When God Laughs

I recently finished preaching through Luke 16 when I was shocked at verse 14 when Luke records the response of the Pharisees that they "rolled their eyes at him," "ridiculed," and "mocked" him. The entire chapter is about one's relationship to money and material possessions and the religious crowd showed their cards by mocking Jesus because "they were lovers of money."

What follows in verses 15 through 18 seems to be totally out of place.  Jesus responds with these remarks:

* God knows your heart

* The Kingdom of God is now prominent

* The Word of God will not change

* The issues around marriage and divorce have not changed even though most of you teach otherwise.

It would seem Jesus would fire back with some word of derision to them or show His superiority.  Instead, he just tells them their response to Him does not change any of the truth for which they are dealing.

He hits them with topics of exposure of their error and affirms, that while they may believe anything they wish, their beliefs will not change the truth.

In our pluralistic culture today where beliefs are as personal as one's DNA, it is God who has given each of us the mind and will to believe whatever we wish.  And most of the time our reaction to God's unchanging truth is the same as the Pharisees - we sneer, roll our eyes and mock God. From Hollywood to comedians to even family and friends, the truth is mocked and considered out-of-date.

But God will get the last laugh. Truth does not have an expiration date.  Heaven and earth will pass away before even the smallest element of God's truth will change (verse 17). And in the end, God will be laughing at man's folly.

Psalm 59:8 "But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;..."

Proverbs 1: 26 "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes."