Luke 16:14-18
14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were ridiculing Him.
15 And He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of people, but God knows your hearts; because that which is highly esteemed among people is detestable in the sight of God.
16 “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John came; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
The Pharisees who Loved Money
Is wealth a sign of blessing?
Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and wealth” (Luke 16:13). The Pharisees, who loved money, ridiculed Jesus. For them, earthly wealth was the proof that they were receiving God’s blessings. They were using their earthly riches to cover up the poverty of their own spirituality. But God does not look at outward appearances; He sees the heart (ref. Acts 15:8-9). The things the Pharisees held dear are treated as worthless rubbish in the kingdom of God. In Japan, at the end of the war, people experienced their values that had been considered right until then overturned and denied in a single night. From that, we learned that unless we build the foundation of our lives on things of eternal worth, the consequences will be grave. Are you walking in reverent fear of the God who sees the heart?
Is Jesus abolishing the Old Testament?
The kingdom of God that Jesus brought was a concept that directly opposed the thinking of the Pharisees of that time. (1) John the Baptist was a prophet belonging to the Old Testament age, but with the coming of Jesus, the dawn of a new age arrived. (2) Jesus was the one foretold by “the Law and the Prophets (referring to the Old Testament),” and He came to fulfill the Old Testament. (3) Those who have realized the greatness of the kingdom of God that Jesus brought are described as “everyone is forcing his way into it” (v 16). The phrase “forcing his way” depicts a posture of zealously and wholeheartedly pursuing it. God always hears the prayers of those who seek Him earnestly. Have you ever encountered the fervent prayers of Christians in countries where revival is taking place? Without fervent prayer, there can be no growth of the church or spiritual growth. (4) Jesus teaches, through the topic of divorce, that we must not misunderstand the true intent of the Law. In Judaism at that time, a husband could divorce his wife for extremely trivial reasons, such as her cooking being bad, or encountering a woman more beautiful than his wife. But Jesus explained that this was a misunderstanding of the Law, and that God permitted divorce because of the hardness of people’s hearts (ref. Mark 10:5). The purpose of the Law is to make us people of love. Are you reading the Bible with the goal of becoming a person of love?
Today's prayer
Father God of Jesus Christ, I often lose sight of the goal of becoming a person of love. Please forgive me. Today, allow me to walk with Your heart as my heart. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.