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When Leaders Don’t Practice What They Preach

When Leaders Don’t Practice What They Preach

Last updated on: October 29, 2026 at 9:54 am by Herb Montgomery

When Leaders Don’t Practice What They Preach 2026-10-29T09:54:00-04:00 Herb Montgomery

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When Leaders Don't Practice What They Preach

Photo Credit: Robert Clark

Our reading this week is from the Gospel of Matthew:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

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This is Part 1 of the series When Leadership Becomes Self Serving

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Matthew 23:1-12)

In our reading this week, Jesus confronts a troubling contradiction between religious authorities and their practice of justice. He tells the crowds and his disciples that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees occupy “Moses’ seat,” yet he warns them not to imitate those leaders’ behavior because “they do not practice what they preach.” Jesus then offers a powerful image of religious leaders who “tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders,” while refusing to lift a finger to help them. Beneath this criticism lies a profound message: religion betrays its purpose when it imposes burdens on vulnerable people while those who hold power remain unwilling to share the weight.

Jesus is challenging more than personal inconsistency. He is exposing a system in which religious authority can become a means of control rather than a source of liberation. Religious leaders have the power to interpret sacred traditions, establish expectations, and determine who is considered faithful. This authority was not just religious but social, political, and economic as well, and they interpreted the Torah to encompass every area of social life. Whenever that authority is used to impose exhausting demands on ordinary people without offering them compassion, support, or meaningful assistance, religion becomes another instrument of oppression.

This critique is relevant today whenever religious institutions establish rules that burden people who are already struggling. Communities may preach generosity while protecting wealth, proclaim compassion while withholding assistance, or celebrate human dignity while excluding people who do not conform to their expectations. They may demand that struggling families demonstrate greater faith while ignoring the economic conditions that keep those families struggling. They may condemn people for their circumstances without questioning the social structures that helped produce those circumstances. Jesus exposes the injustice of demanding sacrifice from others while refusing to make sacrifices oneself.

His words also challenge the tendency to interpret justice as a matter of individual responsibility alone. People experiencing poverty, marginalization, or hardship are often told to work harder, exercise greater discipline, make better choices, or carry their burdens with more faith. Yet those offering such advice may remain comfortably removed from the conditions others endure. They prescribe solutions without sharing resources, demand perseverance without addressing injustice, and celebrate personal responsibility while ignoring collective responsibility.

Jesus invites us to ask a different question: Who is carrying the burden, who benefits from the arrangement, and who has the power to change it?

A socially just understanding of Jesus’ teaching recognizes that compassion must involve more than expressing sympathy for people who suffer. Compassion requires participation. It means helping to carry burdens, sharing resources, challenging unfair arrangements, and transforming the conditions that make some people’s lives unnecessarily difficult. Rather than simply telling hungry people to pray, justice helps ensure that they have food. Rather than blaming struggling families, justice examines whether everyone has access to the resources and opportunities necessary to thrive.

This passage also challenges religious communities to examine whether their practices reflect the values they proclaim. The measure of faithful leadership is not how loudly leaders defend tradition or how rigorously they demand obedience. It is whether their leadership produces greater dignity, freedom, compassion, and justice for the people they serve.

Ultimately, Jesus calls his followers away from religion, politics, and economics that make life heavier for the vulnerable and toward a way of living that makes life more humane for everyone. Authentic Jesus-following does not stand above suffering and issue instructions. It draws near, listens, shares, and acts.

The challenge of Jesus’ words is unmistakable: Do not make other people carry burdens you refuse to help lift. If your faith demands sacrifice from the vulnerable but asks nothing of the powerful, it is time to reconsider. The purpose of leadership is not to add weight to people’s shoulders but to participate in building a society where everyone can live with dignity, where burdens are shared, and where no one is abandoned to struggle alone.

Next in our reading, Jesus challenges the leaders who make their faith a public performance: “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.” Beneath these words lies a critique of religious hypocrisy, social hierarchy, and the human desire to use faith as a means of gaining power, prestige, and recognition.

Phylacteries are small containers holding passages from the Torah, while the tassels on garments serve as reminders of God’s commandments. Neither item was or inherently wrong. Jesus’ concern was rather that those symbols could become instruments of public display rather than expressions of genuine commitment to the social justice elements prescribed by the Torah. Outward demonstrations of devotion could replace the deeper work of compassion, justice, and solidarity with people who were suffering. Sacred observance might then become a performance designed to impress others instead of a practice that transformed how people treated their neighbors.

This criticism has profound implications right now. We’ll pick up with those implications beginning in Part 2.

Begin each day being inspired toward love, compassion, justice and action. Free.

General Christian

Politics and Religion

About Herb Montgomery

Herb Montgomery, director of Renewed Heart Ministries, is an author and adult religious educator helping Christians explore the intersection of their faith with love, compassion, action, and societal justice. You can read more about the author here.

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