You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates!

Matthew 23:1-12

1 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. 2 "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. 3 You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit- and- polish veneer. 4" Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. 5 Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. 6 They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, 7 preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.' 8 "Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. 9 Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. 10 And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life- Leader for you and them-- Christ. 11" Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. 12 If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

Food for thought

There's lot of food for thought for all of us in today's gospel reading. You can't read it and talk; its best response is silence. The less we talk about this reading the better. It is a reading that reminds us a number of things that need to be corrected in our faith, our lives, our dear Church, our families and ultimately our world.

Why did Christ say these words? Because he is our saviour; he came to save us from bad practices, bad traditions, bad customs, bad policies, bad lives. He came to show us the right way of living and being. He came to teach us; "You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates." This means that only Jesus can and must tell us what to do. In other words, "Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do."

If anybody whosoever tells you anything contradictory to what Jesus teaches you to do and be, don't do it. Nobody should tell us w hat to do. Only God tells us what to do. And he has told us whom to listen to, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him!" (Mark 9:7)