Luke 20:20-40
Notes
Transcript
Live your best life now!
That’s what we’re told by many voices in the world. Some so-called preachers use the same message!
But is it a good philosophy for how to live a godly life? Should Christians, those who seek to follow the Lord Jesus, look to live their best life now?
So often in the modern world, the question of whether we’re living a good life comes down to our wealth and our relationships.
And it’s those two things that are the subjects of the latest round of questioning put to Jesus in Jerusalem.
By this point, we know the score. The religious authorities are actively trying to bring Jesus down. They want to trap him, make him say something incriminating so that they can get rid of him.
But each time, Jesus gets the upper hand.
Last time, Jesus showed himself to be the supreme Son of God, with divine authority.
That theme continues, both in the way that Jesus demonstrates superior knowledge and power, and in how he responds to these specific questions about money and relationships, taxes and eternity.
Through these interactions we learn that are to give to God what is rightfully his, and we are to live in hope of the resurrection.
GIVE TO GOD WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY HIS
GIVE TO GOD WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY HIS
This is another question of who has ultimate authority. But this time it concerns Rome, Caesar, and the paying of the imperial tax.
The scene is set up in v20.
Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.
So we already know that this exchange has a motive, and it’s not good. Which makes sense of what they say next:
So the spies questioned him: ‘Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
This is so disingenuous! Not to mention ironic and hypocritical. They declare the goodness of teaching what is right without being swayed by what others think.
But their whole reason for taking on Jesus was because they refused to accept the way of God that Jesus presented, and they were afraid of the people.
Maybe they were hoping to make Jesus fall in the eyes of the people with their next question:
Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’
A live debate at the time! Since around 6AD, the residents of Jerusalem were expected to pay a tax of one denarius a year to Rome. That’s equivalent to a day’s wages to the average person, on top of other obligations.
The amount wasn’t the important thing about this tax. It was about who it was paid to: Rome. A foreign, idolatrous, evil power.
Some Jews in Jerusalem hated that they had to give their hard-earned money to that evil administration. Groups like the zealots formed to completely overthrow Roman rule, and others came together to specifically oppose paying this tax.
But that wasn’t all! The actual coin used to pay the tax was highly problematic!
He saw through their duplicity and said to them, ‘Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.
OK. This is an image of the coin. On one side it bears the image of Tiberius, emperor at the time. The inscription says, “Tiberius Caesar, Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus.” The other side has an image of his mum with the inscription “Pontifex Maxim,” (high priest) which is nice.
You can probably understand why the Jews were a bit upset about having to own and carry and use these coins.
It’s a clear violation of the second commandment - do not make an image of any god. Roman Emperors had a habit of claiming to be divine, so this is all a bit too close to the bone.
Hence the question - should we pay this tax? Should we honour an evil foreign power, and go along with the delusion about their Emperor being divine?
They asked a clever question. A bit like the question Jesus posed about whether John the Baptist was from heaven or man - either answer lands you in trouble.
If Jesus says, “No, of course we shouldn’t pay taxes to Caesar,” they can easily report him to the Roman authorities who were quick to deal with anyone who resisted Rome’s power.
If Jesus says, “Yes, we definitely should pay these taxes,” then they can denounce him as an idolater and a traitor, as someone who agrees that Caesar is Lord.
Either way, they have a chance to have Jesus arrested and put to death.
But, Jesus asked to see the coin, and the image and inscription belong to. When they reply “Caesars” he says...
He said to them, ‘Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’
This was such a good answer that it silenced the ones who asked it!
But what made it so good?
He didn’t fall for the trap! He neither denied Rome’s power to impose taxes, nor denied the ultimate authority of God over all.
He acknowledges that some things belong to Caesar - the coins, at least!
So he says, “Give the image of Caesar back to Caesar.” It’s his anyway, you don’t want it, so give it back to him.
In other words, there are earthly rulers who bear some authority over their subjects. Whether we like them or not, we should submit to them.
But he also says, give to God what belongs to him. Give the image of God back to God.
What is the image of God? You are! We are! Every human being is made in the image of God, we bear the divine image, and we belong to our Creator.
While we should pay taxes and honour the earthly authorities over us, we should ultimately honour God and his supreme claim on us.
In fact, one way that we honour God and his ultimate rule is by respecting the human rulers he places over us.
There may be occasions where our allegiance to the Lord must overrule human authorities.
For example, if the government issued a law that said, “Do not preach the gospel of Jesus Christ,” I would intend to disobey that law and encourage you to do the same.
The important thing is that, in anything and everything, we bow the knee to the supremacy of Jesus as Lord.
We give to God what is rightfully his - honour, obedience, praise, adoration, worship, affection, our whole selves.
We should especially give ourselves to him by believing that Jesus is Lord and Saviour.
Give to God what is rightfully his...and
LIVE IN HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION
LIVE IN HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION
Because, life on earth is not all that there is.
After the last lot failed, a new group tries to trap Jesus and bring him down.
The Sadducees - this is their first appearance in Luke.
There’s a lot to know about the Sadducees, but all we need to understand at the moment is in v27...
Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.
Sadducees rejected some things that the majority of Jews believed- one of them being any notion an afterlife.
Jesus has often spoken about resurrection. Indeed, in John’s gospel, Jesus exclaimed “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Perhaps the Sadducees were aware of that.
In any case, they come with what they must have believed was a watertight argument against the idea of resurrection and eternal life.
‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
That must is true. Known as levirate marriage. Deut 25:5. Designed to keep a man’s name alive even after he has died. Brothers or close relatives were obligated to marry his widow and bear children.
The Sadducees raise the possibility that a woman could have the unfortunate experience of being widowed by seven brothers in total.
Then comes the killer blow:
Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?’
It feels like this was an argument they used a lot, and maybe they’d had some success with it in the past.
But not today!
Jesus is quick to point out that there is a fundamental flaw in their argument.
Jesus replied, ‘The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.
In short, we shouldn’t think that this age and the age to come will be identical. There will be continuity for sure, but there will also be discontinuity. Some things will be the same, some infinitely different.
Because there will be no death in the new creation, says Jesus, there will be no need for marriage, no need for procreation.
In that sense, the “children of the resurrection” as he calls them, will be like the angels. They won’t BE angels, but like them in that they won’t be subject to death and they won’t be married.
It might be strange to think that something which plays such a massive part of earthly life will no longer exist in the new creation. It might even be a disappointment that your closest relationship on earth will cease in the new creation.
And yet, it shouldn’t really surprise us!
In the resurrection we belong to Christ alone - we are his bride. When he comes, marriage will be fulfilled. The bridegroom will have his bride.
And our delight in him (and his in us) will make our earthly marriages seem like a shadow, a vapour, weak imitation.
Marriage is a wonderful gift to those who are privileged to enjoy it. But it is not ultimate. Jesus is.
Marriage is not the end goal. Jesus is.
In that sense, we are to live in resurrection hope, live for eternity, for the new creation where Jesus will be our all in all.
Whatever we treasure in this life - money, marriage, relationships, families, careers and so on - are not worth comparing to the ultimate treasure of being united with Christ in his eternal kingdom!
Make him your treasure!
Jesus then turns to the question of whether the resurrection is true or not.
The Sadducees were certainly Jews, but they had adopted some strange ideas. Nevertheless, the accepted the Torah - the five books of Moses.
That’s what Jesus appeals to now.
But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.’
Jesus points out that God spoke of the long-dead Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the present tense - they were still alive to God!
As are all who have a living relationship with the living God!
The hope of the resurrection is not just a doctrine to be learned and accepted.
Hope in the resurrection ought to shape our lives in the here and now.
If we only try to live our best life now, we are reducing life to the next moment, as though that’s all there is to live for.
Of course, without Jesus, without the hope of resurrection and eternal life with him, that is true. Eat drink and be merry.
But Jesus offers so much more!
He has died in our place for our sin, he was raised from the dead to guarantee our eternal life, and through faith in him we are promised life with him forever.
And while that does mean eternal life, that life starts now.
So, we can live our best life now!! The life lived in and with and for Jesus is the best life there can be. Joy unspeakable!
It comes through giving to God what is rightfully his - our whole selves.
And it comes through joyful hope in the resurrection - all that Jesus has won for us.
What are you living for? Who are you living for?
Live for Jesus. There is better life.
