More Bible and Prayer

23 August 2025  Matthew 23:1-12

“Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you.” Matthew 23:3

The spirituality of Tevye is the spirituality of the Scribes and Pharisees.

Tevye is the main character of the famous musical Fiddler on the Roof. The whole story is driven by Tevye’s conversations with God, which are warm and familiar, the conversations you are not even aware of as prayers because you are so engrossed in the conversation. Tevye speaks the language of prayer like a native – his speech is so stitched and hemmed and embroidered with scripture that if you were to take out all the words formed by the Bible there would be scarcely any left. His version of the ideal life in the oft-covered song “If I Were a Rich Man” certainly includes peace and comfort for his family, but pride of place is given to prayer and the Bible:

If I were rich, I’d have the time that I lack to sit in the synagogue and pray,

And maybe have a seat by the eastern wall.

And I’d discuss the Holy Books with the learned men seven hours every day.

That would be the sweetest thing of all.

Prayer and the Holy Books – that was the spirituality of Tevye because it was the spirituality of the Scribes and Pharisees. It was also the spirituality of Jesus.

“The Scribes and Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you” (Matthew 23:2-3). The Scribes and Pharisees arose in the generations following the Babylonian Exile (608-539 B.C.) as agents of reform. They were determined that a disaster like the Exile should never happen again, and to prevent it they were committed to close reading and careful study of the Bible, examining every word, comparing verses to other verses to determine what the will of God was in every conceivable event, and then meditating on that day and night. This wasn’t to be just the hobby of the wealthy and idle, but the commitment of everyone. For that reason, they wanted everyone to be able to read – this commitment sowed the seeds that later became the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, modern science and modern medicine.

Jesus was perfectly comfortable with this spirituality focused on careful reading of the Bible and prayer. It defined His life from the very beginning – when His parents lost track of Him when he was a boy and couldn’t find Him even after three days of searching all over Jerusalem, they finally found Him in the Temple “sitting among the teachers, asking them questions, and all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers” (Luke 2:46-47).

Jesus never did, and still doesn’t, have a problem with a spirituality based on close reading of the Bible and earnest prayer based on that close reading.

He has a problem with people not doing that enough.

The Scribes and Pharisees got distracted by comfort and power: “They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues” (Matthew 23:5-6). They liked these things so much that they could no longer see that the people were struggling – they couldn’t get their heads around the 613 commandments the Scribes and Pharisees had found in the scriptures, and were utterly confused about how to organize their lives around them. No wonder, then, that people thronged to John the Baptist, whose clear teaching of repentance and the liturgical act of baptism gave them hope, and a clear way forward. No wonder that even more thronged to Jesus, who assured them that God was drawing near to them – right in front of them, in fact – and his acts of healing and exorcism underscored that word of mercy. John and Jesus both called people to trust them, in part because the scriptures themselves testified to their message.

The spirituality of the Scribes and Pharisees, focused on close reading of scripture, and prayer, is the spirituality of Jesus. The renewal we all seek requires more of that. Much more.

Tevye would understand.