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Apr 17, 2023 18:30pm

How Great is His Love for Us

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Hateful words spewed from his mouth at her as she coward beneath his towering body. The smack hit hard across her cheek, blood coming down her lip, and tears stinging her eyes. He hurled more and more vile obscenities at her, degrading and belittling her with every word. With her head bowed and body still, she knew not to look him in the eye. She hoped it would be over soon.

Just hours later, he caressed her arm and told her he was sorry. The familiar words rang out, “I promise, I’ll never do that again” escaped his lips as he pulled her close.

And she stayed.

How could he claim he loved her and act in the way he did? How could he hurt her and then turn around and think his empty words would make up for it?

His words did not match his actions.

“And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar’s. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.” (Mark 12:13-17)

Why were the Pharisees and Herodians so bent on destroying Jesus? The Herodians were supporters of Herod the Great and even though they didn’t get along with the Pharisees, they joined together in this plot to get rid of Jesus. They feared that Jesus would cause even more issues with their quest to have a descendant of Herod ruling over them. And then the Pharisees, these supposed religious men, were devoted to upholding the religious law, even adding new rules to the existing ones.

But their words did not match their actions. They came to Jesus declaring these things about Him as if they appreciated Him, cared for Him, or acknowledged His greatness. Notice how they speak, “Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth”. And then notice the deception, the trickery of their scheme as they ask about taxes.

They knew that if Jesus said, “Yes, you just pay taxes to Cesar”, the people would be upset. They hated paying taxes because it supported the Roman’s’ filthy and vile lifestyle. But, if Jesus said, “No, you shouldn’t pay it to Cesar”, then He would be found guilty of treason.

But Jesus knew the evil in their hearts and wisely spoke His response to their sinister plot.

“And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.”

These men, so called leaders of the people, even supposed to be the ones the people looked to for guidance towards the word of God, were hypocrites. Their words did not match their actions.

And here I sit this morning, thinking of my own prayers to the Lord, singing His praises for how wonderful He is and the amazing things He has done, yet, the question comes to my mind, do my actions match? My lips say one thing to Him and my hands do another? I turn to Him and say, “Father, forgive me, I will never do that again”. But, don’t I truly know that I will? How am I any better than the abusive spouse? How am I any better than these Pharisees?

I will never understand the goodness and grace of God completely. How could He love someone like me? How could He choose to stay by my side? How could He even think about using me to do anything for His kingdom?

How great His love is for us! May we be reminded of this today and convicted of our own hypocrisy. Let’s surrender it all to Him and follow Him with our whole self – words and actions.