Luke 16:14-18
What Is Highly Esteemed
Read the passage
14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus.
15So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.
16The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
18Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Berean Standard Bible
Read aloud
The Pharisees hear Jesus' teaching about money and ridicule Him because they love money. Jesus tells them that they are those who justify themselves before people, but God knows their hearts.
What people prize can be detestable before God. Jesus then speaks of a turning point: the Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John, and since then the good news of God's kingdom is being preached. He describes people forcing their way into it, but immediately insists that even the smallest stroke of the Law will not fall away.
The arrival of the kingdom does not give people permission to discard God's word. Jesus holds together a new stage in God's work and the continuing authority of what God has spoken. People who justify themselves before others cannot use the good news as another way to avoid His claim on their lives.
His saying about divorce makes that authority painfully concrete: whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. A change that people accept as respectable may still break faith with a spouse before God. The seriousness of marriage cannot be settled merely by winning public approval.
The passage confronts both love of wealth and the misuse of religious interpretation. Public respectability cannot hide a heart that treats people or God's word as tools for personal advantage.
Questions
1 Why do the Pharisees ridicule Jesus?
AnswerThey love money and mock Jesus' teaching. Their reaction shows that financial attachment can make truth sound foolish.
2 What does God know?
AnswerGod knows the heart, even when a person has justified himself before other people. Outward approval cannot conceal inward motives from Him.
3 What does Jesus say about the Law?
AnswerHe says it remains weighty and that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of it to become void.
4 What does the divorce saying warn against?
AnswerJesus calls divorcing a wife to marry another adultery, and also speaks against marrying a divorced woman. His warning prevents us from assuming that an accepted change in marital status makes every relationship right before God.
What This Means for Us
God's evaluation can be the opposite of public esteem. Families should examine not only what they say they value but what their spending, praise, and attention reveal.
Take marriage vows seriously and read this saying alongside the other passages that address broken marriages. Matthew 19:9 names an exception for sexual immorality; 1 Corinthians 7:15 addresses an unbelieving spouse who leaves and says the believer is not bound in such cases. These passages address distinct circumstances. They call for careful listening rather than a verdict on someone's whole life from one sentence. Do not use Jesus' warning to excuse betrayal or pressure someone to remain in danger.
Prayer
God who sees the heart, free us from loving money or public approval more than truth. Make our household faithful with promises, tender toward the wounded, and humble before Your word. Amen.