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“They were not able in the presence of the people to catch Him in what He said, but marveling at His answers, they became silent.”  Luke 20:26

The Gospel according to Luke 

Review – In the temple, Jesus taught and told a parable that infuriated the religious leaders. A vineyard owner, his tenants, his servants, and his son are all in the story. THEY know it’s about their faulty oversight of Israel. And they hate Jesus even more.

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Vss. 20:21-26.

After that scathing parable, the Jewish leaders tried even harder to catch Jesus. They sent “spies” who seemed “honest” but who asked Him controversial questions in hopes Jesus would say something indictable.

#1. The first was so obvious.

“Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”

(In other words, should godly people pay taxes to an ungodly government. (A good question for today, too.)

Of course, Jesus saw right through their craftiness. “Show me a denarius. (They did.) “Whose likeness and inscription does it have?”

They knew, but they looked anyway. “Caesar’s.”

“Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

(And the first set of spies left, defeated and silent.)

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Vss. 20:27-

#2. The second came from a delegation of Sadducees (or chief priests), who did NOT believe in a bodily resurrection. (This made them … Sad, you see!)

‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.”

This WAS a provision given by Moses to help carry on the line of ownership for Israel in a new land. It was not compulsory, but a single brother sharing an estate might be looked down upon if he refused to do this for his brother’s line. (See Deuteronomy 25:5-10)

But these Sadducees carried the example to absurdity, suggesting that this poor widow went through seven brothers without producing an heir, leaving them all dead. (We might call her a “black widow!”) “In the resurrection (if there IS one) whose wife would she be?” they asked, believing they’d “caught” Jesus.

You can almost see Jesus rolling His eyes. Matthew’s account begins with Jesus correcting them, “You are wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.” Here, in Luke, Jesus merely explains that there is no marriage in the resurrection. Those who have attained heaven are equal to angels. There is also no death, because God is the God of the living, and all the resurrected live in Him.

The Sadducees were stumped. But some of the scribes (Pharisees, who did believe in bodily resurrection) thought Jesus had “spoken well.” And they no longer tried to trick Him with their questions.

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Vss. 20 41-47.

But Jesus had a question of His own, one that left them speechless, fearful of answering either way.

“How can they say that the Christ (Messiah) is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, (110:1) ‘The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ “David thus calls ‘LORD,’ so how is He his son?“

Then Jesus, in the hearing of ALL the people, said to His disciples, “Beware of the scribes (Pharisees), who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.“

This is not the first time Jesus warned His disciples about the Pharisees – not the men themselves, but their hypocrisy – teaching extreme righteousness but acting entirely differently.

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(I use the 2010 MacArthur Study Bible, English Standard Version, for my studies.)