So I had the flu yesterday, not kidding. I went to go get a flu shoot in preparation for my new job at Mission Hospital. Don't laugh, but I didn't know that the flu vaccine was actually a non-active and non-contagious strand of the flu virus. I felt terrible off and on yesterday, so much so that I went to bed early and skipped the blog post last night. Don't worry, as usual, I'll catch up on Sunday:)
Now that I feel better and rejuvenated, let's jump back into Luke!
Read Luke 20 (find it here)
As we left off with Tuesday, the Pharisees and religious leaders are not just responding to Jesus anymore. They are now actively trying to catch him some sort of wrong doing or saying so that they can imprison and execute him.
The first question is posed to Jesus while he is preaching in the temple. A group of priests, teachers and elders interrupt Jesus and demanded to know, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?” (v. 2)
There definitely is sandpaper on their toilet seats, right?
Jesus throws a trick question right at them by asking, “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?” (v. 4)
This befuddled the religious leaders in front of the crowd. They would either be labeled faithless or heretical; neither is a good choice, so you know.
They couldn't answer his question, so Jesus refused to answer their question. I find that funny! Take that you jerks:)
But while the religious leaders were there in front of the people in the temple, Jesus embarks on another parable.
A man plants a vineyard and leased it to farmers and moves away. However, since the man owns the vineyard, he is entitled to a share of the crops. He sends a servant to collect the crops but the farmers beat and send the servant away. This happened three times.
In order to up the ante, the owner decides to send his son instead of a servant. But it had an even worse affect. The farmers killed him!
Everyone who heard this parable was upset at the farmers. But what they didn't realize at first was that everyone in the parable symbolized someone else.
The owner of the vineyard represents God. The servants that are sent by God symbolize the prophets of the Old Testament (most of whom were killed or excommunicated by their own people). The farmers are the priests and religious leaders (they are the ones that God had entrusted with bearing good fruit and leading His people) and, if you haven't guessed it by now, the Son represents Jesus himself.
So what will God do with the "farmers?" God himself will come and kill them and give their responsibilities to others. (v. 16)
Jesus makes it very clear to everyone there when he quotes an Old Testament in reference to himself by saying, "The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone." (v. 17) To the religious leaders Jesus may look like a commoner, a nobody (like a stone found on the side of the road), but little do they know that Jesus is the cornerstone. A simple synonym for cornerstone would be a foundation or bedrock, but it has a much deeper meaning than that.
Jesus is sending a very clear message (that isn't so clear to us in the 21st century American culture). Jesus is the foundation of not only the Christian faith but also the Jewish faith of the Old Testament and even more so, of all creation.
Some Bibles translate cornerstone as capstone, which is, ironically, the opposite of the cornerstone. The capstone is the final stone laid on a structure that bears the weight of both sides to keep it from falling. (see an example here in Montreat's logo) In this way, we can truly conclude that Jesus is truly the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (or the cornerstone and capstone). Even in verse 18, Jesus implies that the stone can be underfoot or overhead. Truly interesting:)
In another attempt to trick Jesus, he was asked if Jews should pay taxes to Caesar or not. (v. 22) Jesus was not fooled. After asking whose picture was on the Roman coin, Jesus basically says, "If it has Caesar's picture or name on it, give it to him but if it belongs to God [uh, which is everything else!] give it to God." (v. 25) They were speechless again and truly amazed by his answer. (v. 26)
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Here's a name we haven't seen; Sadducees. Sadducees were very similar to priests and Pharisees. They were in charge of many temple affairs and even collected taxes. However, what made them very different from other religious leaders of the time period was that they didn't believe in the afterlife, the resurrection of the dead and penalties or rewards after death. Life choices didn't seem to have many consequences in the viewpoint of Sadducees.
But here, even the Sadducees are trying to trick Jesus. So what if a woman dies after marrying seven men but having no children with any of them? Who's wife will she be in heaven? (vs. 28-33)
I know that Jenny didn't like Jesus' response when she read this initially but since then I've given it a lot of thought. On earth marriage is a form of possession, of mutual affection between only two people. People, both men and women, will belong to God and He alone in heaven. Humanity gives up its right in order to be in God's presence. If we are to be like children, then will be less concerned with marriage and more concerned with taking in the experience and getting to know our Heavenly Father. Isn't our father the coolest person we know when we're a child?
And, of course, Jesus proves to these Sadducees that the resurrection is a reality by how Moses referred to God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Even the dead are alive to God. (vs. 37-38) What a mindjob!
Again, they were speechless.
Jesus ends Luke 20 with another question. Why is it that Jesus is considered to be the son of David? (Rightfully so, because Jesus was part of King David's family line.)
But what is the difference between LORD and Lord? LORD is synonymous with God the Almighty. Jews didn't write the holy name of God (Yahweh) so they basically used the word for master or ruler and multiplied its meaning times infinity, which would be the equivalent of Master of Creation, Ruler of All. Lord would the be the title of a rabbi, influential teacher, etc. Jesus has this title in the New Testament as Messiah. So, all this to say that LORD is God and David's Lord is Jesus. Jesus is the one who sits at the right hand of God.
So Jesus' question is basically a what came first, the chicken or the egg? How can Jesus who existed before King David as Son of God be David's great-great-great-great....grandson, too? Its a mind-bender because both are true!
After Jesus proves his intellectual superiority over all the religious leaders (priests, Pharisees and Sadducees) he tells his disciples to stay away from theses teachers of religious law. (v. 45) They apparently know nothing except how to fake like they know everything. In the process they want all the glory while they care less for the needy. They will be severely punished for this. (v. 47)
Questions
1.) Do you consider Jesus to be more like a foundation or the thing that holds everything together above you? In other words, if you could translate this verse in Luke would you call Jesus the cornerstone or the capstone? Why?
2.) Many people look for purpose and acceptance in the love and affection of another person. It will not be this way in heaven. How does that make you feel? Does that disappoint or excite you? Why?
3.) Jesus existed both before and after King David, his ancestor. Do you think of Jesus as being God or as the Son of God or both? Does that make Jesus seem bigger or just more complex? Either way, do you not agree that it is incredible to have God in the flesh to see how God would react if He were somewhat like us humans?
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