The Resurrection - Luke 20v27-40

Some of the Sadducees came to Jesus to put their question. (The Sadducees deny that there is any resurrection.)

‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘Moses wrote for us that “If any man’s brother dies, leaving a widow but no children, the man should marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.” Well, now: There were seven brothers; the eldest married a wife, and died without children. The second and the third married her, and then each of the seven, and they died without children. Finally, the woman died as well. So, in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be? The seven all had her as their wife.’

‘The children of this age’, replied Jesus, ‘marry and are given in marriage. But those counted as worthy of a place in the age to come, and of the resurrection of the dead, don’t marry, and they are not given in marriage. This is because they can no longer die; they are the equivalent of angels. They are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection.

‘But when it comes to the dead being raised, Moses too declares it, in the passage about the burning bush, where scripture describes the Lord as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. God is God, not of the dead, but of the living. They are all alive to him.’

‘That was well said, teacher,’ commented some of the scribes, since they no longer dared ask him anything else.

They just come out of the woodwork sometimes. Here you are, you have a word from God you are doing your best to walk in it and suddenly everyone wants a piece of you. Just made a confession that Jesus is Lord…you lose your job. Just followed Him through the glorious waters of Baptism…your wife is cheating on you. Went on your first mission trip…you came back and let yourself get dragged into pornography.

Let me just say that there are safer things to do than to follow Jesus and much easier ways to live… the irony is that if all that is going on…most likely God has much to accomplish through you, if you would be faithful. A wise person does not under estimate evil, but realizes that evil has made the mistake of under estimating God. Evil, precisely because it is evil, has not looked to see out beyond the immediate…it is short sighted…it serves God and doesn’t even know it. As a matter of fact the Rabbi’s teach that God created demons as a spiritual whip for the wicked, to drive the hardened heart to true and full repentance. Sadly, some of us need that. And given our propensity for wickedness, we are all subject to attack, therefore it is written, ‘Do not give the devil an opportunity’. That was not written to those outside of Christ, but to those within…though it certainly applies to all of God’s human creatures.

So what about these Sadducees? Christians love to hate the Pharisees and sing songs about how we don’t want to be one of them (the irony is thick here)…how about these Sadducees though. Well, here Jesus is firmly on the side of the Pharisees. You see Judaism has many different branches and the Sadducees where very much like your modern day Zionists/Religio-Political Conservatives. They were highly political, aristocratic, extremely wealthy (Archeologists have found bottles of wine in Sadducee homes from the second temple period that were valued at round $5K in modern equivalent) and they were actually running the show more than the Pharisees, who certainly had more sway with the common folks (which is probably why we have Jesus interacting with Pharisees more, they were where he was.

On the table here in this scripture however is nothing less than life and death, heaven and hell, marriage and divorce, Old Creation and New Creation. This is heavy stuff…and the Sadducees are mocking. You see the Sadducees have many of these ridiculous little stories that attempt to drive at some spiritual teaching that they do not understand and so they ridicule. They only really respected the Torah and had little or no affection for anything written much outside of that…particularly more recent stuff like Daniel,the prophets, oral Torah etc…and given their status, you can understand why…they were exactly the kinds of people the prophets cry out against and call to repentance. They understand everything and they are in control, and they will stay in that position at any cost…and it all goes on under the guise of faith.

So the doctrine has far less to do with marriage of men and women as it does ‘the Resurrection’ covenant renewal and the coming together again of the Creator God and His creation, and ‘the two became one flesh’. You see most Jew’s believed that there was this age (or world) and there was ‘The Age (or world) to Come’ or ‘Eternal Life’ as most Christian’s understand it. The belief goes that YHWH, the creator God, will act to set all things to rights and that His Kingdom (His Sovereign, Saving Rule) which existed just as a hope, a spiritual destination ‘out there’, would one day manifest itself, on Earth as in heaven, and in that day death itself would be fully and finally defeated. So God’s Kingdom was not just some ethereal spiritual concept with no purchase on real life in the real world, but was to be the spiritual power that becomes incarnate within and through God’s good creation…this is in fact the ultimate Christian hope by the way…as Paul says in that glorious summation of the Gospel and the final state of things in 1 Corinthians 15… “and YHWH will be all and in all”.

I am warmed just thinking about it…but these Sadducees, these religious conservatives, having become very much Hellenized mock this vision, they have kicked God upstairs, so they can do just about anything they can get away with ‘down’ here…the ancient world looks nothing at all like today I am glad to say (a little dash of sarcasm for irony).

Jesus will not have it though, he shuts down their mocking and he purposely does it from the Torah and not from the prophets or psalms, etc (where most of this idea of Resurrection/New or Re-Newed Creation comes from). He meets them where they are at, on their terms and flips the script to set them to rights. That’s the gracious wisdom of our Lord at work. Because though he agrees with the Pharisees on the big picture, the methods and means are wholly different…one example was that nobody expected the Messiah to come in the middle of the story, certainly not to be crucified and Resurrected before everyone else…but that is the grace of God! Just as Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness, so too the Son of Man was to be lifted up…and the Kingdom does not come with signs to be observed…that is, it is not some great and final taaaadaaa!

No, the Kingdom of God is within your grasp, He holds it out to you as an offer, a free gift of His grace set before you, His Messiah…crucified for you and for me…why does Jesus want to suffer? Why does He want to die? Why have Christians followed Him in this vocation for centuries...because those are the front lines into your mind, straight to the heart is where it’s got to start…and like a woman who took and hid leaven in three measures of flour until the whole thing was leavened, so to… the Kingdom comes, on earth as it is in heaven.

Grace and peace.

Ps I love the scribe at the end (he got shut down in the last section we went over) I’m that guy sometimes… like yeah go get him Jesus!… root for Jesus, when he agrees with us (our theology, our politics, etc)…we tend to crucify the Word when He doesn’t. Lord have mercy on us.

Got Idols in Your Pockets Aye? Luke 20v20-26

So the authorities watched Jesus, and sent people to lie in wait for him. They pretended to be upright folk, but were trying to trap him in something he said, so that they could hand him over to the rule and authority of the governor. So they asked him this question.

‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know that you speak and teach with integrity. You are completely impartial, and you teach God’s way and God’s truth. So: is it right for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?’

Jesus knew they were playing a trick.

‘Show me a tribute-penny,’ he said. ‘This image…and this inscription…who do they belong to?’

‘Caesar,’ they said.

‘Well, then,’ replied Jesus, ‘you’d better give back to Caesar what belongs to him! And give God back what belongs to Him!’

They couldn’t catch him in anything he said in front of the people. They were amazed at his answer, and had nothing more to say.

Ever had people come into your life and it seems all they want to do is see you into ruin? They pretend to be your friends; really they’ve got an agenda and the first time you say something wrong or do something wrong they are right there to nail you? We see it played out in public life everywhere…so that just must be the way it is, right? Can’t trust anyone…what is one to do? Look to Jesus.

The Jewish authorities are afraid he’s going to work the crowds following him up into a riot. Jesus already stepped on their toes and in fact warned them that they were about to be displaced. They need him stopped. Here they think they’ve got him. Indeed, the cunningness of the question is impressive. It was a major issue during this time…Jews paying tribute to Caesar in itself was bad (no taxation without representation?), but for the Jew, the very fact that the coinage had an engraved image on it and an inscription that would have been utterly blasphemous was an absolute slap in the face. So with this hot topic they intend to show him up publicly, either on the one hand, if he says ‘no’ …they can accuse him of being a revolutionary, just another zealot, in which case they could turn him over to the Roman authorities or he would say ‘yes’ and they would show him up before all the people as just another of hundreds of false messiah teaching just a spiritual kingdom and not the kind of person they would want ruling over them anyway…then they would have the backing of the people to…again…turn him over to the Roman authorities. Either way they’ve got him…or do they?

Jesus isn’t stupid, he knows the game his accusers are playing. And his answer…brilliant! ‘Show me a tribute penny’…he looks at it, he looks back at them…the implication…what the hell are you guys doing carrying this garbage around on your person for? ‘Who’s image is this?’ ...Oh, Tiberius Caesar… And ‘what does that inscription read?’ …son of the God, huh?...We'll see about that!..You know what, you better get rid of all of it…it’s got his image on it, give it all back to him and get this blasphemous crap out of my face! You ought to be more worried about giving to God what is his! Get that sorted out and God will take care of this Roman issue in the long run…Jesus not only answers their veiled accusations, but fires right back accusing them of failing to be the Light of the world, to worship the only true and living God and to show forth his grace to the whole world.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is what contentious issues plague our pulpits, our pews, our politics or our wallets today?

Then we need to ask if we are asking the right questions. What does it look like to give God what is His today…that my friend’s is the real question…and the answer ought not to come only from your lips, but as Jesus implies…by your public and private lives. If we get that answer right, God will work out all the other questions…do you believe this?

God’s Vineyard: Luke 20v9-19

Jesus began to tell the people this parable. ‘There was a man who planted a vineyard, let it out to tenant farmers and went away for a long while. When the time came, he sent a slave to the farmers to collect from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty handed. He then sent a further slave, and they beat him, and abused him, and sent him back empty handed. Then he sent yet a third, and they beat him and threw him out.

‘So the master of the vineyard said, “What shall I do? I’ll send my beloved son. They will certainly respect him!” But when the farmers saw him they said to each other, ”This is the heir! Let’s kill him and the inheritance will belong to us!”
And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

‘So what will the master of the vineyard do? He will come and wipe out those farmers, and give the vineyard to others.’

When they heard this, they said, ‘God forbid!’ But Jesus looked round at them and said, ‘What does it mean in the scriptures when it says,

“The very stone the builders refused
Now for the corner’s top is used”?

‘Everyone who falls on that stone will be smashed to smithereens; but if it falls on anyone, it will crush them.’

The scribes and chief priests tried to lay hands on him then and there. But they were afraid of the people, because they knew that Jesus had told this parable against them.

This will be the last time Jesus’ tells us what is going to happen to Jerusalem, in the form of a parable. The imagery is powerful, it’s shocking and direct…and Luke uses it to tie together everything he has been telling us so far.

The master of the vineyard is obviously YHWH, he has let his vineyard out to tenants and gone abroad for a while…the scribes and Pharisees know that they, the leadership of Israel, are referenced here as the tenants. Any first century Jew would have understood that the slaves YHWH sent are the prophets and Jesus obviously views himself as the son, he sees himself as the rightful King sent to his Father’s tenant’s, but they wanted to block him…to keep him from the vineyard. Why? So they could keep it for themselves.

Jesus is the rightful heir to the prophets and the vineyard. He is here to bring to fulfillment their work and as he does he is also calling Israel to give the covenant God his due…honor, respect, obedience…love. Israel was entrusted with all the gifts (talents) needed to effectively bear the fruit of justice and to show forth the grace of God to the whole world around them. Rather they hunkered down, trying to keep it to and for themselves, practiced injustice within herself and were willing, through violence and any means necessary to repel and resist the world around them. Who puts a Light under a bucket? Shouldn't you rather put it on a lampstand...so that it gives Light to the whole house? They refused the way of peace and they would soon reject their final warning (Luke 19v41-44).

YHWY himself will be coming back to do justice and to vindicate his Son…and to confirm a strong covenant, the New Covenant…(Daniel 9v27)…Let the reader understand …the judgment Israel so wanted for her neighbors would fall on her at the hand of her pagan enemies for rejecting the Son …Their rejection of God’s Anointed One will be dealt with by God himself…and He will take up the task of rebuilding His people, the Messiah being the cornerstone. Yes, they may reject Yeshua now, but YHWH will vindicate him and he will become the central feature of the true temple, the place where YHWH dwells by the Spirit…His people. And Yeshua is the standard by which all are judged.

Come and see, we no longer go forward trying to get the wealthy and powerful religious people to accept God’s way of peace and love, we declare by our words and our lives and sometimes our blood…that this Way has already been vindicated, has already triumphed over all evil…Already the renewed vineyard is bearing fruit…all over the world! The new Temple is being built and its Cornerstone is already firmly in place. Praise God! Halleluiah! Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Ref. Luke for Everyone

New Managment: Luke 20v1-8

On one of those days, while Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, and announcing the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came up with the elders, and said to him, 'Tell us: by what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority?'

'I've got a question for you, too,' said Jesus,'so tell me this: was John's baptism from God, or was it merely human?'

'If we say it was from God,' they said among themselves,'he'll say, so why didn't you believe him? But if we say "merely human", all the people will stone us, since they are convinced that John was a prophet.'

So they replied that they didn't know where John came from.

'Very well, then,'said Jesus. 'Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'

Jesus has some chutzpah...there's no question about that. Think about it like this...a homeless guy, with a ragamuffin group of unemployed fishermen walks out of the woods and into your place of business starts flipping tables over, sending people on their way and sits down in the CEO's desk and starts making some pretty radical changes to the status quo. He's displaced the whole order of things and tells you your job's on the line. The question in your mind of course...who the !%^& are you and who sent you here to do this?

Now, admittedly, Jesus' response seems kind of strange...what does John have to do with all this? They think it's a trick question...trying to put them on the defensive or make them look either foolish for not believing God or making them publicly deny John's ministry...which would have had political consequences.

Actually, Jesus was answering their question, if John was indeed a prophet of God, then Jesus is in fact the Messiah. God bestowed on Jesus', through John's baptism (so that all righteousness would be fulfilled) the royal, messianic authority over the whole world, so much more so the Temple that existed for the service of His Father as a house of prayer...not a business! This authority was publicly bestowed on Him through John's baptism as he came up out of the water and the anointing of God came upon him for that very purpose. There authority passed, ever so quietly, from the old system to the new...from the law and the prophets to the King and the Kingdom. John, speaking prophetically as prophets do...on behalf of that old system says, 'I must decrease and He must increase.'

These authorities refuse to answer though...because their only concern is for maintaining their positions, they are concerned with the things below where as Jesus has His mind set on the things above, the things of God. So they get nothing from their King...'Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.'

There is more though... it's written, 'For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.' ...to really get into the Lord's mindset here spend some time meditating on what we've talked about here after reading all of Psalm 69...

Grace and peace

Through Tears: Luke 19v41-48

When he came near and saw the city, he wept over it.

'If only you'd known,' he said,'on this day - even you! What peace meant. But now it's hidden, you can't see it. Yes, the days are coming upon you when your enemies will build up earthworks all round you, and encircle you,and squeeze you in from every direction. They will bring you crashing to the ground, you and your children within you. They won't leave a single stone on another, because you didn't know the moment when God was visiting you.'

He went into the Temple and began to throw out the traders.

'It's written,' he said,'my house shall be a house of prayer; but you've made it a brigands cave.'

He was teaching every day in the Temple. But the chief priests, the scribes and the leading men of the people were trying to destroy him. They couldn't find a way to do it, because all the people were hanging on his every word.

After the ending of that last parable in Luke 19v27, we might be quick to think...you see! Jesus is no different than Caesar! He's just as much a tyrant! It's his way or no way! Look how violent he is...he wants his enemies to be slaughtered in front of him...who does that!?!?

It is so very important, when talking about God's judgment and this type of justice that we understand it comes through tears...not cold, mean 'I told you so''s or arrogant and violent 'This is what you get!''s. Think back to the God who flooded the earth, killing millions...why?...he looked upon their violence towards one another and refusal to turn from it and the scriptures say...'it grieved him to his very heart.' That same God incarnate now looks upon the very city that he had birthed for the purpose of bringing Light into the world and he is again grieved to his very heart.
All the towns around the Galilee have been refusing his message of love, of peace reaching out to the Gentile world and here, he finds the epicenter of the problem...the very symbol of his love and faithfulness to his people has set itself against him and his purposes...and has therefore called down not just a lack of blessing, but absolute destruction.

When Jesus enters the Temple, the traders were somewhat of an issue, but the primary problem was that the authorities themselves were thieves and scoundrels. So all of Jesus' warnings and prophecies from earlier in Luke's gospel are now gathering up like a cloud around Jerusalem. Jesus, like Jeremiah, utters words of warning through tears and sobs...they just will not see...they just will not listen...If you believe, as previously discussed, that this is about so much more than just a prophet from Nazareth...but Jesus is in fact embodying the long awaited return of YHVH to Zion...then you must understand that these are more than the tears of an angry, frustrated prophet...but are the very tears of the God who is self-giving love...and if you believe that....then you understand...it had to be this Way.

Coming Down the Mountain: Luke 19v28-40

With these words,Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

As they came close, as near as Bethany and Bethphage, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent he sent two of the disciples on ahead. 'Go into the village over there,' he said,'and as you arrive you'll find a colt tied up, one that nobody has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you untying it?' you should say,"Because the Master needs it."'

The two who where sent went off and found it as Jesus had said to them. They untied the colt, and its owner said to them,"Why are you untying the colt?"

"Because the Master needs it," they replied.

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and mounted Jesus on it. As he was going along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.

When he came to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to celebrate and praise God at the top of their voices for all the powerful deeds they had seen.

'Welcome, welcome, welcome with a blessing,' they sang. 'Welcome to the king in the name of the Lord!''Peace in heaven, and glory on high!'

Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, 'Teacher, tell your disciples to stop that.'

'Let me tell you,' replied Jesus,'if they stayed silent, the stones would be shouting out!'

This has been a long and treacherous pilgrimage and as they ascend from the dusty roads and through the poverty stricken towns of Bethany and Bethphage and find themselves upon the lush green terrain of the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem herself finally comes into view. Jesus has got everything worked out and soon the disciples catch on...they know the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9v9...so they break into jubilant celebration singing parts of that great hymn of praise-psalm 118. (read the psalm in its entirety if you want to get into their heads a bit). But here are the Pharisees, following along with the crowd until the stakes go up...then they want Jesus to silence them...they foreshadow all the forces of evil that are mounting against Jesus in Jerusalem...this is the point of no return and Jesus knows it...he can't stop it now...he is walking right into the eye of the storm, but this is how God's Kingdom comes...God's great Passover...the New Exodus that would lead God's faithful out of their slavery to sin...to the place where Pilate crucifies Galileans...he is headed to the cross...it makes one wonder...if Jesus disciples had known Jesus had his mind set on a cross...would they had been singing the same tune? or would they have listened to the Pharisees? Surely they would have been confused and scared and utterly befuddled...as they soon will be...

The question for us is the same...do we celebrate with Jesus only when he does what we expect the way we expect it...or can he trust us to be faithful with the deeper things? Trusting that our Father truly works all things together for our good? What happens when we have to follow Him into controversy or subversive action or insurrection?...Well, I guess that depends on your belief about the Resurrection doesn't it.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”