A rabbi walks through the streets of Jerusalem. As he walks to the feast, all the men and women stare and call on him: “Rabbi! Rabbi!” As he gets there, he continues to the uppermost room. Everyone stares, everyone says: “Rabbi! You are here!” And he loves to be called Rabbi.
Jesus saw this over and over again, these men knew and taught the word and were highly respected. Now there’s nothing wrong with respect, but they *loved* to be called “master”, “teacher”, “esteemed one”, “mighty one”. They loved exaltation – sometimes even to the point of being exalted like a god – where their word was like the Word of God.
In Matthew 23, Jesus warns His disciples to be wary about this doing of some Pharisees, and instead tells them to call each other “brothers.”
Can we call others by a title such as rabbi, prophet, apostle, etc? What was the point Jesus was really trying to make?
Mat 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
