Jesus Questions His Questioners
Luke 20One day while Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests, and elders came to him and asked, “Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?”
But he answered them, “I also will ask y’all a question. Y’all tell me: the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
They discussed among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t y’all believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they didn’t know its origin.
Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell y’all by what authority I do these things.”
The Parable of the Tenants
He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it out to some tenant farmers, and travelled abroad for a long time. At harvest time, he sent a servant to the farmers to some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, and they also beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. He sent yet a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’
“But when the farmers saw him, they deliberated among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.”
But he looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of what is written,
‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?’+Psa 118:22 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will crush them.”The scribes and chief priests wanted to arrest him that very hour, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they feared the people.
An Attempt to Trap Jesus on Taxes
Then they watched him closely and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, so that they could trap him in something he said and deliver him up to the governor’s jurisdiction and authority. They questioned him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and you don’t show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
But Jesus picked up on their trickery, and said to them, “Y’all show me a denarius. Whose image and title are on it?”
They answered, “Caesar’s.”
He said to them, “Well then y’all should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
They weren’t able to trap him in his words in public. They marveled at his answer and became silent.
Questions about Resurrection
Some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came and questioned him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies with a wife but no children, his brother should marry the wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless. Also the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven died, leaving no children. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to he?.”
Jesus replied, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to take part in that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they are no longer able to die, because they are like the angels. They are children of God, being children of the resurrection. But even Moses showed that the dead are raised in the passage about burning bush where he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’+Exo 3:6 Hᴇ is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”
Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.” For they didn’t dare ask him anything else.
Then he said to them, “Why do they say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself says in the book of Psalms,
‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ +Psa 110:1“If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”
While all the people were listening, he said to the disciples, “Y’all must beware of the scribes who like to walk in flowing robes, and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and offer long prayers for show. These will receive greater condemnation.”