Shall Be Your Servant

Matthew 23:1-12

Key Verse 11: “The greatest among you shall be your servant.”

Context: From the moment Jesus entered Jerusalem during His Triumphal Entry in Mat. 21, until the end of Mat 22, Jesus is challenged and questioned by the Pharisees, Sadducees and Religious Leaders.  Now beginning in Chapter 23, Jesus turns His attention and addresses the crowds and His disciples.

1. Look at verses 1-3.  Why do you think Jesus told the crowds and the disciples “do and observe whatever” the scribes and the Pharisees told them to do?

2. Look at verse 3.  Why do you think Jesus told them to “not do the works” the scribes and Pharisees did?

3. Look at verse 4.  What do you think it means that the scribes and Pharisees “tied up heavy burdens and laid them on people’s shoulders, but they were not willing to move them with their finger”?

4. Look at verses 5-7.  What do you think the phrases, “seen by others”; “love the place of honor”; “best seats”; “greeted in the marketplace”; and “called rabbi by others” reveal about the scribes and Pharisees?

5. Look at verses 8-10.  Jesus tells the crowd and disciples, “You are not to be called rabbi”; “call no man on earth your father”; “neither be called instructors”.  Why do you think Jesus told them these things?

6. Look at verse 11.  How do you think being “your servant” equates to being the “greatest”?  How do you think this addresses what Jesus said in the previous 10 verses?

7. Look at verse 12.  What do you think is the connection between “your servant” and “humility”?

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