Sunday School Lessons: Luke 20

Luke 20

20:1One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Vs. 1 Jesus was teaching in the temple and preaching the gospel. What is the gospel? The chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people were there, listening, and they were not happy. They asked him “by whose authority do you do these things?” At least some of the things they were talking about were driving the merchants out of the temple, and calling the temple “My house.” We learned at the end of chapter 19 that from that point on, the priests, scribes and leaders sought to destroy him. The fact that all these different men were working together to confront him indicates that this may have been a delegation from the Sanhedrin. They wanted to know who gave him the authority to do it. Jesus did not answer their question directly, but he did answer it—with a question of his own: was John’s baptism from heaven or from men? These men were not concerned with the truth; they were trying to figure out how to answer the question in such a way that they got Jesus into trouble instead of themselves! They reasoned among themselves and knew that they could not answer his question without consequences, so they didn’t answer him at all. Jesus refuses to answer their question. (Matthew 7:6: “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.)

9And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10When the time came, he sent a servantto the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

In this parable, who do you think the man is who planted the vineyard and went into another country for a long while? Who did the servants represent? Who does the son represent? Who do the tenants represent? What does the punishment of the tenants represent?

16b When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?

18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

What was the reaction of the chief priests, scribes and leaders of the people? Do you think they understood what he was indicating by this parable? Jesus looked directly at them. Remember, Jesus knows all men’s hearts. He knows without having to stare at a person and try to figure out their motivations. Looking at them directly means that he held their eyes. The he quoted Psalm 118:22. He was letting them know that he KNEW that they were rejecting him and that it was HE who was the chief cornerstone. (Cornerstone, foundation or top corner, discuss)

Vs. 18. If a person ‘falls’ on Jesus (bows down to him in faith) that person comes to him as a sinner, broken in spirit, broken in heart. We must be ‘broken’ by the knowledge of our sinful condition and come to Christ by faith. In the beatitudes, Jesus said, ‘blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is the foundation upon which we are saved: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

If, on the other hand, a person rejects Christ, then the same foundational ‘stone’ that saves the one who has faith, will destroy the one who rejects it. If that stone falls on a person, it will crush or destroy him. In the original language the words translated ‘crush’ means ‘grind to powder.’ The destruction is complete. Jesus is referring to images from Daniel 2: And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It (the stone) shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

19The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

The scribes and the chief priests understood exactly what Jesus meant! They understood that he meant that THEY were ‘sought to kill him that very hour.’ They didn’t, though, for two reasons. One, they were afraid of the people. They knew that the people supported Jesus and accepted his teachings in the temple. (The other reason is that it was not God’s will that he die at their hands in that manner. God had ordained that Jesus die on the cross. All the details of his suffering and death were in God’s hands and nothing could take it out of His control). They feared to destroy him themselves, so they came up with a plan:

20So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

Catch what they are doing here. They are setting him up, trying to catch him in words so that they would have reason to deliver him to the Roman authorities. And they are trying to do it by sending pretenders into the midst, pretending to be sincere so that he would speak frankly. They come to him with flattery and a loaded question. (explain a loaded question)

21So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. 22Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”

This is a trick question—a ‘no win’ situation. If he says ‘yes,’ then they will say that he is putting Caesar ahead of Moses. If he says ‘no,’ then he would speaking against the Roman authorities and that would give them a reason to turn him in. Jesus was not fooled. He gave them an answer they did not expect:

23But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, 24“Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar's.” 25He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” 26And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.

The coins of the region were Roman coins and had the image of Caesar stamped on them. Rome did provide some services for the Jews. They were afforded protection and the roads and seas were kept open. Jesus is making a distinction between the worldly and the heavenly, between physical and spiritual. We have duties to earthly rulers and duties owed to God. In this way, he could not be said to be disloyal to either side of the question. They thought they would trip him up; he closed their mouths instead.

27There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,

The Sadducees were a sect that did not believe in a resurrection or anything supernatural, unlike the Pharisees, who did believe in the resurrection. Here is another group that is seeking to destroy Jesus. They, too, think that they have a tricky question that Jesus will not be able to answer:

28and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the manmust take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30And the second 31and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32Afterward the woman also died. 33In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

When a Jewish man died without and heir, his brother would marry the first man’s wife, so that she might have a son and heir to take care of her. Since they did not believe in resurrection, they thought that this story would prove that resurrection didn’t make sense.

34And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sonsof the resurrection. 37But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”

Jesus explains that there is a difference between this life and the resurrection. After the resurrection, believers will have a body like Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:35-58) He also proves that they are wrong to not believe in the resurrection and he uses scriptures to prove it!

39Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40For they no longer dared to ask him any question.

Some of the scribes said that he had ‘spoken well.’ They no longer dared to ask him any questions. (It is interesting to learn that although many scribes and Pharisees came to faith after Christ’s resurrection, nowhere in the Bible is it recorded that any Sadducees ever came to Christ.)

41But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David's son? 42For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
43until I make your enemies your footstool.’

44David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”

Now it’s Jesus’ turn to ask a hard question. How could David call the Messiah ‘Lord?’ Other than Moses, David was the most important person in the Jewish history. Jesus is teaching that not only is the Messiah the Son of David (discuss promised heir to David’s throne) but the Messiah is the Son of God and David’s Lord. He is preeminent over all persons and all times. (Hebrews 1:13 and 3: Therefore, holy brothers,you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God'shouse. 3For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.)

45And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

All this time Jesus has been interacting with the chief priests, scribes, rulers, Pharisees, and Sadducees. Now he speaks to his disciples ‘in the hearing of all the people’ and warns them to beware of the scribes.

*These lessons are written for use with elementary aged students. You can find lessons for previous chapters here . All scriptures are taken from the ESV.