Phariseeism, Wealth, and Prestige, II

The words of Jesus absolutely in no way support the notion of patriarchy or any form of male rule over female. On the contrary, the words of Jesus knock the feet out from under any claim of anyone to lord it over, or even to entertain the thought of authority over another.

This challenging of human authority was predicted by Isaiah hundreds of years before.


Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

Then Luke, in his gospel, confirms this prophesy noting that John the Baptist, the prophet, that voice in the wilderness, is declaring this challenge to human constructs of authority.

Luke 3:4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
6 And all mankind will see God's salvation."

And again, in Luke's gospel we see Mary, the mother of Jesus, prophesy about God's shake up of human understanding of Authority. The Holy Spirit comes upon her while she's pregnant with the Messiah and she speaks about how God brings down rulers and lifts up the humble.

Luke 1:51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

God turns things on their heads. He brings down those who are exalted and raises up all those who have been put down. Jesus wants to set up His kingdom in a manner unheard of before Him.

Matthew 20:25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—
28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

But what do men do? They labor to exhaustion to re-establish the old order. They sweat and reconfigure with all their worth to set up authorities in people's lives. They make great strides in 'biblical' discourse to undo what Jesus did on the cross. They again, raise up mountains that Jesus brought down and dig out valleys that Jesus filled to divide the body of Christ into 'leaders' and 'followers' just as they were before Jesus came. And the straight paths Jesus ordained, men make them crooked because their crooked hearts could not tolerate the straight and narrow, a kingdom build without hands nor ruled by carnal men.

And they do this by misconstruing the words of one of Christ's most devoted followers. A follower who would disagree with them to their faces, if he were alive to tell. We will look at the words of this follower and see where his heart lies in the next post.