Getting to Know Jesus Even Better #31

One by one, the groups of religious leaders in Jerusalem had come to Jesus trying to get Jesus to say something they could use against Him. One by one, He shut them down. Luke 20:

27 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30 The second 31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally, the woman died too. 33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
34 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37 But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
39 Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” 40 And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

These men thought the idea of the resurrection was ridiculous, but their hypothetical situation was even more ridiculous.  Jesus shows that with His simple reply: "There is no death in heaven." There will be no problems like this.  And just to calm their minds, and shut their mouths, Jesus pointed them to the only writer of scripture they respected: Moses. Even he believed in the resurrection of the dead, so why didn't they?  The resurrection of the dead changes everything. 

Getting to Know Jesus Even Better #30

In Luke 20 the leaders of Jerusalem were doing everything they could to get Jesus to say something incriminating. In response, Jesus had just given the "parable of the vineyard", which ended up with harsh judgment for those who would oppose the Son of the Owner. How did they respond to that?

19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.
20 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 23 He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 25 He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 26 They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

Since they were having trouble finding charges that would stick, they tried to get Him to say something against Roman Rule, so that they would have an accusation to take to Pilate, the governor.  This backfired, as Jesus' response was so profound.  The denarius was a coin designated for paying taxes. The question that is implied is this: "What, or who, has God's image on it? Give that to Him."

Getting to Know Jesus Even Better #29

In Luke 20, we find the religious leaders in Jerusalem waging an all out attack on Jesus. Verse:

9 He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance 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 them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

The Old Testament presents this picture of the people of Israel as God's vineyard.  They and their leaders had been given a sacred trust, which they violated over and over. When God sent His prophets to get things in order, they mistreated them and would not respond. Now He had sent His Son, and they were going to do even worse to Him. This was the story nobody wanted to hear; the truth can hurt. They also did not want to hear about the final accounting they would give. The Cornerstone, strong and straight is what will give a solid foundation, but if you oppose Him you will be cleared out of the way or squished. Once again, Jesus reminds us that being put in trust with the truth brings with it great accountability.

Getting to Know Jesus Even Better #28

During Jesus' final week in Jerusalem, He spent a fair amount of time handling last-ditch efforts by the religious leaders to challenge Him. Luke 20:

One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2 “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?” 3 He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: 4 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?” 5 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.” 8 Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

They questioned Jesus' authority on what they viewed as their turf: the temple.  They had taken it upon themselves to be the ones who determined what went on there, but Jesus had come in, driven out the merchandisers, and opened up His school of discipleship. In typical form Jesus answered their question with a question about John the Baptist.  Inferred in His answer is that His authority in part came from the same source: God had sent and authorized their message; just because these leaders did not authorize it did not make it untrue; it made them unwise. They proved their foolishness, inability to lead, and lack of authority by not being able to answer Jesus truthfully. After all, it was actually His Father's house, not theirs. 

Getting to Know Jesus Even Better #27

At the end of Luke 19, Jesus had just come into Jerusalem with a great parade of people singing His praises. What would be His first order of business?

45 When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

The first thing Jesus did was clear out space in the outer court of the temple, the area where the Gentiles were allowed, to make room for Him to clearly announce the Kingdom of God.  As we saw yesterday, just before he entered Jerusalem He was weeping over her rejection of Him and His good news.  The leaders did not appreciate the competition, but the pilgrims who had come from all over the world for Passover were hungry to hear Him.  High in God's priorities is that He wants to clear out all the clutter - all the noise and distractions, so we will hear the Good News of the Gospel of peace.  May we hang on every word. 

Getting to Know Jesus Even Better #26

We saw yesterday in Luke 19 that Jesus had finally arrived at the entranceway to Jerusalem, riding down the road on the Mount of Olives. 

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Many pilgrims who came to Jerusalem would cry with joy when they saw the city and the temple, but Jesus had tears of sorrow, because having been their often before, He had received repeated rejection. He had come and presented Himself as Messiah, Savior, Deliverer, but they turned a blind eye and deaf ear. The Visitor had come and been turned away.  The next visitor to come would be judgment. 

Getting to Know Jesus Even Better #25

Over the last few weeks, we have been following Jesus on this journey to Jerusalem. He finally had made His wat to the edge of the city: Luke 19:
28 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Everyone was anticipating what was going to happen.  So many things were fitting: Jesus was riding on a colt who had never before been ridden upon, signifying that He was both a King of Peace, and holy, special;  the cloaks throne upon it and before Him were also a recognition of His royalty; even the music was appropriate: in one sense it was a psalm they would often sing as pilgrims coming to Passover, yet they were singing it towards Him.  But with all this there was an eerie sense that things were out of their control: the disciples wondering if they could carry out what He commanded them to do; the Pharisees could not keep the people from cheering Him on; even the rocks seemed to be His willing servants.  Simply put, Jesus was in control all the way. When that is true, it's a glorious day.