Jesus sure did talk a lot about money! That often seems to be a part of “Jesus” the world ignores today. How many times pastors have been chastised because they spoke about money in their messages!
People who do not like to hear messages about money have probably never read Luke 16. It begins with the Parable of the Dishonest Manager and ends with the Rich Man and Lazarus. In the middle Jesus gives a small discourse on Kingdom Values to the Pharisees who were listening. He is prompted by the Pharisees love of – you guessed it – money.
“The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at Him. And He told them ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.’” [vs 14-15]
There are four words in Jesus’ warning to the Pharisees that should bring all of us up short. “God knows your hearts.”
When the Pharisees heard that, they should have remembered 1 Samuel 16 when God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king after God rejected the current one, Saul.
When Samuel tried to anoint Jesse’s oldest son Eliab, God stopped him. “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart.” [vs 7 HCSB]
In essence Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they were being rejected as Eliab was because God knew what was in their hearts. What made them “highly admired” by people was “revolting in God’s sight.”
No wonder they hated Jesus so much that they were willing to bond with their enemies to try to find a way to silence Him forever.
