November 14, 2021
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Luke? Here’s today’s reading:
Luke 20 (NIV)
The Authority of Jesus Questioned
1 One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2 “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”
3 He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me:4 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”........Continue Reading
The religious leaders try so hard to trap Jesus in this chapter and His responses are always so calm and calculated! It’s like they are playing checkers and He is playing chess!
You can not trip up God but it certainly doesn’t stop them from trying and He shows back to them their own downfall which just further frustrates them!
In the parable of the vineyard He shows them what they are trying to do and how it won’t work! They may try to reject Jesus but ultimately they will feel the judgement of God as a result.
Luke 20
Luke 20
Jesus shines each time He is challenged and shows greater insight and wisdom than His adversaries, to the point that they are amazed and stop trying. All they are left with in their frustration is to find a way to eliminate Him. They start by challenging His authority and He references John the Baptist. Jesus’ main point is to say that He and John are operating from the same basis of authority, so if they didn’t believe John when He said He was from God, why should Jesus even tell them directly where His authority comes from. He then tells a parable that is clearly descriptive of them and they want to do the very thing the parable describes, arrest Him and kill Him.
They then try to trip Him up on what place Rome has in their lives. For Jesus to say something that supported Rome would bring the disdain of the people. If He said something that discredited Rome, then they could charge Him with sedition. They probably thought they had Him. But with a simple analogy Jesus shows the balance. Government has its place, but so does God and our love and trust toward God is greater.
Then people who didn’t believe in resurrection ask Jesus a question about it. In His answer, Jesus affirms His belief in resurrection, but tells them they have got it all wrong. This life is one way and life in heaven will be completely different. But the main point, God is a God of the living, not of the dead.
Then after getting all their questions, Jesus asks one of them. If David calls his descendant (son) Lord, then how could he be talking about a regular descendent? No the one who would come in the line of David would be “under” David as a descendant, but He will reign supreme over David as well as his Lord. Jesus, Messiah, is the One who fits the description!
Jesus tells the parable of the vinedressers. Throughout the parable Jesus reveals that the “Vineyard,” that is the kingdom of Israel, God will take away from them and give to another because of their treatment of the prophets and of the Son. They protest vociferously. Clearly they don’t accept Jesus’ authority or acknowledge who He is. Yet, they know He is referring to them!