Who Do You Think You Are?
Luke 19:45-20:44
John Loftness
December 7, 2008

The setting—19:45-49

Jesus has entered into the heart of Jewish secular and religious power.  And he walks in like he owns the place.  In fact he quotes the book of Isaiah saying, “My house shall be a house of prayer.” 

Jesus’ actions basically announce that this is his house and it’s being used for the wrong purposes and he justifies his actions by quoting Isaiah 56:7.  The first eight verses of this chapter are devoted to an announcement of God’s salvation extended to foreigners—to Gentiles.  “This is to be a house of prayer and you have turned the only place where Gentiles can come near to God’s presence to pray into a place to rip off God’s people.”

1. Confrontation #1.  “You have no authority over worship.”

20:1-7

Jesus takes control of this challenge to his authority by asking them a question about the very popular John the Baptist who was recently beheaded by one of the Herods.

Why bring up John?  Because John announced Jesus to be the Messiah.  And the people loved John.  So if, to get their answer from Jesus, these questioners had said that John’s baptism was from God, the question is: why didn’t you believe what he said about Jesus?

But if they denied John’s baptism as an act of godliness done for God and instituted by God, they feared that the crowd would kill them on the spot.

Then Jesus turns to the crowd to tell a story. 

20: 8-17

The chief priests and their people are clearly the tenants who increasingly abused the prophets whom God sent them to inspect whether they were using his vineyard as he intended.  But the owner—in this case God—is very patient.  And very humble: he sends his son.  And in an effort to gain title and right to the land, they kill the son.

Then comes the warning with a switch in metaphor: Jesus switches from being he beloved son of the owner of the vineyard to being a “corner stone.”

• This is the first stone laid for a building.  It had to be perfectly aligned with the foundation of the building and perfectly aligned with the right angles of a corner so that each wall would be true to the foundation and to the other walls.  It was the stone that builders would choose most carefully.
• But if you reject this stone, the stone will someone destroy you.

What does this passage tell us about Jesus?

• He has authority over worship.
• Worship is very important to him.
• Worship should not be used to enrich people—to serve their needs.  Worship is for God.
• He is zealous that no hindrances be placed in the way of unbelievers who desire to worship.
• Jesus is willing to die for people to accomplish his mission.  He’s willing to die at the hands of the people who are in charge of his Father’s vineyard.
• Jesus will bring a terrible judgment on those who reject his authority and fail to put their faith in his death. 

What does this passage say to you and to me?

• Is my worship to declare God’s worth, to honor him and to invite others to honor him?  Or am I in this for what I get out of it—to get rich, to get friends, to fulfill my selfish desires?
• Have I put any stumbling blocks before people who want to come to know God through Jesus?
• I must not resist Jesus’ authority.  I must give him my worship.  I must trust him to count his death for the one I deserve.
• If I reject him as the cornerstone of my life, he will turn from being the Son who died to save me to the judge who will crush me in his justice.

2. Confrontation #2.  A Political Trap.

Read verses 19-26

This tribute is the tax that every individual had to pay to the Romans.  And given that part of it went to pay for their Roman oppressors, it was hated.

The question is a trap.  If Jesus says, “pay it,” he’s going to sound like a supporter of Rome and the crowd will turn on him.

If he says, as the high priests may have expected, that the tax is wrong and not to pay it, Jesus could be arrested for insurrection.

Jesus first dismantles the sincerity of these spies by asking them to produce a coin.  They already have Roman coins in their pockets.  They are already a part of the Roman system.

Verse 25 is significant.  “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”

Though Jesus does not say it directly.  We are left with the question: whose image do we carry?  The Bible describes human beings as “made in the image of God.” 

Like the Roman coin stamped with the emperor’s image, we are stamped with the image of God.  Hence we belong to him.

What does this passage tell me about Jesus?

• Jesus has answers to the most complex and challenging questions that I will face as I live in this world as his follower.
• Like me, Jesus became a man and bore the image of God.  He’s the perfect human being.  He knows how to live in this world rendering the human image to God.

What does this passage say to you and to me?

• We can trust Jesus for answers to the challenging questions we will face when living in this world challenges living for Jesus.
• If I bear God’s image, I must render my entire life to the one who made me and owns me.

3. Confrontation #3.  A theological challenge.

20: 27-40.

Today we would call the Sadducees the back-to-the-Bible crowd.  Unlike the Pharisees who had vast commentaries on the law, the Sadducees said that they referred only to what we call the Old Testament, especially the Law of Moses.  And since they saw no evidence for any resurrection from the dead in their Bible, they denied the doctrine.

They also were from a priestly family and thus tended to be rich and well-connected with the powerful.  And not very popular with the crowds.

In their question they assume that life after the resurrection will be exactly like life before, where marriage and the bearing of children move human history forward.  They can’t imagine God having the power to transform human life in the age to come.

So Jesus gives them the facts about the resurrection—a resurrection which he will under go before a week is out.

Notice in verse 35—this resurrection is not for everyone—only for those “worthy to attain that age.”  Not everyone is worthy.

He then proceeds to prove in verse 37—from the very law of Moses that the Sadducees so revered—that the resurrection is in the Bible.  How can God refer to three dead men—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—in the present tense, unless there is life beyond the grave?

What does this passage say about Jesus?

• Jesus is the only one who understands theology and can make sense of the Bible.
• Jesus rose from the dead as he said he would.

What does this passage say to you and to me?

• I must study Jesus’ words and works in the context of the whole Bible to know him truly and accurately.
• If I put my faith in him, I can look forward to a resurrection in an amazingly transformed world.

The conventional wisdom was that David was Israel’s greatest king.  The conventional wisdom was that ancestors were always revered as greater than their children.

Conclusion

20:41-44

The conventional wisdom was that David was Israel’s greatest king.  The conventional wisdom was that ancestors were always revered as greater than their children.

But this quotation from Psalm 110 turns that idea on its head.  The Lord—Yahweh—the great and one true God, says to David’s Lord—for David was the author of this Psalm—to sit at God’s right hand—the seat of greatest honor.

If the Messiah is to be a son of David, how can David call him Lord?

Well, he is not only a son of David, but also the Son of God.

And if he is the Son of God, then he has authority—over everything.

Jesus turns the tables on each of these questioners.  He asks them: Who do you think you are…

• To use what is to be true and open worship for your personal profit? 
• To compromise yourself by selling out in your politics?
• To twist my words and create a theology that is not true—one that justifies your life and cravings?

Who is Jesus to you?

• Does he have authority over your life?  What areas of your life do you have a hard time yielding to him?
• Do you treat him as if he were a god to be manipulated to fulfill your desires?  How are you prone to do this?
• Do you see him as the Son of God who came into the world to die even for his enemies so that they could know God’s mercy and forgiveness and worship him in truth and humble service?
• Do you understand that anyone who rejects his authority will one day be crushed by him?