As Jesus is teaching in the temple courts the religious elite (chief priests, teachers of the law, elders) come and question him regarding his authority. Jesus has been teaching with authority, driving out demons with authority, healing and forgiving sins with authority. It seems these religious elite cannot reconcile in their minds that Jesus is the Messiah, though he does very ‘Messiah-like’ things. They know the prophecies like, “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14 But they don’t want to believe that Jesus is this Messiah. Maybe Elijah returned, but not the Messiah.
Jesus knows that it will do no good to repeat the prophecies they already know. So he responds with a question of his own. “Tell me, John’s baptism – was it from heaven, or from men?” Luke 20:3 Now he has them in a quandary. If they say from heaven, he will follow up with their disregard for John’s teaching and if they say from men, the people will stone them for blasphemy because the people believed that John was a prophet. So they say they don’t know.
Jesus goes on to tell a parable – aimed directly at the religious elite. It is a story of a man who planted a vineyard which he rented to farmers. At harvest time, he sent a servant to get some of the fruit from the vineyard. The servant was beaten and sent away with nothing. He sent another servant and another, and they were also mistreated and sent away with nothing. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’” Luke 20:13 But the tenants thought if they got rid of the heir, they would get the vineyard as an inheritance. So they killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” Luke 20:15-16
“When the people heard this, they said, ‘May this never be!’” Luke 20:16
Jesus responded with a quote from their Scriptures, “’The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.’ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” Luke 20:17-18
Then the religious elite wanted to arrest him. “But they were afraid of the people.” Luke 20:19
I wonder how it is that the leaders feared the people. Apparently, they could not find a way to refute John’s teaching to dissuade the people from following him. And I wonder why the religious leaders weren’t the first in line to be baptized by John. Could it be that pride was in their way or maybe self-righteousness? If they couldn’t understand their own need for repentance and change, John’s teachings would have made no sense to them. Yet they didn’t stop the people from going to John to be baptized.
And I wonder why this parable made them so angry with Jesus that they wanted to get rid of him. And then I bring my wondering to the here and now. How many preachers and professors of Bible have tried to ‘get rid of Jesus’? They refuse to listen to the voice in the wilderness saying, ‘repent’. And they refuse to bend their knees to Jesus, the one and only Son of God. They believe he was a good man and quite possibly a prophet. But they can’t let him be the Messiah because that would mean big time change for them. They, like the Pharisees and teachers of the law, lead many people astray because of their disbelief. And I cry with the people listening to Jesus, “May this never be!”
And then I wonder how often my pride and self-righteousness has kept me from repentance – from humbling myself before the Lord and others. I wonder how many times I have missed the hand of God working because I couldn’t get myself out of the way. Being broken as I fall is way better than being crushed because I was not willing to be broken.
Jesus was not surprised by the behavior of the religious elite – maybe disappointed, but not surprised.
“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone…” Psalm 118:22
“… and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.” Isaiah 8:14
“So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.” Isaiah 28:16
" 'Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.” Zechariah 3:8-10
Oh God, may it never be that I would be crushed because of my unbelief. Open my eyes to see and my ears to hear and my mind to understand who you are and what you have done for me. Just as your finger wrote the commandments on the stone for Moses and the people he was leading, write your will on my heart that it would become the center of who I am. Today I worship you and honor you as Lord and King of my life. In Jesus’ precious and holy name, Amen.
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