Luke 20

CHAPTER 20THEME: Jesus’ authority challenged; parable of the vineyard; Jesus is questioned about paying tribute to Caesar; Jesus silences the Sadducees about resurrection; Jesus questions the scribes

Luke 20:1

JESUS’ AUTHORITY CHALLENGEDJesus came into the temple every day and taught until He was arrested at the time of the Passover. He used the Socratic method of answering a question with a question. This was His question:

Luke 20:4

This was one question the religious rulers could not answer without condemning themselves. They had to go off in a huddle to decide on an answer.

Luke 20:5

Their question was not honest and sincere. If they had been willing to accept John, they would have been willing to accept the Lord Jesus Christ also. If they had believed John, they would have never questioned the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Luke 20:9

PARABLE OF THE VINEYARDThe parable of the vineyard is recorded in Matthew and Mark. The owner of the vineyard kept sending servants to the husbandmen to see how things were going. One by one the servants were beaten. God sent prophet after prophet to Israel, and they were absolutely rejected. Many of them were stoned and killed. Finally the Father sent His Son. Jesus Christ was the Son and He was telling these religious rulers exactly what was in their hearts and minds to do with Him. They were going to crucify Him, and God was going to permit it.

Luke 20:17

The Lord was telling them they could kill Him but could not destroy the purpose of God. The Stone that they reject will become the head of the corner. This is a clear prediction of the Lord’s rejection and subsequent triumph.

Luke 20:18

Today you and I can fall on that Stone, who is Christ Jesus, and be savedthat is, we have to come to Him as a sinner, broken in spirit, broken in heart. When we do this, we are on the foundation that no man can lay, which is Jesus Christ the Stone. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1Co_3:11). Daniel tells of that Stone which will fall in judgment someday and “grind to powder” the nations that reject Him (see Dan. 2). What the Lord is saying in this parable is as clear as the noonday sun. It could not have been misunderstood.

Luke 20:19

JESUS IS QUESTIONED ABOUT PAYING TRIBUTE TO CAESARWe can see that the religious rulers certainly got the point of His parable. The problem is that too many people in our churches today miss the point.

Luke 20:21

This was spoken like the true hypocrites these men were.

Luke 20:22

The Herodians are the ones who posed this question because they wanted to get rid of Caesar and put the house of Herod over Israel.

Luke 20:23

The question of the Herodians was a loaded one designed to trap Jesus. Had He said “Yes"to pay tribute to Caesar, then He would have put Caesar ahead of Moses and ahead of their Messiah. If He had said “No"not to pay tribute to Caesar, then He would have been subject to arrest by Rome. The method Jesus adopted in dealing with this question is a masterpiece. He asked for the Roman denarius. Does this mean that Jesus did not have any money? At least He made them produce the coin.

Luke 20:25

They were using the legal tender of the Roman Empire. Rome did provide certain advantages and privileges. Rome maintained law and order by her standards and provided protection. Rome made and maintained roads and kept the sea lanes open. She had a universal currency system which was an aid to business. The Jews owed Rome something for the use of coins, roads, and law and order. Caesar had something coming to him. God had something coming to Him also. He provided all the utilities: lights, air, water, and the elements from which roads and coins are made. There are two areas of life in which we have a responsibility. Man has both an earthly and a heavenly obligation. He has both a physical and a spiritual responsibility. Citizens of heaven pay taxes down here. Pilgrims down here should deposit eternal wealth in heaven.

Luke 20:27

JESUS SILENCES THE SADDUCEES ABOUT RESURRECTIONYou find this in Deu_25:5-6. It was an unusual law, but we see it in action in the Book of Ruth.

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Of course their question was ridiculous.

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According to both Matthew and Mark, He told them their problem was that they knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

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You see, after Jesus had answered the Herodians and the Pharisees soundly, the Sadducees bring this old cliche to Him with the thought that anyone answering their question would be ridiculous. The Sadducees would correspond to the liberal section of the contemporary church, while the Pharisees could be equated with the conservatives. The Sadducees rejected the supernatural. They, therefore, did not believe in the Resurrection. Their question grows out of a situation created by the Mosaic system. The Sadducees attempted to make it preposterous by saying that the woman married seven times. That in itself is not likely, but it could happen. In our day there are examples of those who have been married as often, but they are more concerned about the present life than anything beyond. The Sadducees, as a sect, arose about 300 B.C. Most of the high priests and temple politicians were Sadducees. They were prominent and rich. Isn’t it interesting that today most of the church politicians and the rich churches are liberal? That tells us that human nature has not changed down through the centuries. The Sadducees denied the miraculous. They stripped the Scriptures of the supernatural. (They were in direct conflict with the Pharisees who were supernaturalists.) They never accepted the inerrancy of Scripture. There is a striking similarity between the beliefs of the Sadducees and liberalism today. Liberalism is a departure from historic Christianity. Concerning conservatism and liberalism, Dr. Louis Berkhof said, “The difference is so great between them that one of them will have to surrender the term Christian.” I have decided that the liberal is not Christian at all. Many churches should call themselves the “Boulevard Religious Club” or the “First” or “Second Religious Club” because they are not Christian. There was a time when those who were unregenerate were outside the church. They denied the authority of Scripture, the deity of Christ, and the supernatural. They were called infidels and skeptics. When I first came to Southern California, you could see them on soap boxes in front of downtown churches or in the city parks. Now they are in the pulpits of the city. They are still infidels and skeptics; they still deny the deity of Christ and the supernatural. They have crept into the church unawares. The Sadducees were the greatest enemies which Christ had and were the main instigators of the first persecution of the church. The Pharisees with the Sadduccees were the leaders in the persecution of the Lord Jesus. After the death of the Lord, the Pharisees dropped the entire affair. They were no longer interested in persecuting Him or His followers; in fact, many of them became Christians. The Sadducees, however, went on with the persecution of the church. You can read about it in the third and fourth chapters of Acts. The Resurrection was the acid test of the Sadducees, and it is the acid test of the liberal. They do not believe in a literal resurrection. It is interesting that there is no account in Scripture of a Sadducee ever coming to Christ for salvation. A Pharisee named Nicodemus was converted, and Act_6:7 tells us, “…a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Many priests became believers, but there is no record of a Sadducee being converted. Every young minister soon discovers that the preaching of the cross is an offense. He will never be voted the most outstanding citizen in his town. He will never find himself in a great political position, nor will he be on television very often. The subtle temptation is to throw overboard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and become a popular preacher. Judas sold out the Lord. Peter denied Him but loved Him and came back to Him.

When a man sells Christ for popularity, he will never come back. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? …” (Jer_13:23). The next time some starry-eyed optimist tells you that the liberals are coming back to Christ, forget it. The Sadducees were the worst enemies that the gospel of Christ ever hadwhether in the first or the twentieth centuries.

Luke 20:39

JESUS QUESTIONS THE SCRIBESThe Lord concludes this question-and-answer period by asking the scribes a question. Right here, Jesus is teaching His own virgin birth. How could David, in Psalms 110 where he is speaking of a future descendant call his own great-great-great-grandson his Lord? Well, the only way he can call Him his Lord is for Him to be the The Lord, friend. The only way He can be The Lord is to be more than David’s son. He must be virgin born to be the Son of God. This is a great thought that our Lord is teaching here. Notice also that here Jesus definitely ascribes Psalms 110 to David. He says that David wrote this Psalm by the Holy Spirit. And Jesus says that this psalm is speaking concerning Him, the Messiah.