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A Good Reminder from the Lord on Titles and Honors

Christ Showing A Little Child As The Emblem Of Heaven by Benjamin West
Christ Showing A Little Child As The Emblem Of Heaven by Benjamin West

Last Saturday (20th Week of the Year) featured a Gospel in which the Lord cautions us on the use and collection of titles. Speaking of the religious authorities of His day, Jesus lamented,

They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted(Mat 23:6-12).

Jesus is not trying to banish words from our vocabulary. Neither is He dismissive of all titles. Elsewhere Jesus says, You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am (John 13:13). To reduce these Gospels to a dismissal of the use of titles is to miss the point. The deeper points are the need for humility and the understanding that titles are a summons to serve.

In another Gospel (Luke 9), after a dispute arose among the Apostles about who was the greatest, Jesus placed a child in their midst and said, in effect, “Here is the greatest. Now be sure to honor this greatest one with service and care.” Jesus also seems to imply that this is how the Father sees all of us.

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