NOTES:
1] 'Seat of Moses' may mean a chair in the synagogue from where teaching was given, or that Jesus sees teachers deriving their authority from Moses. 2] v.5 Phylacteries are boxes holding passages of Scripture, bound on arm or forehead, or fixed to a door-post (DEUT 6:4-9). Tassels remind the wearer of keeping the commandments (NUM 15:37-39). Jesus doesn't condemn either practice, but sees them open to abuse.

WARMING UP: What kinds of outward show, if any, do we ourselves go in for?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:

1-3        Do we ever lament like Jesus over church leaders or members not practising what they preach? Do we ever feel guilty that we're sometimes like that ourself? Are we ever accused by someone else of the same thing? How does a church, a body of Christ, guard against this kind of accusation? Do we just have to accept that such failing simply stems from human nature? If so, do we take human nature seriously enough in the dynamics of our church organisation, worship, etc.?

4-7        Do we ever lay burdens too heavy to bear on someone else's shoulder? And then leave them to it? What about expectations that are too 'heavy'? Can we think of  someone staggering under some kind of burden we've placed on them? Are we ourselves staggering under some burden imposed on us somewhere along life's way? What to do about that?
             Do we flaunt, or stand on our dignity much? Do we gain any satisfaction from doing that? Does it get us anywhere? How important to us is it to be acknowledged / recognized, / honoured in some way we think is due to us? Or have we grown past that? What if we haven't? Where does it leave us?

8-10     How literally does Jesus mean us to take calling no one 'teacher', 'father', all that kind of thing? Isn't it to some extent necessary to have forms of functional address, if not honorifics, in family, society, church? Is he just exaggerating as he often does to highlight a practice he sees being abused as a warning to us not to fall into that kind of trap?

11-12  Is servanthood actually as central to life in our Christian community as Jesus says it is? Can we really expect that the greatest among us will be our servant? Is the church any different from wider society where the 'higher' leaders get, the less they act as our 'servants'? Given that leadership is essential, could we find a better basis for 'promotion' in the church than what often happens? Can we think of examples of people in leadership positions within the church 'exalting themselves'? Humbling themselves? If humbling / exalting were a see-saw, where along the plank would people see us being? If we are acting in any way Jesus would disapprove of, what do we need to do to change that situation? Or don't we really want to?