“WHAT ARE YOU SNEERING AT?
“WHAT ARE YOU SNEERING AT??”:
~ The Chosen Devotional Vol. 5, Day 12: A PERSONAL REFLECTION.
“The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were SNEERING at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. . . .” (Luke 16:14-15, NIV).
This daily devotional quickly gets to the “heart” of the matter: Who (or what?) has your heart?
When I read the verses above, I was immediately struck by the phrase, “who loved money.” Like most of us, my default diagnosis of the Pharisees’ problem is the PLEASURE that money brings through its “stuff”–designer shoes (well, sandals), fancy cars (well, wagons, & chariots), 85″ flat screen TVs (well, amphitheaters), and the like. You know. “Stuff to have FUN with.”
Now there is nothing sinful about “play” per se. But play turns dark when it rules the day . . . and the night . . . night and day! To put it bluntly, when personal pleasure becomes the “be-all and end-all” of someone’s existence, that person has made Pleasure her/his god—virtue is at best suspended and at worst downright rejected in service of personal, playful, pleasures which now can come even at the cost of someone else’s harm.
But this is more of a modern diagnosis of the Pharisees’ problem. It is serious for sure. The stakes could not be higher. But there’s something far more serious and sinister at play (pardon the pun) in the Pharisees love of money, and The Chosen devotional nails it.
Because wealth was wrongly understood as an unassailable sign of divine sanction and personal piety (cf. the modern “Prosperity Gospel”), affluence served to pad the Pharisees’ resumé. What the Pharisees were really after was control, influence, and personal aggrandizement, and the trappings of wealth bought it all.
But Jesus accused them of justifying themselves for this love of money. “After all,” they likely reasoned, “we’re using the money for religious causes” (like high-profile almsgiving and ostentatious displays of extravagant generosity). But these acts of “generosity” were (mostly NOT, or indeed NOT AT ALL) out of compassion for the poor, but rather out of their concern to “look good,” to “appear pious” so they might maintain influence and control among the people. Their so-called “acts of piety” amounted to little more than “breadcrumbing” (i.e., emotional manipulation flowing from a lack of true commitment to mutually-respecting relationship that simply keeps the other person “on the hook).
In short, the sin of the Pharisees’ “love of money” amounted to using people for personal gain. Of course, this runs counter to the divine nature, character, and will that God designed to nourish and sustain His human offspring. Using people for personal gain is the pathway to perdition; instead, using personal gain for people is the pathway to peace. Using ALL one’s resources to help someone—even to the point of sacrificing one’s life—is the supreme example of “agape” love. This is precisely what we see through the “CrossLens.”
But the Pharisees’ sin goes deeper than the attempts to purchase power and control. These Pharisees are deliberately posturing themselves as the source of power and control. The unspoken implication of their self-aggrandizement is that for the average pew-warmer the Pharisees are God. Does that not explain why they were so upset with Jesus, Who (legitimately!!) indicated by his WORDS and DEEDS that He INDEED was/is GOD?!
As chosen SERVANTS of Yahweh, the Pharisees had failed miserably. They directed the attention (i.e., glory) to themselves rather than to God Who alone is worthy of that honor.
True ministers of the gospel take pains to direct the attention to Jesus. Witness the apostle Peter who said, “Why do you stare at us as if we made this man walk by our own power or piety?” (Acts 3:12b)! And the apostle Paul who, when those in Lystra wrongly assumed he was a god, said, “We too are men, with human natures just like you! . . .” (Acts 14:15).
Scripture is clear: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). And it is not without significance that Jesus’ kingdom manifesto (a.k.a. the “Beatitudes”) that outlines the very traits that MUST characterize ALL citizens of God’s kingdom begins with humility: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). Paul expressed the “Beatitudes” this way: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control . . .” (Galatians 5:22). These attitudinal traits are the litmus test of whether a Christian leader is “driving under the influence” of the Holy Spirit OR “another (of a different kind) spirit.”
As Christ’s ambassadors, believers are called upon to glorify God in all our speech, deeds, and attitudinal posture. How much more must this be true of those whom God calls into full time ministry?! “Father, deliver us from the temptation to self-exaltation! Amen!”
