Luke 20.1-19

20 One day as Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the Good News in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. ² They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”

³ “Let me ask you a question first,” he replied. ⁴ “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”

⁵ They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. ⁶ But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they finally replied that they didn’t know.

⁸ And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.”

⁹ Now Jesus turned to the people again and told them this story: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and moved to another country to live for several years. ¹⁰ At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. ¹¹ So the owner sent another servant, but they also insulted him, beat him up, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² A third man was sent, and they wounded him and chased him away.

¹³ ‘What will I do?’ the owner asked himself. ‘I know! I’ll send my cherished son. Surely they will respect him.’

¹⁴ But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they said to each other, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ ¹⁵ So they dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?” Jesus asked. ¹⁶ “I’ll tell you — he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.”

“How terrible that such a thing should ever happen,” his listeners protested.

¹⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what does this Scripture mean? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ ¹⁸ Everyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.”

¹⁹ The teachers of religious law and the leading priests wanted to arrest Jesus immediately because they realized he was telling the story against them — they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the people’s reaction.

Comments

What really strikes me in today’s reading is the theme of authority and how the response to authority is so revealing of the self. The religious leaders’ demand regarding Jesus’ authority and their internal discussion regarding John’s reveal a great deal about where they are. They refuse to be honest about John and fail to gain any insight from Jesus, but they paint quite a self-portrait for us in the process.

It has been a while since authority has been mentioned in Luke, but it is an important theme. Satan brought it up first in 4.6, tempting Jesus with what he claimed to be able to give. Jesus’ miraculous works demonstrated his authority (4.32, 36, 5.24) and he then bestowed authority on his followers (9.1, 10.19).  Jesus and his followers make use of authority to get kingdom work done (what the fruit in the story represents), they are not concerned with authority as a thing unto itself.

The dynamic here is reminiscent of the Good Samaritan parable earlier, where Jesus critiques a question and redirects it. Essentially, the religious leaders are asking for his credentials. Jesus responds by asking what their openness is to God’s visitation. Remember the lament from yesterday: Jesus has just said Jerusalem was unable to see the time of God’s visitation to her. The religious leaders exemplify this here. As the parable illustrates, they fail to recognize their place as workers. They delude themselves into thinking they can gain an inheritance by killing the heir. Their obsession with authority and self-advancement have blinded them to the actual move of God. The prophetic ministries of John and Jesus were not able to penetrate their hearts.

I am afraid we have just such an epidemic of authority obsession in the church today. We squabble and jockey over who gets to be in charge, who gets to speak from our pulpits. We treat church like a pyramid scheme and think of larger church structures (e.g., denominations) as if they are latticed with corporate ladders to climb, as if there is some top, some hierarchy to work toward. This is what the religious leaders and even the disciples thought of when they talked about authority. But in doing so, they reveal themselves in all their anxiety, insecurity, self-preoccupation – yeah, all the stuff we still struggle with.

None of this has anything to do with kingdom authority. At issue is not internal authority, the relationships between us should be governed by our common focus on the work at hand and the mutual freedom Jesus has brought to us. Kingdom authority is not authority to rule within the kingdom. We have one king and we are all servants. Kingdom authority is authority over sickness, disease, blindness, poverty, spiritual oppression, bondage, injustice, and the powers of this world that now stand condemned. Kingdom authority is the authority to declare the year of the Lord’s favor, to usher in and witness moments of divine visitation. Kingdom authority is authority to do the work of the kingdom. Those who wish to merely possess authority misunderstand its purpose and are only playing games of internal politics. Those who understand the politics of Jesus are free to access and use his authority to carry out the work Jesus has called them to do.

God has called you to do something. God has empowered you with what you need to do that. God has given you the authority to do that. Surround yourself with people who recognize your call, celebrate your empowerment, and help you grow into your authority. And for heaven’s sake, stop waiting for permission to do the work you have been assigned. You will find your truest self in doing the work.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Luke 19.28-48

²⁸ After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. ²⁹ As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead.³⁰  “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³² So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. ³³ And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”

³⁴ And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” ³⁵ So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.

³⁶ As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. ³⁷ When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.

³⁸ “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”

³⁹ But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

⁴⁰ He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

⁴¹ But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. ⁴² “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. ⁴⁴ They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.”

⁴⁵ Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices.⁴⁶ He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

⁴⁷ After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. ⁴⁸ But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.

Comments

We are getting into material shared by all four Gospels. The accounts in Mark (ch.11) and Matthew (ch.21) are more elaborate, while this one leaves some things out and John’s (ch.12) is even further truncated. I’m not a big fan of arguments from silence, but this is more argument from editing. By looking at what Luke leaves out, we can get see more clearly how Luke fits this into his Gospel and what point he was hoping we would get.

1. There are no palm branches being waved in Luke. Since the Maccabean revolt, this had been a symbol of Jewish nationalism. The other three all record this happening and the crowd was clearly thinking along those lines, but Luke just had Jesus teach against this in the preceding chapter, so the palm branches get left out here.
2. No fig tree cursing. Mark and Matthew connect a scene where Jesus curses a fig tree that is not yielding fruit to his time in the Temple as a commentary on the fruitlessness of Temple worship. Matthew quotes Isa. 56.7: “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Luke leaves the “for all nations” part out because the Temple was not important for his Gentile audience or his overall project (see below). Thus the fig tree story was not needed either.
3. The Temple clearing scene gets shortened to a single sentence. You don’t get the sense here (as you do in the others) that Jesus is causing trouble. But we are told directly that all the people were hanging on his every word. Quite a different picture here from the others.
4. The lament over Jerusalem replaces talk of prophets with talk of Roman siege strategies. Luke has made a big deal out of Jesus as the Prophet, but here he uses language you would expect from a king.

And I think that is the point here. Luke takes away what might be misconstrued as provincial. Jesus is not a Jewish king who others might serve as vassals. Jesus is king over all directly – as many as will accept him and surrender to him as Lord. This means obedience. Allegiance. Service. Work. Jesus is the universal king. And hopefully the king of our hearts. This is what Luke wants us to see. Has Jesus lamented over the kingdom of your heart? Has he made his triumphal entry? Will you have your king?

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.