Read the Passage: Luke 20:1–26

Listen to the Redeemed Mind Podcast: Luke 20:1–26

Leaders’ Question (20:1–8)

Surely after overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple, and thereby upsetting the religious leaders, Jesus was aware that “the leaders of the people sought to destroy him” (Luke 19:47). Nevertheless, Christ’s commitment to His Father’s will is evident in that He continued to teach daily in the temple. Indeed, Luke notes, that Jesus “preached the gospel” (Luke 20:1) in the temple. Christ’s unexpected lack of fear, as well as the attention of the large crowds that gathered to listen to Him (cf. Luke 19:48), must have surprised the religious leaders. Since the priests, the scribes, and the elders could not arrest Jesus at this point, they demanded that He justify His actions, asking, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who is he who gave you this authority?” (Luke 20:2). Since the leaders believed that only they could give such permission, this was a trap.

In response to the religious leaders’ inquiry, Jesus asked them a question—namely, whether they believed that the ministry of John the Baptist was of God or from men. This question, which was designed by Christ to expose the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, was challenging for them to answer. Indeed, as the leaders quickly deduced, they could not say that John’s baptism was from men, for the crowds believed that John was a prophet. In fact, to claim that John’s ministry was from men would likely have caused a riot. Likewise, the religious leaders could not say that John was a prophet, for they did not believe that he was from God. To complicate matters, John had proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah (cf. John 1:29). With His question, then, Christ was exposed the religious leaders’ hypocrisy and demonstrated that they had no part in John’s baptism nor in His own ministry.

Jesus’ Parable (20:9–18)

Luke 20:9–18 gives the parable of the vineyard owner, which is also recorded in each of the Synoptic Gospels. Note that while Jesus had been interacting with the religious leaders, He spoke this parable to all the people (cf. Luke 20:9). Observe that in the Old Testament Israel is commonly referred to as a vine or a vineyard (cf. Ps. 80:8–15; Hos. 10:1; Jer. 2:21; Ezek. 19:10). In this parable Christ is likely alluding to Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard (cf. Isa. 5:1–7), which the people would have known. Furthermore, as Jesus spoke this parable, the hills around Him were covered in lush vineyards. The identity of the characters in this narrative are as follows: the vineyard owner is God, the vine-dressers are the religious leaders, the servants are the prophets, the owner’s son is Jesus, and the new tenants represent the church. The expected harvest is the rightful worship of God.

Mark gives more details than Luke about the care that the vineyard owner gave to his vineyard (cf. Mark 12:1). Furthermore, Mark gives additional information about how the vine-dressers treated the owner’s servants: they beat one, they stoned another, and they killed a third. Note that this is exactly how the Jewish leaders treated the prophets whom God sent to them. However, the surprising part of this parable is that when the vineyard owner sent his “beloved son” (Luke 20:13), the vine-dressers killed him, believing that in so doing they somehow would inherit the vineyard. Such a ridiculous plan did not gain an inheritance for the tenants; rather it provoked the owner to “destroy those vine-dressers and [to] give the vineyard to others” (Luke 20:16). It is interesting to note that even though Jesus spoke in a parable, the religious leaders understood He was speaking about them.

Herodians’ Inquiry (20:19–26)

Even though they understood Jesus’ parable of the vineyard owner, rather than repenting, it is incredible that the leaders actually sought to kill Christ. Since they feared the people, the religious leaders couldn’t immediately seize Jesus. Therefore, they joined forces with their enemies, the Herodians (cf. Matt. 22:16; Mark 12:13). Together these leaders sought to spy on Christ and to entrap Him. The ambush that was decided upon was to ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (Luke 20:22). Indeed, it seemed like any answer to this question would have caused trouble for Christ, either with the crowds or with Rome. Yet, with His response Jesus simultaneously exposed the religious leaders’ love of money and conveyed that His kingdom is not of this world. Luke concludes, “They could not catch Him in His words . . . and they marveled at His answer and kept silent” (Luke 20:26).

Application Questions:

1. Since He surely knew that the religious leaders sought to kill Him, why did Jesus teach openly in the temple during the Passion Week?
2. In what way was the religious leaders’ question to Jesus a trap? What did they hope to accomplish by questioning Christ?
3. When they asked Him, why didn’t Jesus tell the religious leaders that He was ministering with the authority of God?
4. Why did Jesus teach in parables (cf. Matt. 13:1–17)? Wouldn’t Christ’s teachings have been more effective without parables?
5. If the religious leaders grasped Jesus’ parable, and they understood that He was speaking about them, why did they not repent?