Today in God's Word—August 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
August 13, Luke 20
One night a few months ago, I was surprised to find Snow White on the front porch when I answered the doorbell. Later the Incredible Hulk and Barney stopped by. Dora the Explorer and the Power Rangers came to the door that night, too. I feigned mystification with each super hero or cartoon character that rang the bell. But I wasn’t really fooled. I knew each visitor was a little kid in a costume, pretending to be someone else. They thought I’d never guess their true identity because of their clever disguises. But I saw through the ruse. Besides, they were all too short to be real princesses or ninja.
We expect neighborhood kids to wear costumes for Trick-or-Treat. But who would think the chief priests and leading scholars of Judaism would play masquerade? They wanted to destroy Jesus, but they feared the crowd who seemed to support him. So they sent play-actors, pretending to be sincere, trying to make Jesus say something they could use to accuse him before the Roman authorities. But Jesus perceived their craftiness and answered their questions, giving them no basis for an accusation.
It’s ridiculous to try to trick Jesus, right? How can you fool someone who knows what you’re thinking? But do we ever engage in the same game, pretending to be sincere when we’re not?
How about worship? Have you ever attended church, sung the songs and bowed your head during prayer without even paying attention? Our praise songs can be as insincere as the compliments the spies heaped on Jesus. We can be present for the Lord’s Supper, give our offering and look interested in what the preacher’s saying, but be absent in mind and spirit. Maybe our play-acting fools our fellow congregants, but no one has ever fooled God.
How about repentance? Have you ever prayed for forgiveness with no intention of turning away from the sin? Have we ever been sorry, not for
sinning against God, but for getting caught or for the consequences we brought on ourselves by disobeying him? God knows our hearts. There’s no way to pretend we’re sincere about turning from sin. We may even fool ourselves about this, but no one has ever fooled God.
How about the Lordship of Christ? It’s one thing to say “Jesus is Lord,” and quite another to deny ourselves and do what he tells us to do. Sometimes people fret about hypocrites in the church who say they’re Christians, but don’t live obedient lives. Don’t worry. Hypocrites in churches today are as unmasked before Jesus as the ones in the temple and synagogues were 2,000 years ago. Our concern should not be with them, but with matching our own lives to our professions.
I gave the costumed kids the candy they came to collect, even though I knew they were not who they were pretending to be. The stakes are much higher for pretending before God. You can’t afford to play that game.
From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly Guide for Your Journey Through the New Testament, Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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