"ALL YOU ARE BROTHERS"

 "Do not be called Rabbi, for one is your teacher, whereas all you are brothers."-Matthew 23:8.



"WHO deserves more respect, a missionary or a Bethelite?"  A Christian woman in an Oriental country innocently asked a missionary from Australia.  She wanted to know who should be respected more, a missionary from another country or a local minister serving in the branch office of the Watchtower Society.  That Innocent question, reflecting a class-conscious culture, took the missionary by surprise.  The question of who is greater, however, stems from a desire to know where people stand in the ranks of power and influence.

This concern is by no means new.  Even Jesus' disciples had an ongoing argument about who was the greatest.  (Matthew 20:20-24; Mark 9:33-37; Luke 22:24-27)  They too came from a rather class-conscious culture, that of first-century Judaism.  With such a society in mind, Jesus counseled his disciples:  "Do not you be called Rabbi, for one is your teacher, whereas all you are brothers."  (Matthew 23:8) A religious title such as "Rabbi," which means "Teacher,"   tends   to engender pride and a sense of superiority in those who obtain It, and envy and a sense of inferiority in those who do not; and the whole spirit and tendency of it is contrary to the 'simplicity that is in Christ,' " noted the Bible scholar Albert Barnes.  Indeed, Christians refrain from addressing overseers among them as "Elder So-and-so,"  using the world "elder" as a flattering title.  (Job 32:21, 22) On the other hand, elders living up to the spirit of Jesus' counsel respect other members of the congregation, just as Jehovah respects loyal worshipers and Jesus Christ respects loyal followers.

Next time: The Example of Jehovah and of Jesus

The Watchtower, 2000