After Jesus answers some questions meant to entrap him, we get this
bit:
45 ¶ Then in the audience of all the people he said
unto his disciples,
46
Beware of the scribes, which
desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the
highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;
47
Which devour widows’ houses,
and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.
(Luke 20:45-47)
What exactly is Jesus
saying here?
He’s warning the
disciples to beware of the scribes who do certain things. It seems to me He’s
not telling the disciples to shun
them necessarily, but to beware of becoming like
them.
So what exactly is
wrong with this behavior, and are there modern equivalents that must be
avoided?
They desire to walk in
long robes – Long robes are not easy to move in, and they get dirty easy. I get
the impression that long robes were a sign of status, and hard work was not
done in them. People in long robes don’t gird up their loins to serve others;
they are usually the ones being served. The modern equivalent might be people
who desire to wear suits all day.
They love greetings in
the markets – This seems pretty benign at first. Who doesn’t love to run into
friends at the market? The problem, I think, is when it becomes a point of
pride, when one preens over one’s connectedness and how all those greetings by
all one’s acquaintances lead one to say, “Look how important I am! Everyone
knows me and loves me! Even people who don’t know me can see I must be special
because of all the people who greet me!” It is hard to focus on others, when
others are so focused on you.
They love the highest
seats in the synagogues and the chief rooms at feasts – High seats in the
synagogue are probably leadership seats. They love the best places and aspire
to importance and status. They love the visibility more than the opportunity to
serve.
They devour widows’
houses – Here’s a sad thing. These scribes will visit widows (thinking they are
charitably bestowing their attention and encouraging presence) and then the
widows are obligated by the rules of hospitality to feed them a big fancy
dinner, so the widows have to spend beyond their means to do it, and of course,
those scribes have to do justice to the spread, so they eat it all, and thus
the widow is far worse off financially after the scribe’s visit than she was
before. The scribe is devouring her house. And she lives at poverty level,
anyway, so it is all very bad for her finances. At bottom, this is a lack of
awareness of how hospitality is going to affect one’s host. It is inconsiderate,
and a lack of charity. If these scribes had any real charity, they would host the widow and not
obligate the widow to host them. Or they’d bring a nice big present of grain or
something to make up for the burden of their visit.
For a show, they make
long prayers – Their prayers aren’t doing them any good if it just a show to
impress other people. If there is no real desire or repentance or gratitude
behind the words, the prayers mean nothing.
The thing that is the
greatest warning is that Jesus says, “the same shall receive the greater
damnation.” To me, this is saying these characteristics get disciples more
spiritually stuck and stop progression more than some others.
To summarize:
Long robes >>
status clothing that precludes service and work
Loving greetings
>> status and such connectedness that prevents one from forgetting oneself
and focusing on others
Loving high seats and the
best rooms at feasts >> obsessed with public shows of status at religious
events and gatherings. Preoccupation with position and visibility more than
opportunities for service and ministering.
Devouring widow’s houses
>> Lack of consideration and charity for those who really need it. Making
a show of attention that doesn’t really help and leaves the widow worse off
afterward.
Making long prayers for
show >> Desire to look holy has
overcome any desire to actually be
holy.
So, the pattern I see
here is that status and show for these scribes has become the most important
thing, such that they completely miss the increased opportunities for service
and charity and ministering that come with a leadership position. They are
stopped in their spiritual progress from becoming more like Christ.
Can we draw any
conclusions from what one should do instead?
1)
Wear
clothes you can help people in
2)
Focus on
others and appreciate the humility of anonymity
3)
Care more
for the opportunities to serve than position, status, or visibility
4)
Find ways
to give notice and charity without taxing others’ resources to give hospitality
5)
Pray with
sincerity
These things tell us
that Jesus was strongly aware that if leaders weren’t careful, some of the
earthly advantages of status created awful spiritual disadvantages with eternal
negative consequences. He wanted His disciples to be aware of those problems
and do all they could to avoid those behaviors and attitudes so that their
position could be a real blessing to
them and to all those around them.
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