Jesus Clashes with the Religious Leaders
Timothy Paul Jones
19 Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on him that very hour, because they knew he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
20 They watched closely and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, so that they could catch him in what he said, to hand him over to the governor’s rule and authority.
21 They questioned him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and you don’t show partiality but teach truthfully the way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But detecting their craftiness, he said to them,
24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?”
“Caesar’s,” they said.
25 “Well then,” he told them, “give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 They were not able to catch him in what he said in public, and being amazed at his answer, they became silent.
27 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up and questioned him:
28 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother has a wife, and dies childless, his brother should take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.
29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children.
30 Also the second
31 and the third took her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children. 32 Finally, the woman died too.
33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.”
34 Jesus told them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are counted worthy to take part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
36 For they can no longer die, because they are like angels and are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection.
37 Moses even indicated in the passage about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where 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, because all are living to him.”
39 Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
40 And they no longer dared to ask him anything.
41 Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is the son of David?
42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms:
The Lord declared to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
43 until I make your enemies your footstool.’
44 David calls him ‘Lord.’ How, then, can he be his son?”
–Luke 20:19-44
Big Idea: Because this world is not our final destination, followers of Jesus must live faithfully in the world-as-it-is without giving themselves to it, without giving up on the world-that-is-to-come, and with confidence that the same Lord who ruled in the past still rules now.
1. Don’t Give Yourself to the World as It Is (Luke 20:19–26)
- The trap about paying taxes to Caesar.
- The denarius bears Caesar’s image—but we bear God’s image.
- Give taxes to earthly rulers, but give your whole self only to God.
- Political powers are not ultimate; allegiance belongs to the Kingdom of God.
2. Don’t Give Up on the World That Is Yet to Come (Luke 20:27–40)
- The Sadducees deny resurrection and attempt to ridicule eternal life.
- Jesus affirms resurrection and future transformation.
- Marriage points forward to Christ and the Church and will be fulfilled in eternity.
- God is the God of the living—our future is secure in Him.
3. Don’t Forget That the Same Lord Who Ruled in the Past Still Rules Now (Luke 20:41–44)
- Psalm 110: The Messiah is both David’s Son and David’s Lord.
- Jesus is both divine Son of God and rightful Son of David.
- The eternal Lord stands before them—and reigns now.
- The reason we can live in a world we’re meant to leave is because Christ reigns over it.
4. Application
- Will you trust Jesus when He doesn’t deliver what you desire?
- What are you giving yourself to?
- Do you long for the world that is yet to come?