Luke 20:1-26

It is obvious that Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem was not welcomed by the religious leaders of the day; in fact, Luke tells his readers that following Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, the Jewish leaders tried to find a way to put Him to death (19:45-48), but they could not at that time because He was still popular with the crowds. As Jesus was teaching in the temple and preaching the gospel, the religious leaders confronted Him asking, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?” (20:1-2). Rather than answering their questions, Jesus asked them, “I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me: The baptism of John–was it from heaven or from men?” (20:3). Since they felt as if they had the authority to question Him, Jesus responded back with His own question. The gospel of Matthew provides the discussion amongst the religious leaders as to how they should answer Jesus’ question: “And they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, From heaven, He will say to us, Why then did you not believe him? But if we say, From men, we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet’” (Matthew 21:25-26). Realizing that there was no easy way to answer, the religious leaders chose not to give an answer, so Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things” (20:8).

In order to describe the authority by which He had been sent, Jesus told a parable to the people about a man (God) who planted a vineyard and went away for a long time, but when it was vintage-time he sent his servant to collect from the vinedressers (Jewish religious leaders), but they beat him and sent him away (20:9-10). The man sent two more servants to try to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard, but the vinedressers also beat them and sent them away (20:11-12). The man then decided to send his son (Jesus) because he thought they would respect him (20:13). Instead of respecting his son, the vinedressers said, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours” (20:14). Jesus then poses the question, “Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?” (20:15). Answering His own question Jesus says, “He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others” (20:16). When they understood what Jesus was implying, the Jewish leaders answered Him, “Certainly not!” (20:16b). The Jewish leaders knew that Jesus’ parable was spoken about them and they would not accept Jesus’ message that they were being set aside by God because they had rejected Him as the Messiah. Jesus then looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone’? Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder” (20:17-18). Although Jesus was now being rejected by the religious leaders, He would one day reign supreme and become their judge.

When they heard Jesus’ words, they wanted to kill him but they still feared the reaction of the crowds, “so they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor” (20:19-20). These spies tried to catch Jesus saying something against Caesar so they asked Him, “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (20:21-22). Jesus perceived their deceitful tactics and answered that they should “render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (20:23-25). Jesus was declaring that all citizens have an obligation to obey the laws of the land as well as the laws of God. Because of His wise answers, there was no way the religious leaders could bring a charge against Him, so they continued to wait and scheme. Isn’t it amazing how people think they can bring defeat against an all-powerful God?

Dear God, may Your enemies fail at every scheme aimed at bringing destruction upon Your purposes and plans.