Luke 16:14 records that the Pharisees, people who loved money, overheard Jesus’s teaching about wealth and service and responded with mockery. The verse shows that a heart attached to money can hear the truth and still refuse it. Jesus spoke these words to a crowd that included the Pharisees, a religious group known for careful law-keeping and respect in the community.
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.
Luke 16:14 (WEB)
What Luke 16:14 Means
The verse begins by naming the Pharisees as “lovers of money.” Luke is not describing an occasional temptation here but a settled affection, a heart that has come to treasure wealth above other things. The word “also” tells you they were listening to the same teaching everyone else heard, and “all these things” points back to Jesus’s words about being faithful with worldly wealth and being unable to serve both God and money.
Then comes the reaction: they “scoffed at him.” The verb suggests sneering or turning up the nose, a dismissive contempt rather than honest argument. The verse does not say Jesus was wrong or that their objections were reasoned. It shows what love of money does to a listener: it makes the truth sound foolish.
The verse makes no promise that wealthy people are beyond hope or that the poor are automatically righteous. It diagnoses a condition of the heart and shows its effect on how someone receives God’s word.
The Context of Luke 16:14
Luke’s Gospel was written to a Gentile audience, often thought to be a figure named Theophilus, and it gives special attention to money, the poor, and the proper use of possessions. The parable of the dishonest manager in the verses just before this one teaches that people who handle small things faithfully will be trusted with larger ones. Verse 13 then states the principle plainly: no one can serve two masters.
Verses 15 through 17 follow directly and are the answer to the scoffing. Jesus tells them that human approval is not the same as God’s judgment, that God knows their hearts, and that the kingdom of God is now being announced. Read this way, the mockery in verse 14 is the moment the Pharisees’ love of money and their love of human praise become visible, and Jesus responds by calling them back to what God values.
Key Phrases in Luke 16:14
Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
(WEB)
This verse contains the same teaching about serving two masters that Jesus gave just before Luke 16:14. Reading the two together shows that the Pharisees’ scoffing came in response to a principle Jesus had stated plainly in other settings as well.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
(WEB)
Paul writes about the root of many troubles being the love of money, which connects directly to the Pharisees’ condition in Luke 16:14. It helps you see that the love of money is a spiritual danger that can affect anyone, including religious leaders.
A Short Prayer From Luke 16:14
Lord, you see what my heart really loves, even when I would rather not look. Show me where money has quietly taken a place that belongs to you alone. When your word challenges how I spend, give or hold on, let me listen honestly rather than brush it aside with a sneer or a shrug. Loosen my grip on what I have, and teach me to trust you as the true source of my security. Amen.
