The religious leaders come at Jesus one question at a time, each one designed to trap him in front of the crowd — where his authority comes from, whether to pay taxes to Rome, whose wife a seven-times-widowed woman will be in heaven. Every question is a trap. Every answer closes it on the very people who set it.
A study in Luke 20 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 22 min read
By What Authority
This site’s own studies of Matthew 21 and Mark’s own twelfth chapter already cover the question about Jesus’s authority and the parable of the wicked husbandmen in full.
“Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority? And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?”
Luke 20:2-4
The counter-question is not a dodge. It is the same question asked from a different angle — anyone who could honestly answer where John’s authority came from would already know where Jesus’s came from too.
“A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. … Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.”
Luke 20:9, 13
“But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”
Luke 20:14-15
The husbandmen’s own logic is the logic of every rebellion against God ever since Eden — that getting rid of the rightful heir will somehow transfer the inheritance to the one who did the killing.
“What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”
Luke 20:17-18
“And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.”
Luke 20:19
They understand the parable perfectly. That understanding does not soften them — it only sharpens their resolve to do to Him exactly what the story already said they would do.
Render Unto Caesar The Things Which Be Caesar’s
This site’s own study of Matthew 22 and Mark’s own twelfth chapter already cover the question about tribute to Caesar in full.
“And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.”
Luke 20:20
Found in no other Gospel, this small editorial note names the trap for exactly what it is before it is even sprung — men sent to play the part of honest, sincere questioners, with the express purpose of handing Jesus over to Rome on whatever answer He gives.
“Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Cæsar, or no? … Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Cæsar’s.”
Luke 20:22, 24
“And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which be Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s. And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.”
Luke 20:25-26
Even the men who came pretending to be sincere questioners cannot pretend to be dissatisfied with the answer — there is simply no crack in it left to work with.
He Is Not A God Of The Dead, But Of The Living
This site’s own study of Matthew 22 and Mark’s twelfth chapter already cover the Sadducees’ question about the resurrection, and the question about David’s son, in full.
“Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him, Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.”
Luke 20:27-28
“But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.”
Luke 20:35-36
The Sadducees’ question assumes the resurrection life is simply this life extended, with all its same arrangements. Jesus answers by describing something categorically different, not a longer version of the same existence but a different order of being entirely.
“Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.”
Luke 20:37-38
“Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said. And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.”
Luke 20:39-40
Luke alone records this brief, grudging compliment from the scribes — a rare admission, from men who had come to trap Him, that the trap had simply failed.
“How say they that Christ is David’s son? And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand… David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?”
Luke 20:41-44
After a full day of fielding attacks, Jesus turns and asks His own question — one that has nothing to do with tribute or resurrection, and everything to do with who they actually believe He is.
Beware Of The Scribes
This site’s own studies of Matthew 23 and Mark’s twelfth chapter already cover this warning against the scribes in fuller detail.
“Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.”
Luke 20:46-47
Spoken “in the audience of all the people” (v.45), this closing warning names the very same appetite for status this Gospel exposed back in the parable of the wedding-seat guests — and pairs it, in the same breath, with something far more serious than vanity: robbing the very widows these men’s long, public prayers were supposed to be protecting.
