Sermon Tone Analysis
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*Luke 20:1-19*
v Opening Illustration
Ø This chapter is sometimes referred to as “The Day of Questions”
§ First of 5 question put to Jesus
· 3 of which are recorded here in Luke
¨ The Afterlife
¨ Taxes
Ø And the challenge that is put before our Lord today…
§ Authority
*Authority Challenged (20:1-8)*
v The /Random House Dictionary of the English Language/ defines authority as
Ø “A *power or right* to direct the actions or thoughts of others.
A *power or right*, usually because of rank or office, to issue commands and to punish for violations.”
§ Power or right is used twice in this definition
· And that is precisely what the priests, teachers and elders were wondering about Jesus…
* *
*READ V. 1-2*
v Derived authority was foundational in ancient Israel, as it is today
Ø Authority had to be founded on something or given by someone
§ And in the last several days, Jesus had claimed great authority in various ways
· And those in charge wanted to know where it came from!
§ He had allowed great authority to be ascribed to him …
· In his triumphant entry in Jerusalem
¨ The People assigned to him incredible authority
Ø Yelling *Psalm 118* at the top of their lungs
§ A messianic psalm
· Basically ascribing the Jesus Messianic status
Ø Pharisees knew this and asked Jesus to rebuke them
§ But, if you remember, Jesus did not
Ø Jesus displayed great authority in his teaching
§ Typical Jewish teaching is…
· Rabbi Abram says…But Rabbi Meyer permits…but Rabbi Judah states…
¨ Jesus did not teach this way
Ø “I tell you”
Ø “I tell you the truth…”
Ø “Truly, truly I say to you…”
Ø On the sermon on the mount he did something counter to the typical teaching of the day!
§ “It is said, but I say to you”
· Laying no foundation to his teaching
¨ For he is the foundation!
¨ That is what Paul stated in* 1 Cor 3:11*
¨ /For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ./
¨ Jesus Claimed to be *THE* foundational authority
v Finally…
Ø Jesus laid claim to great authority in the…
§ Cleansing of the temple
· What right did Jesus have to do such a thing?
· Who had given Jesus that type of authority?
¨ To enter the temple and act as if it was his!
Ø No one…in the eyes of the Sanhedrin!
v The Sanhedrin was the authoritative body in Jerusalem composed of the 3 groups that approached Jesus here
Ø Ex-High priests, scribes (or teachers) and Israel’s elders
§ The *priests* did not give him authority to cleanse the temple
· So the cleansing was not sanctioned
§ The *teachers* had not given Jesus their seal of approval to teach
· So his teaching was invalid
§ The *elders* had not identified Jesus as the messiah
· So his triumphal entry was a hoax
v So they had high hopes to trap Jesus by asking the very slippery question…
Ø “By what authority you are doing these things?”
§ If he said it was from any of them,
· They could refute it and discredit him in the eyes of the people
§ If he said it was from God,
· They could charge him with blaspheme and kill him immediately
¨ A win-win in their eyes!
v But Jesus, in typical Rabbinic fashion, answers a question with a question…
* *
*READ V. 3-6*
v This question is not meant to evade, but rather to guide them in answering their own question
Ø If they said from men…
§ They would discredit themselves because John was such a popular figure
· And they refused to be baptized by him (Luke 3)
· If they said from heaven…
¨ Then they would not only have sinned in rejecting John’s baptism
Ø *But more to the point…*
§ They would be admitting that Jesus’ authority indeed does come from heaven!
· For John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the Messiah!
Ø In *John 1:29-31* John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him and says…
§ / “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’
I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”/
¨ By answering that John’s authority came from heaven
Ø They would by default say that Jesus’ does too
v The truth stared them in the face
Ø But they took the cowardly way out
§ They pleaded agnosticism
* *
*READ v. 7*
* *
v Agnosticism is basically saying, “I don’t know”
Ø And that is what they said to Jesus
§ But theirs was a fabricated agnosticism
· You see…
¨ The truth pointed them in one direction
Ø But they refused to face it
v We face similar truth dilemmas as believers today
Ø So many times the truth of God’s Word points one way
§ Yet we do not want to follow it
§ We resist it
· Because, if the truth be known, the right path is the difficult path
¨ W.
Barclay states:
Ø /To face the truth may confront a man with a sore and difficult situation, but to refuse to face it confronts him with a tangle out of which there is no escape./
Ø Obeying truth of God’s Word is many times very difficult
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