Lifelong learning - Matthew 23:1-12 - Living By the Word - Column

Christian Century, Oct 23, 1996 by Edgar Krentz

Burnout" is one of those words that catch the clerical imagination. Many in the ministry (and in all professions that serve human need) live with the reality of burnout.

How do they deal with it? One false way is to assume a burden of guilt: If only I were a better counselor, teacher, caregiver . . . If only I had done more in seminary to become immersed in the scriptures, or in the tradition of the church . . . If only I were a better manager of my time and energy . . . If only I were in a community or parish better suited to my skills. If only . . .!

Another false response is to project the blame onto the people or the parish. If only they would listen better to what I proclaim. Something must be wrong with them.

How do we deal with burnout? One method that appeals to me is to take refuge in the liturgy. Liturgy tempts me because it is a way of staying in contact with the long tradition of the church. And public piety is a way of achieving recognition, as Matthew 23:5 suggests with its reference to phylacteries and fringes.

But the method of escape that most tempts me is the escape to an authoritarian structure. As a seminary professor I am tempted to think that, position gives me authoritarian status. Matthew's Jesus has much to say about that. His words culminate in 23:1-12, where he contrasts status with service. Ministry almost invites status seeking, since it is easy to confuse one's own self with the authority of God's message. The message has authority, but there is a gap between message and messenger that we sometimes try to close with personal authority.

Jesus sees a better way: recognize where power and status really lie (Matt. 23:8-10). One does not achieve them. Don't seek respect for your teaching authority, "for you have one teacher and you are all students." The NRSV translates the ward "brothers" as "students." That loses the motif of equality and makes v. 8 sound similar to v. 10. The minister as "lifelong learner" is a theme that seminary professors like to stress for students. Here it finds biblical warrant. "Call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father--the one in heaven." Father was a title for leaders in many religious associations in the first century. Jesus warns against claiming such a role in the disciple community.

The NRSV translation of 23:10 reads "Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah." There is another possible translation. The term translated "instructors" also means "leader" or "guide." That translation correlates well with what follows. There are to be no superior disciples among Jesus' followers. Indeed, Jesus inverts the status pyramid. The important person is the one who serves others, for in him God will subvert all attempts to exalt self (w. 11-12).

Jesus sees a better way. How is that way possible? Matthew suggests the answer when the mother of James and John asks for positions of pre-eminence for her sons in his royal rule (20:21-22). The royal rule of God comes not with power, but with suffering. It does not confer status but calls for service, even as the Son of Man came to serve and lay down his life on behalf of many (20:28). There is an old Greek proverb: "Foxes know many things, the hedgehog one great thing." The hedgehog is not clever, but it knows how to protect itself when attacked. Disciples are not foxes, but hedgehogs. They know one thing: that status comes from service, not from anything else. The life of leaders in the church is cruciformed, as was Jesus' life.

Paul's apostolic lifestyle carried out Jesus' teaching, even though Paul never refers to it. The second lesson, 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13, stresses that Paul worked to support himself so he would not put a burden on the Thessalonians. He did not look for a salary, a safety net or a retirement package. His concern was that they "walk" (lead a life) worthy of God, who calls them into his own kingdom. Paul did not want anything to obviate his "urging and encouraging and pleading" that they do this, and he thanks God that they heard his message as God's own word.

Of course, this message is not just for clergy. It is for the entire church. Had I been able to select the second lesson for this day, it would have been Ephesians 4:7-16, which states that the variety of ministerial gifts is given to outfit God's people for the work of service (ministry). Clergy are enablers, not CEOs-outfitters, not models who strut on the runway demonstrating this season's new ministerial wardrobe.

Mark Jantzen was an American student in East Germany in the months before the wall came down. In The Wrong Side of the wall (distributed by his parents) he describes the efforts of East German students to run a democratic meeting without any experience of democratic principles. Jantzen was able to help; he explained parliamentary rules, the majority or two-thirds vote, the election of representatives and the process of calling for a referendum on disputed decisions. By playing a servant role in the process, he enabled others to make decisions--his ministry was in line with our Lord's words.