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"Why do you Catholics call your priests 'Father' when Jesus explicitly says not to use that title?" That question has caused many a Catholic to squirm. We'll experience communal discomfort when Jesus' words are proclaimed again in every Catholic Church around the world in next Sunday's Gospel (Matthew 23:1-12). "Call no one on earth your father," Jesus says. "You have but one Father in heaven."

Chapter 23 of Matthew brings us near the end of Jesus' ministry. It follows several parables about judgment. Those parables, like verbal political cartoons, poke at the scribes and pharisees. Then comes this passage in which Jesus addresses the crowds plainly about his enemies. Scribes and pharisees may teach the right message, but they don't act it out. They are guilty of three pretensions: They wear huge prayer boxes. They grab the front seats of honor in synagogues.

They expect people to call them by titles. Jesus puts them in their place. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Because of passages like this the word "pharisaic" has entered our English vocabulary to mean "hypocritical," "sanctimonious," or "two-faced." Jesus wants sincere, humble leaders.

This passage informs us about the fates of Jesus and the early church. As Matthew's story careens toward the crucifixion, this episode explains why the enemies of Jesus took such extreme measures. In this passage Jesus' character is far from a gentle, loving, laughing friend. He publicly condemns the authority of religious leaders. On anyone else's lips this inflammatory speech would be labeled "un-Christian." Unsurprisingly, his enemies sought retaliation in a hurtful way.

The passage also reveals the struggle of the early church. One dominant theory about the composition of Matthew's Gospel is that its author wanted to comfort a particular group of Jewish Christians excluded from the traditional Jewish community around the year 80. When Matthew entered a speech like this into his Gospel, his Jewish Christian readers probably felt like Jesus was supporting their conflict with those who had not accepted him as the messiah. In the Gospel, Jesus addressed his words to the scribes and pharisees, but the readers of the Gospel could hear a reference to their own opponents in Jewish leadership. "Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you," Jesus says, "but do not follow their example."

Which brings us to the problem of titles. It is hard to read Jesus' proscription against the title "father" without our own experience of the title. But it's important to do so. In Jesus' day there were no Catholic priests using the title "Father So-and-So". Jesus was talking about something else. "Father" and "Rabbi" were Jewish titles that were coming into vogue immediately after Jesus' death, when the Gospel was assembled.

Consider first the title "Rabbi." In Mark's Gospel the disciples call Jesus "Rabbi" (9:5, 10:51, and 11:21). They did so even more frequently in John (1:38, 1:49, 3:2, 4:31, 6:25, 9:2, 11:8, and 20:16). Even John the Baptist is called "Rabbi" in that Gospel (3:26). In Luke no one uses the term "Rabbi." In Matthew only one disciple ever calls Jesus "Rabbi." Can you guess which one? It was Judas. Twice (26:25, 26:49).

It appears that the readers of Matthew's Gospel were up against a specific community whose leaders used and loved the title "Rabbi." They found support here for their opposition to those who favored the title for themselves.

The same was probably true of the title "Father." It appeared in Jewish circles as early as the first century. But because Jesus used that title for God ("Abba"), it would have horrified Matthew's community if any mere human being appropriated the title. Jesus' proscription against the title "Father" says more about that early difficulty than it does about today's practice.

We call priests "Father" today because of a fairly recent tradition. In the early church some bishops were called "father" to stress their authority as teachers. Benedict called the head of a monastic community "abbot" from the word "Abba" or "Father." "Father" became a title for the spiritual leader in monastic communities. That title carried over into the form of address for priests only a few hundred years ago in Ireland. When Irish immigrants came to this country they brought along the custom of calling priests "Father." It was never meant to buck Matthew's Gospel, but almost everyone outside the Catholic tradition finds the practice unacceptable.

Nonetheless, everyone supports the basic message: A faithful follower of Jesus exercises humble leadership.

Father Paul Turner is pastor of St. John Francis Regis Parish, Kansas City.