LUKE 20
JESUS CONTINUES TO TEACH + REBUKES THE PHARISEES
When Jesus is in Jerusalem, He is challenged by the chief priests and the scribes. They ask Him who gave Him the authority to do the miraculous things He has done. Instead of answering directly, He responds with a question, asking if John the Baptist was sent by heaven or sent by man. The religious leaders did not know how to answer. If they said John the Baptist was from heaven, they would be confronted for not believing him. But if they said John was sent by man alone, they would anger a large group of his followers. Because they do not answer, Jesus does not reveal the source of His authority. Both John the Baptist and Jesus were sent by God, but many did not believe that God was their authority.
Jesus continues teaching and shares a parable set in a vineyard. In this parable, the men tending to the vineyard kill many of the vineyard owner’s servants. Confident they will not kill his son, the owner sends him to the people tending the vineyard. These violent men want the son’s inheritance and end up killing him as they had the others. Jesus uses this story to show how He will become the rejected cornerstone of the faith, quoting Psalm 118. In this story, Jesus is the son who was killed to provide an inheritance. After saying this, the Pharisees want to arrest Him, but are afraid of how the crowds would respond.
Jesus is approached by a group of religious leaders who want to trap Him with a difficult question. They asked Him if it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, the leader of the Roman empire that was oppressing the Jewish people. Jesus asks to see a coin and asks them whose name is inscribed on the coin. They respond that Caesar is the one who is named on the coin. He teaches them to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God the things that are God’s.
The Sadducees, some of the religious leaders of the time, ask Jesus about a law related to marriage and life after death. If someone is married more than once, they want to know which of the spouses they would remain married to in the afterlife. Jesus corrects them, telling them they do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God. When people enter eternity, they are not married, but are like angels in heaven. He tells them that God is God of the living, not the God of the dead, pointing to the eternal nature of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that God expressed to Moses (Exodus 3:6).
Referencing Psalm 110:1, Jesus clears up the confusion regarding His relation to David. He is a direct descendant of David, who David himself called Lord. Jesus warns against the pompous religiosity of the scribes. More than they desire to share truth, they desire appearing important and prestigious.
