Meaning of Luke 16:14-17

Dr. Couch, what is going on in Luke 16:14-17? I know you wrote a nationally published commentary on Luke, so you have some idea of what the Lord is talking about. ANSWER:  Christ is speaking to the Pharisees because He knew they were lovers of money. Before men, they were trying to justify themselves and yet God the Father knew their hearts. Before John the Baptist began proclaiming the gospel (good news) of the coming Messianic Kingdom (the kingdom of God), the Pharisees bragged in their Law-keeping. But then some of them saw the benefit of following after the kingdom, whereby the rigors of the Law were eased. While the preaching and the offer of the Kingdom was the new message, the Lord reminded them that the Law was still around, for "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail" (v. 17).    The millennial Kingdom at that point would be rejected and the belief in the simple gospel would be proclaimed after the crucifixion of Christ, and yet it too would be spurned. But the Jews, especially the Pharisees, could not escape the Law! This does not mean that they were to be saved by "Law-keeping." I wrote in my commentary:     But God knew their hearts (v. 15a). What men esteem, God detests (v. 15b). He then added that since the coming of John the Baptist, everyone was trying to force his way into the kingdom of God (v. 16), "but it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail" (v. 17). Many of the Jews wanted the benefits of the kingdom proclaimed by John and the Lord Jesus, but the rigors of the Law and its conviction about the nature of sin were being ignored. God was examining hearts, and the judgment of the Law was standing.    Everything Jesus was teaching was being scoffed at (v. 14). People want the easy route and do not want to live by the truth. The legalists of Christ day would pretend to keep the Law but in the long run they would reject both the Kingdom offer and the simple way of faith in the gospel.    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Apr., 10)