Back to the Questions

1. "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" (Matthew 22:41-42) - Now it's Jesus' turn, Pharisees, so you best watch yo'self. This passage shows exactly how a well-aimed question can really shut people up. Because they answer that the Christ is David's son, by deduction he must be David's master as well. I guess this took aim at the literalists in the crowd, but it was the end of the Pharisees questioning Christ. Then again, it might have led to Christ's death, but that's all part of the plan too :)
2. "Do you want to stand out?" (Matthew 23:11) - I think it's important to follow this up with the answer: "Then step down. Be a servant." If we are truly following God, our lives will be a cry for simplicity, for contentedness with who we are and our position in life, maybe even a lower position in life as that's where servants generally reside. It's when we try to be something we're not that we run into trouble.
3. "Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that's wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?" (Matthew 23:24) - Jesus is really on about legalism today and it's quite apparent. This is one of those places where we see what it really means to be in a relationship and not be apart of religion. Religion is bean-counting, keeping track of pluses and minuses. A relationship with Christ is built on doing what will make him happy, mainly showing him honor, respect, and thankfulness and treating the rest of your fellow humans as you want to be treated. I see some strong words for the Church in this chapter, especially a lot of "Christian" schools, one of the strongest centers for legalism there is. It's amazing to me that in our quests to be more Christian, we can get it so wrong sometimes. Luckily this is a subject that is spelled out in plain language here in the Bible. Mmmm, tastes good.