It Is An Old Carnival Trick for a so-called “seer,” usually blindfolded and dressed in oriental fashion with his head crowned with a turban, to add a mystical effect, to have his assistant pick out someone from the audience and then proceed to read the person’s mind. The person is supposed to reveal some secret to the assistant who writes it down and then calls on the seer to reveal the secret. Naturally, the seer always wins and the written clue card held by the assistant verifies that fact.
The key to the mystery is that the seer and his assistant have previously worked out a code, which allows the easy deciphering of the thoughts written on the card by the audience participant. Of course, there are many variations on this basic scenario, but all depend on coded information passing between assistant and mind reader. In reality, no one can really read another person’s mind, let alone know his innermost thoughts and motives. Only God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12,13).
The Lord knew the heart
When the Scribes and Pharisees thought evil of Jesus in their hearts, he surely knew it even though they were circumspect enough not to say so out loud, fearing the common people (Matt. 9:4, Luke 5:22 among others). When we read of such incidents, they are often followed by dramatic miracles of healing and we can easily overlook the wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ being able to tell the hidden thoughts and intents of the heart.
Some have even dismissed such mind reading as not miracles at all, but rather simply the result of the instinct of Jesus. What do I mean by this? In a close, long standing relationship, for example between husband and wife, or parents and children, patterns of behavior emerge, which enables one to instinctively know what the other would do under certain circumstances. This is not mind reading, but rather the fruit of long experience. One of my children had his ears turn red every time he told his Mom or me a fib. It took no great genius on our part to tell when he was being less than truthful. However, gaining insight from past experience, or from reading external signs, is quite different from knowing the intents of the heart. The scriptures make it plain that only God can tell the innermost thoughts of a person (Psa. 94:11) and it would be a sign of Immanuel (God with us) that he, and he alone, would be able to reveal the secrets hidden in a man’s heart (Psa. 44:21).
Should we pay tribute issue?
Jesus knew exactly what the elders of Israel were thinking. He knew their hypocrisy when they tried to trick him with the question: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? (Mark 12:14).
By lawful they meant not only under the Law of Moses, but also according to all the traditions codified by the Rabbis in their commentaries. The Jews prided themselves on being free men and not subject to the bondage of any since coming out of Egypt.
The hypocrisy that Jesus saw in the secrets of their hearts was the key to the handling of the situation. The Jews hated the Roman occupiers and despised those who cooperated with them. They saw it as their duty to avoid in any way possible to pay taxes to the Roman occupying power. These very taxes were used to support the presence of the Roman Legions, which provided the power that enforced the rule of Rome on Palestine.
If Jesus said that there was no problem in paying taxes, then he would have been perceived as a collaborator with the despised Romans. If Jesus said, no, don’t pay the tribute, he would be guilty of tax evasion under Roman law. Such refusal was a serious offense then and now, for tax evasion still carries dire consequences.
Christadelphians have often been placed in the same quandary, especially in times of war. A great deal of tax money is used to support military purposes. In the past some pacifist groups have refused to pay taxes based on the principle that governments use such tribute to do violent harm. If, on the other hand, we do pay taxes and a portion is used for military purposes, then we have been accused of hypocrisy for not carrying out our nonviolent consciences. Some people see this as a brand of hypocrisy and have tried to pin such a label upon us; on such occasions we, too, can rely on the words of our Lord: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s (Mark 12:17). It is not our job to decide the political issues of state in this current world; we are strangers and sojourners in an alien land. Our citizenship is in the kingdom of God, and when we pay our taxes, let the government decide what it wants to do with it; these are political matters of the here and now and should not concern us.
On other occasions Jesus knew when the elders accused him in their hearts of blasphemy, he knew when they were filled with envy, and he knew when they sought to kill him (Luke 6:6-8, Matt. 12:23-25, John 7:1, and John 10:31,33). On more than one occasion, he used this latter knowledge to escape until his time had come. In all these instances, his power to read the thoughts and intents of the heart was clearly manifested.
Why didn’t the Scribes and Pharisees perceive something special about this man? These miracles of the mind should have made them realize that the Father was revealing His son unto them. While the elders of Israel failed to recognize anything special about Jesus being able to read their thoughts, yet there was one who perceived, and the story is particularly poignant; it is the tale of the Samaritan woman.
The Samaritan woman
The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans so we can be reasonably certain that when Jesus went to Samaria he had never been there before, neither could he have had any prior knowledge of the woman he met at Jacob’s well (John 4:16-25). Without any possible prior knowledge of this woman, our Lord Jesus Christ reveals to her all the secret sin she had hidden in her heart. She had tried to minimize her promiscuous behavior, but Christ laid it bare. She had had five previous husbands and was now living with a man without benefit of ceremony.
The reaction of the Scribes and Pharisees to having the evil in their hearts poured out by Christ was always anger and hatred, but this sinful woman instantly recognizes her sin and is astonished by the revelation! The sinfulness of this woman in Jewish eyes is beyond doubt, for she was of another fellowship than our Lord (i.e. a Samaritan) and also a promiscuous adulteress. Is there an ecclesia today that would welcome such a person in fellowship? Yet she recognized immediately the immense importance of the mind reading that had just been performed on her by the Lord Jesus Christ: Sir I perceive that thou art a prophet (John 4:19).
Furthermore, she realized that the manifest authority of God would be vested in a person who could perform such mind reading miracles; I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things (John 4:25). Jesus acknowledges her faith and reveals directly that he was the Messiah (John 4:26). The woman then makes haste to return to her city and proclaim all that had been revealed to her; Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? (John 4:29). This recognition was exactly why our Lord Jesus Christ performed miracles.
Here in Samaria a very different scenario takes place from experiences that Jesus had with the elders of Israel. This sinful woman has a remarkable effect upon the people of her town. Instead of self-righteous rejection of a story about a Messiah told by a supposedly wicked woman, there is a remarkable outpouring of desire to meet this man Jesus Christ; Then they went out of the city, and came unto him (John 4:30).
One can only imagine what the reaction would have been if a woman of ill-repute had ventured back into a Jewish city and told a tale about a mindreading miracle convincing her of the Messiah. We might even wonder whom it is that will be sent to us to call us to the Messiah? We don’t actually have to go far to illustrate what kind of reaction a Jewish city had to the miracles of Christ, all we need do is recall what happened at Gergasa. In that town the good citizens, anxious because of the destruction of their pork business, told Jesus to go somewhere else as quickly as possible. They wanted nothing to do with this man who had cured two demoniacs and caused 2000 perfectly good (but not kosher) swine to perish into the Sea of Galilee.
The tremendous response of the citizens of this Samaritan town no doubt played a great part in laying a firm foundation of faith for these shunned people. This later bore complete fruit in the vast number of Samaritans who were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Apostles (Acts 8).
Judge not; judge righteously
The scriptures tell us that it is the Lord God, and Him alone who can read the secrets of a man’s heart; for he knoweth the secrets of the heart (Psa. 44:21; also Dan. 2:30, Psa. 139:23 and Jer. 17:10). This places upon us two very real challenges; first we must be most careful in judging others, because we can never know their true motives, i.e. the intents of the heart. Secondly, we must comprehend that God knows the thoughts and intents of our own hearts and we must never forget this fact.
The Lord Jesus taught us — JUDGE not, that ye be not judged (Matt.7:1; Luke 6:37). This quote should not be taken out of context or else it becomes a general prescription for a life in which we will constantly become, in a sense, the victims of every possible scam and easy prey for any who would wish to unjustly use us. The Lord also taught; Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment (John 7:24).
If we juxtapose these two verses, we get the full power of the teaching. It is not that we are to be devoid of making decisions about people, rather it is that every care must be taken to make them with due respect for righteous judgment. We can never really know the true intents of a person’s heart; we are often clueless to his motives even when we might think otherwise based on past behavior (a person can change, we ought to give him the benefit of the doubt).
It also means we must not be respecters of persons in our judgments (James 2:2-4). The worthiness of any to hear and receive the gospel message from us can not depend on prior circumstances. No matter what perceived sin they had in their past life, all are still capable of repentance and baptism into a new life in Christ. This possibility of a new life must have existed for the Samaritan woman. Even so we must freely give the Word to all, no matter what neighborhood they live in, regardless of poverty or riches, regardless of personality, irrespective of race, ethnicity, language, or gender (Gal. 3:28).
The Lord knows our hearts
Lastly, and most importantly, there must be a realization within ourselves what it truly means that the Lord can read our every thought and the intents of our hearts. When Jesus said: But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28 NIV), he meant it! Being able to read the intents of the heart is a most frightening concept and I personally am filled with profound awe and respect as I contemplate this idea, even as I write these very words! It doesn’t mean we are doomed because we will from time to time have evil thoughts. Our Lord Jesus Christ shared our very nature and surely had thoughts that must parallel our own in every respect.
We must, however, appreciate an incredibly important difference. One man might look at a beautiful piece of jewelry and think in his heart, “What a wonderful work of art,” while another man thinks, “I wish I had the guts to steal it!” It is the same way with lust; a man or a woman might look at another of the opposite sex and admire his or her beauty for beauty’s sake while another thinks in his heart only of carnal desire. Unfortunately, thought is often the father of the deed. Can someone actually absorb endless violent mayhem and blatant sexual pandering in print and in the media and not be desensitized to the sin that will result from having such thoughts seep into our minds and hearts. I think not!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One