A PARABLE IN PARALLEL TEXT: JESUS AT GENERAL CONFERENCE

Matthew 23:1-4	Jesus, Infinite Episcopal District, Nazareth region.
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,	To the members of this great Zion and especially to the delegates,
saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.	The officers and bishops sit in the line of Miles and Vanderhorst.
Therefore whatever they tell you to observe,  that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.	So you should follow the rules of the Discipline they have published.  Read it and do what they say.   But, don’t act like the people at the general conference because they say, “Follow the rules, but they don’t follow them.”
For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.	For we pass resolutions that saddle local churches with burdensome mandates, but we don’t do a thing to provide them with the means to fulfill those requirements.
Matthew 6:7
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.	And when you offer a motion, do not repeat a bunch of clichés and compliments appealing to a leader’s vanity like you’re worshipping a heathen idol ‘cause it sounds like you’re fishing for attention.
Mark 12:38-40
Then He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces,	Watch out for those folks who demand elaborate and highest commendations for themselves every time they appear
the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts,	And who feel entitled to the most prominent positions
who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.	But they exploit the most vulnerable churches and the least powerful groups in the church while making a pretense of holiness.  They will receive greater condemnation.
Luke 11:42-48
42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.	Oh, you leaders!  Don’t you see how broken you are?  You raise and pay and administer the money with meticulous efficiency, but you don’t do right by all your folks; you don’t love them like you love yourself.  Yes, you should collect and disburse the budget, but you should do that AND give your people justice and love as well.
43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the [m]best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.	Come on, don’t you see?! You are addicted to accolades.
44 Woe to you, [n]scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”	And not just THEM.  You other leaders, too.  You act inconsistent with your professed ethics and morality.  Your ruthless politicking is like an overgrown cemetery with no tombstones.  If this weren’t called a church meeting observers wouldn’t know the work had anything to do with Jesus.
45 Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.	“Mr. Chairman, point of order!” cried one of the delegates.  “The way his complaint is worded, it would accuse ALL of us, not just bishops and general officers.”
46 And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.	Response:  That is correct.  You don’t see how broken you are either. You vote to sustain the boot that will be placed on your neck without providing a way to pay for the boot.”
. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.	Don’t you get it.  You/ We are digging the church’s grave, a church that generations were killing before millennials were born.
48 In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.	In fact, you/ we are accomplices in the death of the church. We receive the reports and recommendations of its poisoning with “highest commendations.”
Luke 11: 52-54
52 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”	And to you/ us who know the Discipline forwards and backwards, you/we who have “dedicated my life to this church,” we who KNOW the way things are done in the church:  a bunch of us are going to Hell after a career of keeping people out of Heaven.
53 And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things,	And when Jesus finished his statement, the chair was inundated with rebuttals screamed out from the floor and the stage.  On his way to his seat, other delegates confronted him, “Who did he think he was?  What did he mean by . . . ?  Why would he say that in front of everybody . . . .?  Aren’t you worried about annual conference?”
54 lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him	But it was the quiet ones who were the real threat.  The louds ones yelled about him being taken down.  The quiet ones planned to do it.