How are you doing at living into your titles?

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

9 You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. 11 As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, 12 urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. 13 We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.

Matthew 23.1-12

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; 3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. 6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, 7 and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. 9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one 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 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

Spoken words for “Living Into a Title” by Rev KellyAnn Donahue

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our redeemer. Paul spent months or more with some of the churches he visited. He did not bring much money with him. He needed the hospitality of the church people at first. In our reading from his letter to the Thessalonians, he reminded them that he worked when he was there. He wanted to earn his keep. He did not want his needs for food and shelter to burden them. Paul was a tentmaker. He preached to them and did physical work, too. Part of his preaching involved encouraging them to lead lives worthy of God, and he seems here to have led by example. He lived into the title “worthy of God” and expected his followers to do so.

 

The scribes and Pharisees, according to Jesus in our next reading, are not living into their titles. Jesus said they know the law and their words should be followed. It was their actions he criticized. He said they were more concerned with being seen about town than they were concerned with following the law. They were not leading by example. In Verse 4 he said, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.” I think those burdens were some of the laws from the book of Leviticus. Perhaps he meant the Sabbath law of no work to heal or feed a person in need, but one could lead animals to drink on that day. Or maybe he was referring to the fact that the purity laws for priests were applied to all the Jews. Laws relevant to priests, who were handling animals for food and Temple sacrifice, might not be needed for everyone. Jesus could have been talking about the required Temple offerings and taxes. Any of these laws could have been eased or removed by the Jewish authorities. The scribes and Pharisees were the authorities.

 

Jesus seems to object to their use of the title “rabbi”. He referred to the scribes and Pharisees, and then addressed the crowds and his disciples, as he said, “They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.  But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.” He was not praising the scribes and Pharisees; he was insulting them. His followers were told that the greatest, the exalted among them will act as servants. His last line from our text today was “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” I think Jesus rejected the titles and expected them to do the same.

 

Yet I do have a title. You gave me the title of Pastor. And because you did give me that title, the UCC granted me the title of Reverend. In our scriptures are the words of Moses and the laws of Leviticus. You expect me, your Pastor, to speak about those words and laws. They can be a heavy burden, just like the burdens Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees created. I can use heavy words or lighter ones.

 

How else am I like a Pharisee? There is my robe and my stole. I wove this stole and I like to tell everyone I made every stitch of it. Putting on my robe and stole makes me feel dressed appropriately for the job and title of pastor. It is a professional appearance, in my opinion. It is out of respect for you and for the title. I am starting to sign emails and letters with the words Rev Kelly when doing church business. It is taking me some time to get used to both titles. I feel I earned them, but I do not feel that the titles make me a different person. It can be embarrassing to hear what people think the titles mean, how they think I should behave, or how they think they need to behave around me. Like apologizing if they swear in front of me. There are expectations that come with my titles. Expectations from you, from me and from God, who communicated expectations using Jesus and the prophets.

 

Jesus wanted his disciples, and us, to focus on being humble. I think we have a humble self when we to strive to follow the Ten Commandments, and to follow the Golden Rule. We need God’s help to do this. We do see and judge the actions of others; we look at their actions in light of those rules. A humble self does not regard others with contempt, even when we see their sins. Our humble self admits what wrong we did and does not look at the sins of others as a way to put them below us in our eyes or to think that God puts them down, either. I am not sinless, not more holy, not full of more grace, not higher in God’s eyes than anyone else. My humble self is aware of the need for help and grace from God to avoid sin. I need that grace to live into my titles.

 

How are you doing at living into your titles? Wife, mother, sister, daughter? Does it seem easy and fun all the time? Husband, father, brother, son? Same for you, do you always get it right? Jesus criticized the scribes and Pharisees for knowing the law, speaking about it, and not acting on what they taught. I see that criticism as a lesson for us about living into our titles. Jesus spoke about the law and showed us by example how to follow it, how to live into it. Paul did the same with the Thessalonians. He reminded them in verse 12 that he had been “urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory”.

 

And Paul was not exalting himself, not claiming that all the words he spoke were his alone. He said to that church family, “We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.”

 

It is hard work to live into a title with humility. It is work we can do with each other. We have God’s words of the Ten Commandments and the golden rule. May we hear the words and live the words, with humility, forgiveness and hope.

 

© Rev KellyAnn Donahue