Extortion

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

EXTORTION

Luke 3:10-14

10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked. 11 John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" 13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. 14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely — be content with your pay."

NIV

Having considered the principle of charity, John was also asked, “What should we do?” by the tax collectors. We know from what John said to them the Jews were oppressed by the Roman government and forced to pay Rome a tax. Those Jews who were employed by Rome to collect a certain amount of tax took advantage of their position and extracted more tax than Rome required for their own personal benefit. The people despised their fellow Jews, first for working for Rome, and second because of their extortion methods. However, here they were out in the wilderness to see this man dressed in camel hair clothing, which might have appeared a little on the wild side. They also heard that searing condemnation of the Pharisees and Sadducees and were moved to ask about their own predicament. Again, we could see this as simply a historical moment of tax collectors, but is there a truth we can glean from our life in the body of Christ today? We have been made aware of some, so-called, men of God, who have extorted great amounts of money from godly people for their own benefit so they can live a more abundant life, even to the point of luxury. We also are aware of those in government who have taken advantage of the people, establishing more and more taxes to not just run the government, but to be able to legislate more raises in their income so as to create great personal wealth. However, our concern concerns the local church and our personal lives. Are there local churches extracting tithes, in fact, promoting giving so the church treasury is chuck full, having saving accounts rather than using that money to aid those in need. We are sure many churches are giving churches and doing what is right, being good stewards. We have seen over the years some manipulation by pastors who promote people to give to enhance their financial picture. Then we wonder if we do that personally. Do we give from our abundance and in accordance with our income willingly, without compulsion, or out of obligation? This goes back to that principle of charity, or loving others as we love ourselves. We are not tax collectors, but have we, in a sense, extracted money from those in need, but not giving when a need is there? Just some thoughts we need to ponder more.