This chapter begins with the Jewish establishment
questioning the authority with which Jesus’s teaches and which caused him, at
the end of Chapter 19 to “cleanse the temple”. Jesus answers their question
somewhat directly in vv. 3-8, but then takes it all a little deeper by the
parable that he offers in vv. 9-18.
This parable, known as the Parable of the
Wicked Tenants represents the dichotomy that Jesus sets up between he and the
Jewish temple establishment. Not only is this parable a condemnation of those
Jews who reject Jesus, but it’s also a premonition, a prediction, a prophesy,
taken from the Book of Psalms, the Prophet Isaiah and the Book of Daniel about
Jesus himself.
There seems to be an out-of-place section here about paying
taxes (vv. 19-26). When you take into account what occurs in vv. 27- 47, the
seven previous verses seem out of place. But let’s take a look at it.
The question to Jesus is very simple, but there’s a sinister
purpose behind the question. Notice the language that Luke uses to show Jesus’s
insight. There is a certain irony to Jesus’s answer though. While the coin may
belong to Caesar because his image is on it, and the things of God belong to
God, ultimately, everything, including the coin with Caesar’s image, and even
Caesar himself belong to God. Jesus’s response is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and
of there is a slight recognition of that in that those who tried to trap him in
treason could only marvel at his answer (v. 26).
There are then three sections following in which Jesus sort of
returns to this theme about the temple. The destruction of the temple and the
resurrection of the dead are commonly connected because they both signal the
“end of the age”- the coming of the Messiah, the Last Judgment and the End of
Time. Notice the question of the disciples in v. 41 that harkens back to the
questions about Jesus’s authority and the parable of the wicked tenants.
Jew’s believed that the Messiah would come from the House of
David, a descendant of the great King. Joseph, Jesus’s foster father, was from
the House of David so that provides his royal lineage. Luke uses a verse from the Book of Psalms to
reemphasize that King David was not the Messiah, but that the verse refers to
Jesus.
Point for Prayer
“Jesus, Lord and Master, your authority is full of love,
honoring my freedom, but calling me for an obedience that will make me fully
human. Your commands are calls of love intending a creative remaking of my
heart. Give me the wisdom to see the purpose of you commands and the grace to
make an obedient response. Amen” (179).
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