They Say and Don't Do
1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, 2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3 All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them. 5 But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the fringes of their garments, 6 and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by men. 8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers. 9 Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you will be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Before the woes, an instruction to the crowd: keep what they teach, don't copy what they do — and take no titles yourselves.
2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3 All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.
The chapter opens with a concession that is rarely quoted. The office is real, the law they read from is God's, and the crowd is told to keep it. What is attacked in the next thirty verses is never the law and never the seat. It is the distance between the seat and the man in it.
For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.
The charge is not strictness. It is strictness applied to other people, from men whose expertise gave them a hundred ways round it — and this is the burden the invitation two discourses earlier was aimed at Matthew 11:28–30.
But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the fringes of their garments,
The diagnosis is the sermon's, word for word Matthew 6:1, now applied by name. The phylactery is the small box of Scripture bound to arm and forehead; the fringe is the tassel commanded in the law Numbers 15:38. Both are legitimate. Both were made larger, which is the whole method — nothing forbidden, everything enlarged.
the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by men.
It ends in an appetite for being greeted, and the doubled title is the sound of a man enjoying it.
8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers. 9 Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.
Three titles are forbidden, and the reason given each time is the same: the position is taken. One teacher, one Father, one master — and all of you are brothers. Scripture uses all three words in ordinary ways elsewhere, of actual fathers and actual teachers, so what is banned is not vocabulary but a religious rank held over other people. Every one of the three is refused on the ground that it belongs to God, which makes accepting it a small theft.
11 But he who is greatest among you will be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
The alternative is the one given on the road to Jerusalem Matthew 20:26, and it is stated to disciples before a word is said against anyone else. The woes that follow are not addressed to outsiders by insiders. They are aimed at a failure the men listening are entirely capable of.
settled What this mark means