Reflective Bible Study

As we continue our journey through Luke’s gospel, we come to Jesus’ final week leading up to the cross. For our time together, we will fast-forward past Jesus’ triumphal entry and jump into an event Luke tells us happened during this week, probably early on in this week. While Luke doesn’t give us any hint regarding what day this happened, I suspect it may have been the Monday or Tuesday of that week.

Also worth mentioning before reading the passage we will focus in on is that earlier, most likely the day before, Jesus had thrown out the money changers and upset the commerce that was happening in the temple courtyard.

While it is not any stretch to imagine the first part of our passage to be a direct response to Jesus throwing the money changers out of the temple, when we read what happened together, let’s look past what might have happened earlier and focus on what we can discover from the passage itself.

Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 20, and we will read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:

¹ One day when Jesus was in the Temple teaching the people and preaching the Good News, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, together with the elders, came ² and said to him, “Tell us, what right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?”

³ Jesus answered them, “Now let me ask you a question. Tell me, ⁴ did John’s right to baptize come from God or from human beings?”

⁵ They started to argue among themselves, “What shall we say? If we say, ‘From God,’ he will say, ‘Why, then, did you not believe John?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From human beings,’ this whole crowd here will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered, “We don’t know where it came from.”

⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.”

Let’s pause reading for a moment, because I want to draw our attention onto a powerful idea present in this brief exchange. When the religious leaders ask Jesus what right He has to do what He is doing, while it is tempting to think they are referencing what Jesus had done in the temple when He kicked out the money changers a day earlier, part of me wonders if they are challenging Him on what He was doing at that present moment.

At that moment, Luke has set the stage by telling us Jesus was teaching and preaching the crowds and sharing the good news with them. With this context, I can see the challenge directed at Jesus as who gave Him the right or authority to preach God’s Word or to share God’s message with the world.

I suspect they were fishing for a way to discredit Jesus’ ministry. If Jesus said a specific human, or a specific Rabbi, they could discredit Him because of something in that rabbi or teacher’s life. If Jesus told them that God had given Him the authority, then they could accuse Him of presuming too much, and Jesus would have subtly directed focus onto Himself. Jesus wanted to keep the focus on God the Father and Jesus wanted to direct all the glory to Him.

In Jesus’ simple counter question, we discover that Jesus preferred this question remaining unanswered.

Answering this question would not help Jesus’ mission and ministry in any way, and it wouldn’t have brought God glory, so Jesus counters it with a question that the religious leaders were unwilling to conclusively decide.

However, Jesus isn’t finished pushing these religious leaders. Continuing in verse 9, Luke tells us:

⁹ Then Jesus told the people this parable: “There was once a man who planted a vineyard, rented it out to tenants, and then left home for a long time. ¹⁰ When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. But the tenants beat the slave and sent him back without a thing. ¹¹ So he sent another slave; but the tenants beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him back without a thing. ¹² Then he sent a third slave; the tenants wounded him, too, and threw him out. ¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my own dear son; surely they will respect him!’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the owner’s son. Let’s kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to the tenants?” Jesus asked. ¹⁶ “He will come and kill those men, and turn the vineyard over to other tenants.”

When the people heard this, they said, “Surely not!”

¹⁷ Jesus looked at them and asked, “What, then, does this scripture mean?

‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
    turned out to be the most important of all.’

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be cut to pieces; and if that stone falls on someone, that person will be crushed to dust.”

¹⁹ The teachers of the Law and the chief priests tried to arrest Jesus on the spot, because they knew that he had told this parable against them; but they were afraid of the people.

In this parable, I find it fascinating that everyone present understood what this parable meant. Luke tells us that the religious leaders knew who they represented, and they even understood Jesus to be subtly placing Himself in this parable as well.

However, because Jesus used a third-person parable, they could not directly challenge Him on the claim of blasphemy, because Jesus never directly says that He is represented by the vineyard owner’s son. Jesus subtly and strongly challenges these leaders while avoiding directly saying something that would incriminate Himself.

Also, I find it fascinating that Jesus’ parable’s conclusion is met with shock from the people present. When Jesus asks the people the rhetorical question about what the vineyard owner will do to the rebellious, evil tenants, He tells them that the owner will throw them out, kill them, and find other tenants who will hopefully be better.

While everyone knows Jesus was speaking against the religious leaders who had mistreated and abused the prophets God sent Israel and Judah in the many centuries of the nation’s history, Jesus again subtly predicts His death. If the religious leaders wanted to avoid playing into prophecy’s hand, they could have simply ignored Jesus. Jesus tells these leaders that they would ultimately kill the vineyard owner’s son, and by pressing for Jesus’ death, these leaders push Jesus into a role they likely never wanted Him to be in.

By pressing for Jesus’ death, these leaders incriminate themselves because they understand themselves to be the tenants, and they reject Jesus and kill Him. In the parable, the last messenger they receive is the vineyard owner’s son, and because the vineyard owner represents God, by pressing for Jesus’ death, without realizing what it fully means, these leaders acknowledge that Jesus is God’s Son!

The people are shocked not that the vineyard owner would reject these evil tenants, but that their rejection of God’s messengers would ultimately lead to their destruction. While it isn’t a popular message, there will be a point when God stops sending warnings and messengers to the world. There will be a point when the door to salvation closes.

I wholeheartedly believe that this point in time has not come yet, and that we all still have a choice to believe in Jesus. Because of this, let’s choose today to repent and turn away from our past sins, and to intentionally invite Jesus into our lives to change our hearts and minds. With Jesus in our hearts, we will succeed where the evil tenants failed, and we will accept those God sends into our lives with His truth!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, intentionally seek God first in your life and chose to accept Jesus into your heart, life, and mind. Choose to live your life in a way that gives God the glory and in a way that doesn’t take any glory for ourselves.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Open your heart and mind in prayer and study to discover a God willing to give anything and everything to redeem the people He loves, and what God ultimately chooses to do when He is continually rejected.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

While it would be very tempting to jump straight from Jesus’ burial to focusing on Jesus’ resurrection, to do so would also jump over a couple of prophecies that would be ideal to focus on during this point in time. While we could have technically included these prophecies anywhere earlier on in Jesus’ ministry, the point in time following His death is especially relevant because of what these prophecies talk about.

The first of these prophecies is found in Isaiah, chapter 52, and it in some ways draws our attention onto the abuse Jesus suffered leading up to the cross. Reading from Isaiah, chapter 52, using the New American Standard Bible, starting in verse 13, Isaiah writes:

¹³ Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
¹⁴ Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.
¹⁵ Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see,
And what they had not heard they will understand.

In these three verses, we have an interesting dilemma. On one hand, God’s chosen Servant is described as prospering, and as being high, lifted up, and greatly exalted. While the actual application of being high, lifted up, and exalted could reference the praise Jesus received from the crowds, it could also in a more literal way describe how Jesus was lifted up high on a cross. We’ve looked at parts of the gospels in these podcast episodes that draw our attention onto Jesus framing the time He would be exalted as the time He would spend on the cross, though from our perspective, being exalted would be in a very different group of ideas than being put to death.

However, while describing God’s servant as prospering, Isaiah also draws our attention onto Jesus’ appearance being more damaged and injured than any other human. If one experiences the most extreme amount of abuse, it would be challenging to understand that abuse as also being prosperous.

I suspect that while we could dwell on these two seemingly opposing thoughts, Jesus understands Isaiah’s prophecy a little differently.

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, during a point when it would be easy for the disciples to feel proud of being near Jesus, we discover what Jesus does to help frame the situation. In Luke’s gospel, chapter 18, starting in verse 31, Luke writes:

³¹ Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. ³² For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, ³³ and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.” ³⁴ But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.

In this framing of Isaiah’s prophecy, Jesus intentionally tries to draw the focus away from the negative points of the prophecy, and onto the ultimate triumph that is known as the resurrection. While Jesus knows it would be easy to ignore both the trials and the crucifixion when experiencing an emotional high, it is also easy to ignore the good that is able to come as a result of the emotional low points. In Jesus’ case, with no crucifixion, there would be no resurrection, and with no crucifixion or resurrection, there would be no reason to be a follower of Jesus.

Looking back briefly at the trial Jesus faced, Matthew’s gospel shares in chapter 26, starting in verse 57:

⁵⁷ Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. ⁵⁸ But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. ⁶⁰ They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, ⁶¹ and said, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’” ⁶² The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?” ⁶³ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; ⁶⁶ what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”

⁶⁷ Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?”

Jumping forward into Matthew, chapter 27, starting in verse 24:

²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” ²⁵ And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” ²⁶ Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. ²⁸ They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. ²⁹ And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰ They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. ³¹ After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

All throughout the 24 hours leading up to Jesus taking His last breath, everything was stacked against Jesus in the most brutal, painful, and torturous way it could be stacked.

However, Jesus ultimately triumphed, because He walked through the pain, torture, and death without abandoning His mission. Because Jesus triumphed, we are able to triumph too when we have placed our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him. While it is easy to ignore or discount the amazing promises and rewards God has promised us when moving through life with Him, if Satan, or simply life, is challenging us and pulling us down, remember today that Jesus defeated death.

Just like Jesus said He would do, Jesus returned to life. Because of this, anything life throws our way, even if the thing we are thrown is death, we can know that Jesus will be waiting for us on the other side when we stick with Him to the end. After we take our last breath, the next face we see will be Jesus’ and the next voice we hear will be His when we have placed our lives within His hands.

While Satan wants us to minimize, ignore, discount, or distract us away from Jesus, remember that Jesus’ sacrifice defeated Satan while also making the way possible for us to experience salvation.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by saying in one way or another, intentionally seek God first in your life, and intentionally place your hope, your trust, your faith, and your belief in Jesus and His sacrifice. Remember that Jesus defeated Satan and death for you and me and when we ally and align our lives with His, we will be saved with Him for eternity.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself. While pastors, authors, speakers, and even podcasters have ideas they share, take everything you read, hear, and see and test these ideas against the truth found within the Bible. The Bible has stood the test of time as the most reliable guide for orienting our spiritual lives, and the Bible contains everything we need to know to grow a strong, lasting relationship with God.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!