Reading I: Malachi 1:14b - 2:2b, 8-10 Have we not all the one father? Has not the one God created us?
Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (reiterated in Luke 18:14)
Jesus was acting in the tradition of Israelite prophets confronting corrupt leaders in their time and place—as in today's first reading, where Malachi, a Levite, criticizes the corruption of some Levitical priests; Matthew is countering fellow Jews regarding the best way to live the Law. The whole Gospel of Matthew says the way to be faithful to the Law of Moses is to do it according to the way of Jesus—especially as expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. In chapter 23, Matthew spells out the implications regarding the proper use of authority.
Like Malachi and Jesus, Matthew denounces hypocritical leaders among his fellow Jews—Christian and non-Christian. To make his point about what the service of leadership should look like among the Jesus people, he caricatures its opposite in his portrait of the leadership of the “others.”
In the spirit of Jesus' teaching about living as a community of disciples (“The greatest among you must be your servant,” Mt 23:11), Matthew insists that they should eschew the titles claimed by the leadership of the dominant group around them; they should reserve the title “father” for God and use “Rabbi” and “Master” only for the Messiah.
While courtesy and good order may justify the use of titles in the Church today, nothing can ever justify reverting to a reading of this passage that has too often nurtured virulent anti-Semitism. The message is directed to us, not to others. It is a vivid way of reminding us to practice what we preach and to use our authority for service of one another in the spirit of Jesus.
Dennis Hamm, SJ
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| They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. Gospel
A Teaching Father
“Avoid the title.”” (Mt 23:8)
Ever since my ordination I have been a little uncomfortable with Jesus’ words about certain persons who are identified in Matthew’s Gospel as scribes and Pharisees. “Do what they tell you,” Jesus says, “but do not follow their example.”
They talk the talk, but they do not walk the walk. In fact, they bind up other people with impossible burdens, and they will not lift a finger to help them.
These are the people who work in the limelight where their performances can be seen. They eagerly bear the marks of prestige, obtain the place of honor at banquets, take the front seats in church, and seek public respect.
Clearly Jesus is talking about the danger of putting anyone in the place of God. Surely he is warning us against the tendency to set up a guru or a master as a solution for life’s travails.
And there is no doubt that Jesus is reminding all of us that we should not pose as the savior or master of anybody. 
Only God is God. As St. Paul reminds the Thessalonians, our message, our word, and our teaching are God’s, who works through and in us all. It is so tempting to make oneself the message and the teaching—especially if you have an honorific title.
If we wish honor or pre-eminence, let it be in service, rather than in being served. If we aspire to be Number One, let us be the first to forgive, to heal, to minister. We can’t escape the message. Jesus is getting at something here.
We are brothers and sisters. That’s that. In this matter of grace and salvation, there is no one of us above the other, even though some of us, by the grace of God, are asked to read the book, preach the word, offer the consecration, or pray the absolution.
Our ministry, like St. Paul’s, must be one of gentle encouragement, “as a mother,” he says, sharing the Good News and graces of our lives. This may not make us look very imposing. But it will make us, with Paul, more grateful.
Father John Kavanaugh, SJ
Full article at St. Louis University Sunday Website
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