mashiyach. 11. But he who is greatest among you, let him be a servant to you. 12. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 13. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! For you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven before the sons of men. For you are not entering yourselves, and those who would enter you do not allow to enter.[2] (AENT)

[1] The above does NOT mean we shouldn’t call our own fathers “Father.” After all, he who produced the sperm that met your mother’s egg IS your “father!” That fact does NOT take anything away from YHWH. If you have a child, you’re a “father.”  You’re not “exalting” yourself by admitting it. 

Furthermore, common sense dictates that the prohibition against calling leaders “father” is simply to avoid giving high status to men which is due unto YHWH. Catholics openly defy this commandment, but all institutions who use flattering titles for leaders are culpable; see Job 32:21-12. Isaiah 56:10-12 exposes leaders who “can never have enough” and who keep their “followers” in spiritual and often financial poverty by seeking personal gain for themselves. See also 1 Timothy 4:3 .

[2] There is so much in this one small passage above that definitely CAN “sound confusing”; however, the use of a little common sense would alleviate the nonsense brewing in our limited, human mindsets!

I mean, we surely all agree that there can be no doubt that religious leaders are the greatest stumbling block that keeps people from entering into the Kingdom of Heaven (which definitely include the “armchair experts” of today)! Matthew 23:14 actually describes that fact:

Matthew 23:14. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! For you consume the houses of widows, and that for a pretense you lengthen your prayers. Because this you will receive a greater judgment. 15. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you traverse sea and land that you might make one proselyte, and when he has become one, you make him double the son of Gehenna that you are yourselves. 16. Woe to you blind guides, for you say that whoever swears by the temple is not anything, but who swears by the gold of the temple is guilty.

17. You are blind fools, for what is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18. And whoever swears by the altar, it is not anything, but he who swears by the offering that is upon it is guilty. 19. You are blind fools! What is greater, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering? 20. Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and all things that are upon it. 21. And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by He who dwells in it. 22. And whoever swears by Heaven swears by the throne of Elohim, and by Him who sits upon it.

23. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and you overlook the weightiest[3] things of Torah: Judgment[4] and Mercy[5] and Faith.[6] And these things were necessary for you to have done, and these things you should not have forgotten.

24. Blind guides who strain at gnats and swallow camels. 25. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate but inside they are full of extortion and iniquity. 26. Blind Pharisees! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, Then the outside will be clean also. (AENT)

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Lighter or weightier (kol v’homer) is a principle that Y’shua employs on many occasions. In Matt. 6:30 Y’shua teaches that if Elohim clothes the fields with grass (lighter), then how much more will he take care of your needs? (weightier) (Source: AENT)

[4] The Mitzvot (Commandments) of YHWH are categorized as Mishpatim (Judgments), Edyut (Testimonies) and Khokim (Statutes). The Judgments are the moral or ethical Commandments that differentiate right from wrong.

[5] Hosea 6:6

[6] Genesis 15:6; Habakkuk 2:4