A Q & A with Jesus
Luke 20 SCC 7/17/16
INTRODUCTION
The
leadership tries to catch Jesus in error in order to defy his authority and so
they ferociously test him. Jesus responds by raising questions of his own. Unable
to trap Jesus, he embarrasses and silences them.
MALIGNING JESUS AUTHORITY DOES NOT
AVOID ACCOUNTABILITY TO HIM
Jesus authority is challenged 1-2
He was
teaching and proclaiming good news while being confronted by religious leader’s
v 1. Religious authority is always sensitive to anyone threatening their
authority. Most of church history is about who gets to dispense the grace of
God to people. What authority does Jesus have to do this teaching in public, in
the temple and specifically who it is that has given him this authority v 2?
NB: I was also asked this question by a priest on a plane. I
had finished teaching groups the Bible. He then asked whose authority
sanctioned something like that. True to form, religious leaders are all about
authority. Notice this proves that Jesus was not a Synagogue Rabbi or they
would not have asked this question. Jesus
operated outside of any system or organization. He was not a Pharisee,
Sadducee, priest or elder. He never held a position in any organization. He
never joined anything. He operated on his own under God’s authority. That will
probably prove to be the most impacting way to do ministry. The more one’s ministry is tied to a label,
the more people will label you rather than learn from you.
Jesus addresses their challenge 3-8
Jesus had
authority from God (Luke 5:24; Matthew 28:18) but that was what they expected
Him to say. Then they could counter by saying no
Jewish organization recognizes your authority. So He asked them, was the baptism of John from heaven or from
men v 3? This declared that John
got his authority from God, and this revealed that Jewish leaders got their
authority from men rather than God. They were afraid to answer because the
people were convinced that John was a
prophet v 6. Typical
of institutional religious leaders, their only willing to say what the people were
willing to hear (cf. v 19). Faced with a dilemma and no good public
answer they opt out professing ignorance and agnosticism v 7. In turn, Jesus
responds likewise. He will not answer their question v 8.
1. Jesus
authority will always be challenged. That is the nature of the spiritual
battle.
2. Authority comes
from direct revelation from God. There
was no authority in religious organizations.
Jesus illustrates his authority 9-18
As a follow
up to the authority question Jesus
told this parable of a vineyard owner (representing God) v 9 who rented out his
vineyard (the work of God on earth) to vine growers (Israel and its leaders) v
10. But when the owner sent slaves (prophets) to collect what was his they
mistreated them v 10-12. Then he sent his son (Jesus) and they killed him v 15.
So, Jesus said, He will come (with
judgment) and destroy these vine-growers
and will give the vineyard to others (the apostles who would start the
church) v 16. This refers to the first coming not the second coming of Christ.
The vine-growers are Israel and the others are the church which includes
gentiles. The Jewish people understood this is what Jesus meant v 16 and said
‘no way’. Also in his home town synagogue in Nazareth, they wanted to throw Him
off a cliff, because He told them God was interested in gentiles. But Jesus
countered saying He was the rejected stone v 17 (by quoting Psalm 118:22) who
became the cornerstone, a stone they were stumbling over, which will crush them
v 18.
PT: Everyone will have a day of reckoning before Jesus
Christ the Lord and King. His authority is universal. He has no rivals. To
malign him is to foolishly ignore this reality to one’s eternal peril.
RECOGNIZE JESUS INHERENT AUTHORITY AND
SUBMIT TO IT
Dissenters attempt to undercut Jesus
authority 19-20
False
religious leaders are always people oriented rather than God oriented v 6, 19,
26. They are sensitive to what the people want, but not what God wants. The
leaders then send spies who pretend to believe in Jesus in order to ask Him a
question, not to find the answer but to trap Him into an answer that would get
Him in trouble (v 20, 26).
1. They are watching. They will keep their
eye on him.
2. They sent spies. They are hired to lie in wait lurking, waiting
for a chance to do damage.
3. They pretended to be righteous. They
want to look sincere without being so.
4. Their purpose is to catch Jesus attempting
to set Jesus up by any means possible.
5. The reason is to deliver him to the
authorities. The thinking now is to get Rome in on the action.
They want Jesus to incriminate himself
21-26
This was a gotcha question v 20, 26). The Pharisees
thought paying taxes to Caesar broke the Mosaic Law but Roman Law required it v 22. It’s designed to force Jesus to make a
choice between Rome and Israel. Jesus asked for a coin saying we should give to God the things that are God’s v 25. Of course that’s everything. But Jesus
is here making a distinction between what is God’s and what is Caesar’s. The
distinction comes from the image on the coin. He is not telling them to give
all their possessions to God. He is telling them to give themselves to God
because God’s image is on them. So v 26:
1. They could not catch him in a saying.
This shows they wanted Jesus to incriminate himself.
2. In the presence of the people shows that
they wanted Jesus to discredit himself in front of the crowd.
3. They marveled and remained silent. Jesus
is not a nationalist after all. Nor is he ignorant.
JESUS AUTHORITY EXTENDS TO ETERNAL
MATTERS AFTER DEATH
Enemies relentlessly dispute Jesus
authority 27-40
This
question, about life after the resurrection, came from Sadducees v 27-33. Jesus gave several at least 4 insights here. (1)
Marriage is for this life only; it ends at death v 34. (2) The believers are resurrected and neither marry nor are given in marriage v 35. There is no marriage in heaven.
(3) Believers in heaven cannot even die
anymore, because they are like angel’s v 36 in that they are no longer
mortal. (4) Jesus uses Exodus 3:6 in v 37-38 … I am the God of thy father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Jesus made the point that these patriarchs were alive after death
because God is not the God of the dead but of the living. In other words, He was assuming the scripture is exactly,
literally, verbally, inerrant; theological and truthful conclusions can be
drawn from the literal details of the text. Once again the attempt to trap
Jesus and embarrass him fails v 39-40.
Jesus solidifies his authority 41-47
Jesus point
with the question in v 41 is how is it
that David can call a son, a descendant, by the title Lord? The implication
is that Messiah as David’s Lord transcends him as a descendent of his. Jesus is
Lord, of course, because he has the message of salvation and he is the one who
has come with the mission to fulfil from God. Jesus authority is absolute and
eternal.
Jesus
followed this with a warning, Beware of
the scribes, who…
1. Like to
walk around in long robes, probably expensive robes.
2. Love respectful greetings in the market
places. That is, they liked to be recognized as successful.
3. They love chief seats in the synagogues. Today
they would like to be known as leaders in the church. 4. They love places of honor
at banquets. They liked being recognized as leaders in their community.
5. Who devour widows’ houses probably
because they loaned money to widows who could not pay it back, the point is
they were without mercy and compassion in business.
6. For appearance’s sake offer long prayers they
want to appear to be sincerely religious, not by their knowledge of God but by
their religious activity. These will
receive greater condemnation (20:47).
The point is
not to emulate their pride. God is not impressed by this approach!
In verses
46-47, after listing sins of the scribes, Jesus said, these will receive greater condemnation. So we can conclude there
are various degrees of sin and different punishments in the Lake of Fire, and
the greater condemnation are for sins of pride/cruelty (Mk 12:40; Lk 12:47- 48; Jn 19:11; Rev
20:11-15).