You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God

 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?  No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.  And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.  For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

"The law and prophets were until John.  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.

"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery."

- Luke 16:10-17(18)

Yesterday we read that Jesus said to His disciples:  "There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.  So he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you?  Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.'  Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do?  For my master is taking the stewardship away from me.  I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.  I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'  So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'  And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.'  So he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'  Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?'  So he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.'  And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'  So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly.  For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.  And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home."

 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?  No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."  Jesus has just told the parable of the Unjust Steward (see yesterday's reading, above). In that parable, the unjust steward, who had earlier squandered his master's wealth, used "mammon" (wealth or money) with mercy, "making friends" with those who owed money to his master.  Here Jesus speaks of being faithful in terms of being faithful to God, even in the ways in which we use our wealth.  He compares the riches of the world (unrighteous mammon) to the true riches of the Kingdom and of faith, the things of God.  My study bible explains that what is another man's is also wealth -- that is, the wealth we should distribute through almsgiving and mercy.  Whatever we have really belongs to God.   What Christ is getting at is the root of selfishness; our love and faithfulness to God will determine the ways in which we use whatever is at our disposal.

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.  And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.  For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God."  My study bible says that the things which are highly esteemed among men include money, power, position, and praise.  We revisit Jesus' words elsewhere.  In chapter 11, Jesus expresses the "woes" coming to those in leadership for their conduct.  Among other things, He lists their love of worldly honor and position:  "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces" (11:43).

 "The law and prophets were until John.  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail."  In chapter 11, Jesus also criticizes the Pharisees for the fact that they follow the letter of the law as regards tithing, but fail to practice the true mercy of God:  "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone" (11:42).  Here, He compares the Old Covenant and the New; He is the fulfillment of the law and prophets, and His ministry brings the fullness of the ultimate aim of the law, which is true righteousness.

"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery."  This verse is seemingly out of place here, disconnected from the surrounding passages.  But it is linked in terms of the themes which concern the Pharisees (divorce and remarriage under the Mosaic law were highly contested and debated issues among the religious leadership, with the Pharisees coming down close to Jesus' position on the matter).  Remarriage also involved questions of dowry and wealth, and was also therefore subject to specific regulation.  What ties this passage together with the themes already expressed here and in the earlier parable of the Unjust Steward is righteousness, mercy, and the use of possessions.  Jesus repeatedly condemns divorce in terms of its easy and simple access for men under the Mosaic Law and the abuse of the practice.  Women could not sue for divorce; only men could do so, and for what amounted to nearly arbitrary reasons.  Here Jesus holds fidelity to a very strict standard; to treat a wife as traded commodity is sinful.

What does it mean to possess wealth?  Perhaps Jesus, in speaking of divorce, wants us to consider how or whether or not we treat fellow human beings as things we own, aspects of our wealth.  Surely our relationships are wealth, but they can't be thought of as "mammon," commodities of ownership.  Jesus seems to be asking us repeatedly to consider that whatever we have truly belongs to God in the first place, and therefore the rules or laws which govern how we use what we have -- no matter what that may be -- aren't the laws of balancing the books or even following a code of tithing.  Rather, the law that governs the way we choose to live our lives is that of faith -- love and trust in God and extending God's righteousness through whatever we might control.   This is contrasted with a selfish attitude of needing to gain the whole world.  Indeed, Jesus contrasts the eternal nature of the possession of soul with the desire to grasp all the world:  "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" (9:25).  The Pharisees, while they are righteous according to the law, are men who seem intent on gaining the whole world, which includes "the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces," and honorific titles.  But the Cross to which Christ calls each one of us is one that asks us to exchange one life for another -- a worldly perspective for one that sees all the wealth of the world as a gift for which we are stewards who seek to please our Master.  In this way, Jesus' teachings really echo what He calls the two greatest commandments:   "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).   Let us remember that whatever we possess, whether that be talent or material commodity, we each share the capacity to practice the perspective Jesus teaches us.  We each may practice mercy, or give of our time, our kindness, the grace God gives our hearts.  In a society that has so much wealth, it has also been found that the intangible gift of attention, respect, and recognition of a fellow human being makes the greatest difference to those who may be "the least of these."  Over the course of the past week's readings, Jesus has given us repeated teachings on humility, and in particular to the great men among the rulers of the Pharisees.  Let us consider their righteousness, and what they yet still lacked.  Humility is the key to understanding how and with what each of us may be blessed, and how we may use whatever we have to serve God with love.  We live in a world that magnifies position given by the praise in popular media, and therefore particularly that of image or appearance.  In modern talk, this phenomenon is frequently referred to as "virtue signalling," used as a form of public relations.   Let us consider Jesus' warnings about basing our lives and values exclusively on that which is highly esteemed among men.