Luke 20 explained: Trick Questions in the Temple

Who gave you authority? (vv. 1-8)

The temple leaders demand to know who authorized Jesus to act as he has, most likely including his clearing of the temple in the previous chapter. He asks whether John the Baptist was sent by God, and since either answer would hurt them, they say they don't know, so he declines to answer too.

The tenants who kill the son (vv. 9-19)

The vineyard echoes an old picture of God's people from Isaiah 5: the tenants are the leaders, the servants are the prophets they mistreated, and the son points to Jesus himself, which the leaders understood was aimed at them. The quoted line from Psalm 118 says a stone the builders threw away became the most important stone in the building, which Christians read as Jesus, rejected and then raised up.

Paying taxes to Caesar (vv. 20-26)

This was a trap: saying yes would anger people who resented Roman rule, and saying no would let them report him to the Roman governor as a rebel. The coin carries the emperor's image, so it can go back to him, while some readers take "what is God's" to mean people themselves, who in the Bible bear God's image.

Marriage after death (vv. 27-40)

The Sadducees, a priestly group that denied the dead would rise, use an old law requiring a man to marry his brother's childless widow to make resurrection look absurd. Jesus says the life to come is not simply a copy of this one, and argues from Moses himself: God still calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob long after they died, so to God they are alive.

David's son and Lord (vv. 41-44)

People expected the Messiah, God's promised king, to be a descendant of King David. Jesus points out that in Psalm 110 David calls this king "my Lord," which hints that he is greater than an ordinary descendant, and Christians read this as pointing to who Jesus is.

Beware of showy teachers (vv. 45-47)

Jesus warns against religious experts who love fine robes, public honor and the best seats while taking advantage of widows, who had little legal protection. Exactly how they "devoured" widows' houses is unclear, though one common suggestion is that they mismanaged or exploited estates entrusted to them.

Key verse: Luke 20:17

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether the vineyard being given "to others" means God replaced Israel with the church, or means that leadership was taken from those particular leaders while God's commitment to the Jewish people remains.

Something to think about

Where do you draw the line between what you owe the society and government you live under and what you owe to something beyond them, if anything?