(Tuesday, March 10)
Have you ever played the “Where’s Waldo” game? Two pages of a book are cluttered with all kinds of people, objects, and artwork. In this messy sea of art is hidden a picture of “Waldo,” a little boy with a red-and-white striped shirt as I recall. The object of the game is to search carefully until one finds Waldo.
It seems to me that we are in a world caught up in a “Where’s Waldo” game. With the help of the media we find ourselves swimming in a world of opinions, scares, news, and, now, talk and advice about a worldwide virus that is grabbing the attention of the world. As we scramble through this complex of news and noise, we are looking for something. It is not “Waldo” we are trying to find, but the truth. We are looking for something stable that we can hang onto as the world immerses itself in a new version of the “Waldo” game.
The situation is not new. Jesus came into a world that was cluttered with news and noise. The Romans had gained a foothold and were in the process of taking over the world. In the face of an impending Roman takeover, the Jewish people struggled for survival. When would God send them the promised Messiah to save them and solve their problems? How did the Mosaic Law fit into all of this? And so they looked to their religious teachers to give them answers. Sadly, their teachers offered more clutter than truth.
Jesus spoke to the situation (Matthew 23:1-12).
“The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice…All their works are performed to be seen.”
Though they purported to represent Moses to the people, these people did not act like Moses. They were not friends of God. In fact they went to great extremes to draw attention (and money) to themselves rather than to the living God.
“They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats in synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and the salutation “Rabbi.”
Rather than present the truth of God clearly to the people, they cluttered the scene with their rules and regulations. They put their energies into making themselves look good and having people honor them with the title “Rabbi.” So when the Messiah appeared, he became, for them, just another topic of conversation. And when he became a growing nuisance to them, they arranged to have him killed.
Jesus was a light in this cloud of darkness. He spoke the truth.
“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.”
Jesus magnified the truth; in fact, he was the truth. There is one teacher, one Father, one Christ. All else is subservient to this. He cautioned his disciples about seeking to become like the scribes and Pharisees—another “Rabbi” among rabbis. They were to be humble, no one better than another.
We are being challenged today to find the living voice of Jesus amid the noise of our times. When we allow ourselves to be directed by the opinions of the world and the thinking of self-accl the voice of Jesus begins to fade into the background of our lives.
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
