Motives

Reading: Luke 20; Psalm 55 20 Watching for their opportunity, the leaders sent secret agents pretending to be honest men. They tried to get Jesus to say something that could be reported to the Roman governor so he would arrest Jesus. 21 They said, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You sincerely teach the ways of God. 22 Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?” 23 He saw through their trickery and said, 24 “Show me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 25 “Well then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God.” 26 So they failed to trap him in the presence of the people. (Luke 20:20-26 NLT) Jesus declared at the beginning of his ministry that his mission was to “preach the Good News to the poor.” The crowds that followed Jesus as he traveled in Galilee, Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem—who responded to his teaching and received his miracles—were overwhelmingly made up of the poor, the disenfranchised, the common people. Yet, whether he was in Capernaum, teaching in a rented house while four men ripped the roof off to get help for their friend, or in Jericho, calling a tax collector to come down out of a tree, or teaching in the Temple and in the streets of Jerusalem, it seems that the religious teachers and leading priests were nearly always present. The poor and disenfranchised came to hear, to receive hope, to be healed. The religious teachers and priests came to challenge Jesus’ authority, to look for error so they could accuse him of heresy, or to try to arrest him and have him killed by the Romans. It’s all about attitude and motive! Are you a receiver or a rejecter—an accuser or an encourager? It’s all about the heart—my heart and your heart! How’s your heart? Prayer: 12 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. 13 Keep me from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. 14 May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:12-14 NLT)