False Educational Superiority

I have been stuck at various times when I read the Gospels with a sense that the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders and elite) opperated from an view of superiority. They often appear to believe that they are better than others because they had been educated under a certain Rabbi or knew all 613 Laws.

And it hit me, this is part of what kept them from believeing in Jesus. They were so stuck in the law, their knowledge, their prestige, and their sinful obession to obey only those things that when God stared them in the face their eyes were too clouded to see.

Having recently finished seminary, this is something I fear running into and something I see all the time. Too often pastors and people in paid ministry positions believe themselves superior to everyone else. They believe they should be reveared, that certain things are beneath them, and that they are the only harbors of truth - that everyone who does or say something different from them is wrong.

Let me ask this question though, was it not this false sense of superioity gained from education what made the Pharisees/Sadducees so detestable that Jesus pronounced 7 woes on them and warned against their teachings? If Jesus, the basis of our faith, did not believe it beneath him to get down on his hands and knees to do the feet washing that was a servants job, then there is absolutely nothing that is beneath any Christian - seminary educated or not.

I know now that I will struggle with this at least for my immediate future, if not for the remainder of my life. I believe that it is sinful.

Lord please save me, and others that are in ministry/seminary educated, from falling into this human trap. This is a satan based human standard, but You have called us to Your standard. Please continually remind us of this truth and the reality of the life you've called pastors to.