So siblings
Y’shua had no doubt that what he faced was temptation. He then treated it as such. In His shoes, how would we react? Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Matthew 22:18 CEB
[18] Knowing their evil motives, Jesus replied, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?
Responding to Temptation
Siblings, as we reflect together this Valentines Day, I pray us all God’s love manifested in the right places. Can you imagine those folks’ audacity and temerity? They had no compunction about using flattery to set Jesus up. Their flowery words were intended as a cover for the real plan. It was a distraction.
Self-Check
Have we allowed ourselves to be distracted by the flowery words and flattery of others? How did that turn out?
Application
I don’t even know whether I should call them wolves in sheepskin. Those young Pharisees and Herodians didn’t take too long to move from flattery to go straight for the jugular. The moment they introduced the issue of taxation, it was war. For everyone knew that speaking against the taxation was speaking against the empire. For all their flattery, they were setting Jesus up as an enemy of the state. That was punishable by death.
By the time they got to the question about the taxes, those men must have sounded like the devil in the wilderness … I’ll give you fame and fortune if you bow down to me. It wasn’t said exactly in those words, but that’s what that temptation implied. Back in the wilderness, despite His hunger, and then right there with the young Herodians and Pharisees, Y’shua Jesus’ reply was constant. He knew it was a test and called out the devil, citing scripture. He called out the young Pharisees and Herodians, naming them hypocrites.
Siblings, sometimes we have to call the enemy out. We don’t have to get into battle with them, but let us acknowledge, despite their smiles, who we’re dealing with – if only in our minds. Sometimes we can’t be as public as Y’shua, but we must recognize the enemy’s trap. And when we do, let’s ‘submit ourselves … to God, resist the devil [even if presented as friend, foe, or flatterer], and he will flee …’ (see James 4).
Point to Ponder
How do we call out those aiming for our spiritual our economic or social demise? Do we even recognize them as hypocrites?
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May all we seek be found in Christ
