Reflections on Luke 20

Luke 20 (Contemporary English Version)

1. One day, Jesus was teaching in the temple and telling the good news. So the chief priests, the teachers, and the nation's leaders
   
2. asked him, "What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?"
   
3. Jesus replied, "I want to ask you a question.
   
4. Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God in heaven or merely some human being?"
   
5. They talked this over and said to each other, "We can't say that God gave John this right. Jesus will ask us why we didn't believe John.
   
6. And we can't say that it was merely some human who gave John the right to baptize. The crowd will stone us to death, because they think John was a prophet."
   
7. So they told Jesus, "We don't know who gave John the right to baptize."
   
8. Jesus replied, "Then I won't tell you who gave me the right to do what I do."
   
9. Jesus told the people this story: A man once planted a vineyard and rented it out. Then he left the country for a long time.
   
10. When it was time to harvest the crop, he sent a servant to ask the renters for his share of the grapes. But they beat up the servant and sent him away without anything.
    
11. So the owner sent another servant. The renters also beat him up. They insulted him terribly and sent him away without a thing.
    
12. The owner sent a third servant. He was also beaten terribly and thrown out of the vineyard.
    
13. The owner then said to himself, "What am I going to do? I know what. I'll send my son, the one I love so much. They will surely respect him!"
    
14. When the renters saw the owner's son, they said to one another, "Someday he will own the vineyard. Let's kill him! Then we can have it all for ourselves."
    
15. So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Jesus asked, "What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do?
    
16. I'll tell you what. He will come and kill those renters and let someone else have his vineyard." When the people heard this, they said, "This must never happen!"
    
17. But Jesus looked straight at them and said, "Then what do the Scriptures mean when they say, 'The stone that the builders tossed aside is now the most important stone of all'?
    
18. Anyone who stumbles over this stone will get hurt, and anyone it falls on will be smashed to pieces."
    
19. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses knew that Jesus was talking about them when he was telling this story. They wanted to arrest him right then, but they were afraid of the people.
    
20. Jesus' enemies kept watching him closely, because they wanted to hand him over to the Roman governor. So they sent some men who pretended to be good. But they were really spies trying to catch Jesus saying something wrong.
    
21. The spies said to him, "Teacher, we know that you teach the truth about what God wants people to do. And you treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are.
    
22. Tell us, should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?"
    
23. Jesus knew that they were trying to trick him. So he told them,
    
24. "Show me a coin." Then he asked, "Whose picture and name are on it?" "The Emperor's," they answered.
    
25. Then he told them, "Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God."
    
26. Jesus' enemies could not catch him saying anything wrong there in front of the people. They were amazed at his answer and kept quiet.
    
27. The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So some of them came to Jesus
    
28. and said: Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry the widow. Their first son would then be thought of as the son of the dead brother.
    
29. There were once seven brothers. The first one married, but died without having any children.
    
30. The second one married his brother's widow, and he also died without having any children.
    
31. The same thing happened to the third one. Finally, all seven brothers married that woman and died without having any children.
    
32. At last the woman died.
    
33. When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? All seven brothers had married her.
    
34. Jesus answered: The people in this world get married.
    
35. But in the future world no one who is worthy to rise from death will either marry
    
36. or die. They will be like the angels and will be God's children, because they have been raised to life.
    
37. In the story about the burning bush, Moses clearly shows that people will live again. He said, "The Lord is the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
    
38. So the Lord isn't the God of the dead, but of the living. This means that everyone is alive as far as God is concerned.
    
39. Some of the teachers of the Law of Moses said, "Teacher, you have given a good answer!"
    
40. From then on, no one dared to ask Jesus any questions.
    
41. Jesus asked, "Why do people say that the Messiah will be the son of King David?
    
42. In the book of Psalms, David himself says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right side
    
43. until I make your enemies into a footstool for you.'
    
44. David spoke of the Messiah as his Lord, so how can the Messiah be his son?"
    
45. While everyone was listening to Jesus, he said to his disciples:
    
46. Guard against the teachers of the Law of Moses! They love to walk around in long robes, and they like to be greeted in the market. They want the front seats in the meeting places and the best seats at banquets.
    
47. But they cheat widows out of their homes and then pray long prayers just to show off. These teachers will be punished most of all.
    

    ---

    Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and His throwing out of the temple those who were selling is told in the previous chapter. Having done this He began teaching daily in the temple complex. These direct challenges of the religious leaders forced on them a choice - ready or not. They had been dallying with what to do about Him, asking for signs to prove He was from God as He said He was as if they might accept Him. But with these challenges they had to make their choice. Either accept Him as Messiah or deal with Him. Pride, position, prestige, and tradition were all forces hindering them from any serious consideration of accepting Jesus for who He was. The Jewish religious system and thus their positions in that system were at risk should they accept Jesus and His teachings. Furthermore, much of the teaching of these leaders and of those who came before them would be considered erroneous. From their perspective, too much was at stake to accept Jesus and His teachings. What they were unwilling to consider was that more was at stake if they didn't.
    
    Chapter 20 records the most intense and frequent exchanges between Jesus and the religious leaders of any other time during His ministry prior to His arrest and trials. Each of these exchanges were initiated by the leaders and carefully crafted to trap Jesus and discredit Him before the crowds. In the first of these exchanges the leaders questioned Jesus' authority. First they wanted to know, "By what authority are You doing these things?" and then they wanted to know, "Who is it who gave You this authority?" (20:2) With the first question they were asking if He was a prophet, a priest, or a king. With the second, they wanted to know who was behind this authority. Was He acting on His own or for some group, or what?
    
    It was not Jesus who became trapped in this encounter but rather themselves when Jesus turned the question back on them. "Tell Me," He asked, "was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?" (20:4) He was asking by what authority John baptized, for John's authority had the same source as Jesus'. It was from God. But the religious leaders were unwilling to give an opinion. They didn't know the source of John's authority, they said. Therefore Jesus would not answer their question concerning His authority. Since they were unwilling to meet the challenge, Jesus would not take their bait. They found themselves on the opposing side of popular opinion among the people, not only concerning Jesus, but also concerning John the Baptist. However, they would unwilling to expose their opposition before the crowds and be discredited. They valued the esteem of the people too much.
    
    Though the religious leaders backed away from Jesus' question to avoid exposing their opposition to John, Jesus exposed them nevertheless by using a parable. In this parable a landowner had leased his vineyard to tenant farmers and wanted to collect from them his portion of the harvest. On three occasions he sent servants to collect and each time the tenant farmers beat his servants and sent them away empty-handed. Thinking they would at least respect his own son, the landowner send his son to collect. But they actually killed the son. The inevitable result was that they landowner destroyed the farmers and gave the vineyard to others. What other outcome did they expect? That the owner would simply overlook this offense?
    
    The point of the parable was obvious to the religious leaders and no doubt the crowd. They were the tenant farmers and Jesus was the beloved Son who was sent to collect what was due the owner, which is God. As a side note, this parable also serves as a good perspective on the position we all have in God's creation. We are tenants, not owners. God owns it all but is willing to let us use his creation and benefit from it with the understanding that we give Him what is due Him. His due is credit as creator/owner and a portion of the fruit from use of His creation in recognition of that fact.  Though the leaders understood the point of the parable they did not choose to accept Jesus as the Son sent from God. Instead they chose to oppose Him and fulfill the outcome of the parable. They began immediately to look for a way to "get their hands on Him" to kill Him as did the farmers who killed the son of the landowner in the parable. In this way, the parable also served as a prophecy.
    
    This effort by the leaders to find a way to get their hands on Jesus led to sending spies to follow Jesus and find an opportunity to trap Him publicly in His teaching so they could legally arrest Him with the support of the people. This led first to sending spies in an attempt to trap Jesus politically with a question about paying taxes to Caesar. If Jesus disapproved of paying taxes He was in trouble with the Roman rulers and if He favored it He was in trouble with those in the Jewish community who disapproved. But Jesus was too crafty for them pointing out that the coin which had the inscription of Caesar should be used to give Caesar his due by using the coin to pay taxes, and the individual who reflected the image of God should give God His due by giving Him themselves.
    
    Next Jesus was confronted by some Sadducees with a complicated hypothethical question about marriage in the resurrection. But Jesus pointed their error in understanding scripture by using scripture first to show that there is no marriage in the resurrection, and second that there is indeed a resurrection. These Sadducees did not believe there to be a resurrection so they found themselves to be discredited instead of Jesus.
    
    Following these events the religious leaders "no longer dared to ask Him anything." (20:40) Questioning long-held beliefs is difficult and even seems a betrayal to those for whom we care who have taught us those beliefs. Such questioning should not be done carelessly or rebelliously or pridefully. Only sincerely seeking God and His wisdom and guidance should direct us toward truth and an understanding of God's kingdom. This includes regularly, even daily, seeking God through scripture and prayer and meditation. Such an endeavor will lead us to God and His truths. Sincerely asking God to show us truth and to help us know Him and understand His kingdom will lead us to His revelations.