What is Important to You?
Luke 16-14-18
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
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.
Occasionally we look at Scripture and wonder why these stories are put together the
way they are. We must remember that Scripture is divinely inspired. When it comes to
the Gospels of Jesus Christ, it is also important to remember that most of them were
written 30 to 60 years after his life. It is truly spectacular—and a great blessing for us as
followers of Christ—that his words and actions have been passed down to us. We
sometimes forget to thank those who gave their lives to ensure that the words of Christ
reached future generations. We rarely think about that, but perhaps at times we should
pause and simply contemplate it.
This Scripture passage comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 16, verses 14 through
18. This section begins with Jesus criticizing a group of Pharisees who are described as
lovers of money. If they loved money so much, why were they listening to him?
Scripture often tells us that the Pharisees and religious leaders wanted to trap Jesus into
committing some form of blasphemy. I am not saying that this is untrue, and toward
the end of the Gospels it certainly seems apparent. However, the Pharisees were also
products of their culture. To fully understand the original meaning of Scripture, we
must ask what people in Jesus’ day believed and valued. To accomplish that, we need
to connect the culture of the time with the words we find in the Gospels.
Debate and conversation were key elements of religious education and training. One
did not study Scripture alone but always with a partner. People questioned the
Scriptures as a way of trying to understand their meaning. Multiple interpretations were
not only possible but expected. When you discuss Scripture with someone who has a
different perspective, you begin to see new possibilities yourself. Unfortunately, this
practice is not very common in churches today. It may happen in some Bible study
settings, but in my experience, many people prefer to hear the same familiar story—the
one that comforts them.
I once heard someone say that many people come to church hoping that the “Jesus
bus” will pick them up one day and carry them off to heaven. They believe they don’t
have to do anything to get on the bus except show up on Sunday morning, because
Jesus knows exactly when worship starts and will arrive on time. You may chuckle at
that idea, but I assure you—it’s true.
I once visited a man in the hospital after receiving a call from the chaplain’s office saying
he wanted a visit. His name was identical to that of a church member, so I went
immediately. Of course, I would have gone regardless, since he specifically requested a
visit from a pastor. When I entered the room, I looked at him and said, “Who are you?”
Years earlier, he had been baptized in the church I served, but that was the last time he
ever attended. I asked him why church membership mattered to him after being absent
for decades. He told me that when he died, he needed to be buried by a pastor so that
he could go to heaven. I didn’t argue with him, especially since he was in the hospital,
but it made me wonder how many people think that way.
So when Jesus speaks about Pharisees who love money, perhaps we should look inward
and ask ourselves what laws—or priorities—we live by. Is God your first love? We
sometimes joke that God is from the state of Missouri, where people want proof: “Show
me.” So how do we show God that we love him more than anything else in this world?
We must remember that everything we have comes from God. God created the heavens
and the earth; therefore, everything we touch comes from God.
Sporadically we forget that even our physical bodies are creations of God. Think about
this for a moment: at some point in your life, you may have drunk a water molecule
that once passed through Jesus’ body. You may also have breathed in an oxygen
molecule that Jesus once inhaled. Everything in this world recycles itself, so it is entirely
possible. It’s a striking idea when you think about it—that we are physically connected
to Christ in ways we rarely consider.
Jesus ushered in the kingdom of God. In this passage from Luke, Jesus tells us that
John the Baptist is the last of the prophets. In Judea, there had not been a prophet for
over 400 years. Your Bible likely skips over those years. When Martin Luther translated
the Bible, he chose not to include texts that he could not find in Hebrew or Greek. This
resulted in the exclusion of about 17 books, which we now call the Apocrypha. These
books cover those “missing” 400 years that the Protestant church often mentions. They
are important texts and help us understand how God worked through the Jewish people
to prepare the way for the Messiah.
Returning to Luke, Jesus tells us that the age of the prophets ended with John the
Baptist. Yet Jesus himself is also a prophet—indeed, the ultimate prophet, the Messiah.
Through Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is sharing with us that we no longer need to look for
another Messiah or prophet. He has already come.
It is essential to remember that there were many expressions of Christianity emerging
in the ancient world. Jesus did not provide detailed instructions for creating a new
religion because that was not his goal. He came to reform Judaism and extend it to the
world. It was Jesus’ followers—especially Paul—who shaped Christianity into a distinct
religion. Paul’s letters give us much of Christian theology, ritual, and structure. In many
ways, modern Christianity is “Pauline Christianity.” Other groups, such as the Gnostics
and the Ebionites, also believed Jesus was the Messiah but understood him differently.
Many such groups arose in the second and third centuries CE and were eventually
suppressed after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
So when Jesus says that the kingdom of God is upon us, he is declaring that the final
prophet has come and gone and that God’s Messiah has been revealed to the world.
Occasionally it is difficult to see that kingdom fully realized. But it is up to each of us
who call ourselves Christians and followers of Jesus Christ to help bring the kingdom
of heaven to all people. If everyone embraced the hope and grace offered by Jesus
Christ, we would not be plagued by war and violent division. We would strive to love
God and love our neighbors, just as Jesus taught us in the Gospels. And if you ever
wonder how God wants us to live—and you would rather not read the entire Torah to
figure it out—all you need to do is read the Gospels.
Amen.
