The Questions Turned Around
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Luke 20:20–47
Several years ago, detectives in Los Angeles reopened a murder case that had gone unsolved for more than two decades.
The victim was a woman named Sherri Rasmussen.
She had been murdered in her home in 1986, and for years the case had gone cold.
But eventually, advances in DNA testing gave investigators new evidence.
That evidence began pointing in an unexpected direction.
It pointed toward a woman named Stephanie Lazarus.
What made that especially unusual was that Lazarus wasn’t a stranger to law enforcement.
She was an LAPD detective.
For years, she had been the one asking questions.
She had investigated cases.
She had interviewed people.
She understood how police investigations worked.
Then one day in 2009, some fellow detectives asked her to come downstairs and talk with them about an old case.
At first, the conversation seemed fairly casual.
They asked about people she knew.
They asked about relationships from years earlier.
They asked about Sherri Rasmussen.
But as the questions continued, something began to change.
The questions became more specific.
The conversation became more uncomfortable.
And eventually Lazarus realized something that she apparently hadn’t understood when she first walked into that room.
She wasn’t there to help investigate the case.
She was the one being investigated.
The detective had become the subject of the investigation.
And there’s something very similar happening in Luke 20.
The religious leaders come to Jesus believing they’re going to examine Him.
They’ve prepared their questions.
They’ve planned their traps.
They’re listening carefully to every word He says, hoping He’ll finally say something they can use against Him.
They believe Jesus is the One under examination.
But before the conversation is over, everything changes.
They came trying to expose Jesus.
Jesus exposed them.
And that ought to make us stop and think.
There’s nothing wrong with asking questions about the Bible.
There’s nothing wrong with studying carefully, thinking deeply, or trying to understand difficult passages.
But there’s a danger when we always approach Jesus as though He’s the One who needs to answer to us.
We can spend so much time asking what we think about His words that we never stop to ask what His words reveal about us.
So here’s the burden of the message tonight:
We must be careful about examining Jesus while refusing to let His truth examine us.
As this confrontation unfolds, Luke gives us four revealing encounters that show what happens when people try to examine Jesus without allowing His truth to examine them.
I. They Question His Words
I. They Question His Words
Luke 20:20–26
The first group comes with a political question.
But before we even get to the question, Luke tells us what’s really going on.
A. A False Front
A. A False Front
Verse 20 says: “And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men…”
That word “feign” tells us almost everything we need to know.
They’re pretending.
They’re acting as though they’re sincere men who genuinely want spiritual guidance.
They’re not.
Luke says they want to “take hold of his words.”
They aren’t listening because they want truth.
They’re listening because they want evidence.
Then they begin with flattery.
Verse 21: “Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly…”
Ironically, almost everything they say is true.
Jesus does teach rightly.
Jesus doesn’t show partiality.
Jesus does teach the way of God truly.
The problem is that they don’t mean what they’re saying.
Their praise is only bait.
And that’s a warning all by itself.
It’s possible to say very correct things about Jesus without actually submitting to Jesus.
A person can know Christian vocabulary.
A person can say, “Jesus is Lord.”
A person can talk about the Bible.
A person can even compliment Christian truth.
But the real question is: What’s happening in the heart?
Jesus isn’t impressed with words that aren’t true expressions of the heart.
B. A Clever Trap
B. A Clever Trap
Then comes the question in verse 22: “Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?”
This wasn’t a harmless question about tax policy.
This was a trap.
The Jews were living under Roman occupation.
Rome collected taxes from them, and those taxes were a constant reminder that they weren’t politically free.
If Jesus said, “No, don’t pay Caesar,” they could accuse Him of rebellion against Rome.
If Jesus said, “Yes, pay Caesar,” they hoped He might lose favor with people who hated Roman rule.
From their perspective, they’d built the perfect trap.
But verse 23 says: “But he perceived their craftiness…”
They hadn’t fooled Him for a moment.
That’s worth remembering.
We can hide motives from people.
We can phrase things carefully.
We can put on a good appearance.
But we can’t fool Christ.
Psalm 139:2 says:
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off.
He doesn’t merely hear the question.
He sees the heart behind the question.
C. A Perfect Answer
C. A Perfect Answer
Jesus says: “Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it?”
They answer: “Caesar’s.”
Then Jesus says: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.”
With one answer, Jesus refuses their trap.
Yes, there are legitimate obligations to civil government.
Romans 13 teaches that government has a God-ordained role.
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
First Peter 2 tells believers to honor proper authority.
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there.
He says: “and unto God the things which be God’s.”
They had brought Him a coin with Caesar’s image on it.
But there’s a much bigger question hanging over the scene.
What bears God’s image?
Genesis 1:27 says
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The coin bore Caesar’s image.
You bear God’s image.
Caesar may have a legitimate claim on a coin.
But God has a rightful claim on your life.
Verse 26 says: “And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.”
They came questioning His words.
His answer left them speechless.
But they still weren’t ready to let His truth examine them.
II. They Question His Truth
II. They Question His Truth
Luke 20:27–40
Now another group steps forward. With…
A. A Mocking Question
A. A Mocking Question
Verse 27 identifies them: “Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection…”
Luke tells us immediately where they stand.
They don’t believe in resurrection.
So when they ask Jesus about resurrection, they aren’t sincerely asking Him to explain something they’re struggling with.
They’re presenting a scenario designed to make resurrection look ridiculous.
They describe a woman whose husband dies without children.
According to the law, his brother marries her.
Then that brother dies.
Then another.
Eventually, according to their story, all seven brothers have been married to the same woman.
Then comes their question: “Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she?”
You can almost hear the challenge behind it.
“Explain that, Jesus.”
They believe they’ve found a contradiction.
People still do that.
Sometimes a person comes to Scripture with a real question, and we should never mock sincere questions.
Thomas had questions.
The father in Mark 9 cried: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
God isn’t threatened by an honest question.
But there’s a difference between asking because you want truth and asking because you’ve already decided truth must be wrong.
The Sadducees weren’t looking for an answer.
They were looking for an excuse not to believe.
B. A Faulty Assumption
B. A Faulty Assumption
Jesus answers by showing that the entire question rests on a false assumption.
They assume resurrection life is simply an extension of present earthly life.
Jesus explains that “the children of this world marry, and are given in marriage,” but He says, those who are raised to the life to come won’t continue earthly marriage in the same way.
The Sadducees’ mistake was trying to measure eternity entirely by the categories of this present world.
And we can do the same thing.
We sometimes decide what God can or can’t do based on what makes sense to us right now.
We say, “I can’t see how that could happen.”
But our inability to understand something isn’t proof that God can’t do it.
Isaiah 55:8–9 says:
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.
God’s world is bigger than our assumptions.
C. A Scriptural Answer
C. A Scriptural Answer
Then Jesus does something especially effective.
The Sadducees accepted the books of Moses with particular authority, so Jesus takes them right back to Moses.
Verse 37: “Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush…”
Then Jesus reminds them how God identified Himself:
“the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Then verse 38 says: “For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.”
Abraham had died.
Isaac had died.
Jacob had died.
But God still identified Himself in relationship to them.
Death hadn’t ended God’s promises to them.
Jesus says resurrection isn’t an absurd idea.
It’s rooted in the very Scriptures the Sadducees claimed to understand.
Then some of the scribes say: “Master, thou hast well said.”
Verse 40 says: “And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.”
Another question has failed.
Another attempt to expose Jesus has collapsed.
And now the conversation turns.
III. He Questions Their Faith
III. He Questions Their Faith
Luke 20:41–44
Up to this point, everybody has been asking Jesus questions.
Now Jesus asks one.
And it’s the most important question in the passage.
A. David’s Son
A. David’s Son
Verse 41 says: “And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son?”
The Jewish people expected Messiah to come from David’s line.
And they were right.
God had promised David that his throne and kingdom had a future.
The prophets repeatedly connected Messiah with David.
Jesus Himself was physically descended from David.
So Jesus isn’t denying that Messiah is David’s Son.
He’s showing them that their understanding of Messiah is incomplete.
They know something true.
But they don’t know enough.
B. David’s Lord
B. David’s Lord
Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1
1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Then Jesus asks: “David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?”
That’s the question they can’t answer.
How can Messiah be David’s descendant and also David’s Lord?
The answer is standing in front of them.
Jesus is truly man.
He’s David’s descendant.
But He’s more than merely David’s descendant.
He’s Lord.
And suddenly the whole chapter looks different.
These men have been testing Jesus as though He’s a candidate sitting for an examination.
But they don’t even understand Who they’re examining.
They’re trying to find a flaw in the One David called Lord.
C. The Greater Question
C. The Greater Question
This is where the whole passage gets very personal.
They had questions about taxation.
They had questions about resurrection.
Jesus brings them to the question that matters most: Who is Christ?
You can have a thousand questions about religion and still avoid the greatest question.
Who is Jesus to you?
Not merely: “What do you think about His teachings?”
Not merely: “Do you believe He existed?”
Not merely: “Do you admire some things He said?”
Jesus asked His disciples in Matthew 16:15:
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
That question eventually comes to every one of us.
The scribes and Sadducees knew Scripture.
They knew theology.
They knew religious traditions.
But knowing things about God isn’t the same as bowing before the Son of God.
And this is where the examination has clearly turned around.
They’ve been asking whether Jesus can answer their questions.
Jesus is now forcing them to face whether they really understand Him.
IV. He Exposes Their Hearts
IV. He Exposes Their Hearts
Luke 20:45–47
Then Jesus turns to His disciples.
Verse 45 says: “Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples…”
Everyone can hear what He’s about to say.
A. They Love Attention
A. They Love Attention
Jesus says: “Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts…”
Notice the repeated idea.
They love being noticed.
They love being recognized.
They love being honored.
The problem isn’t clothing.
The problem isn’t someone greeting you.
The problem isn’t sitting in a certain chair.
The problem is a heart that feeds on being seen as important.
That danger didn’t disappear with the scribes.
We can want people to notice our spirituality.
We can want people to think we’re faithful.
We can want our service to be recognized.
We can become frustrated when someone else gets thanked and we don’t.
Jesus is showing us how easily religion can become another way to feed pride.
Matthew 6:1 warns:
1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
There’s a tremendous difference between serving God publicly and serving God for publicity.
B. They Hide Corruption
B. They Hide Corruption
Then Jesus says something far more serious: “Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers…”
That contrast is shocking.
Long prayers.
Religious reputation.
Public honor.
And underneath it all, exploitation.
The very people who should’ve been protecting the vulnerable were taking advantage of them.
Their religion looked impressive from the outside.
But Jesus saw through it.
This is why the burden of this passage matters so much.
We can spend our lives evaluating everybody else while never allowing God to evaluate us.
We can know what’s wrong with the culture.
We can know what’s wrong with another church.
We can know what’s wrong with another family.
We can know what’s wrong with someone else’s doctrine.
We can even be right about some of it.
But while we’re examining everybody else, what does Christ see in us?
David prayed in Psalm 139:23–24:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
That’s a completely different spirit from the men in Luke 20.
They came saying, in effect: “Jesus, we’re going to examine You.”
David says: “God, examine me.”
That’s the posture we need.
C. They Face Judgment
C. They Face Judgment
Jesus closes with these words: “the same shall receive greater damnation.”
That’s strong language.
Jesus doesn’t treat hypocrisy as a minor personality flaw.
These men had religious knowledge.
They had influence.
They had spiritual responsibility.
And they were using all of it while resisting God.
Greater privilege brings greater accountability.
Luke 12:48 says:
48 … For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
That should sober those of us who’ve had the Bible for years.
We’ve heard sermons.
We’ve learned doctrine.
We’ve had opportunities others haven’t had.
The question isn’t merely how much truth we know.
The question is: What is that truth doing in us?
Conclusion
Conclusion
When Luke 20 begins this section, the religious leaders believe Jesus is under examination.
They send spies.
They construct traps.
They challenge His teaching.
They challenge resurrection.
They’re waiting for Him to slip.
But He never does.
Instead, the questions turn around.
Their first question reveals their craftiness.
Their second question reveals their unbelief.
Jesus’ question reveals how little they understand about the Messiah.
And His final warning reveals the pride and corruption hiding beneath their religious appearance.
They came trying to expose Jesus.
Jesus exposed them.
And tonight, we need to be careful that we don’t repeat their mistake.
It’s easy to sit over the Bible as though we’re the judge.
We decide what we like.
We decide what seems reasonable.
We decide which commands feel comfortable.
We decide whether we agree.
But the Word of God doesn’t merely sit before us waiting to be examined.
It examines us.
Hebrews 4:12-13 says:
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
So maybe the prayer we need tonight isn’t:
“Lord, help me understand what’s wrong with everybody else.”
Maybe it’s: “Lord, show me what You see in me.”
Where am I resisting Your Word?
Where am I defending something You’re trying to change?
Where am I more concerned with appearing spiritual than actually being close to You?
Where have I become comfortable questioning Your truth without allowing Your truth to question me?
And most importantly:
Who is Jesus to me?
The One standing in this passage isn’t merely a clever teacher who outsmarted His opponents.
He’s David’s Son.
He’s David’s Lord.
And very soon in Luke’s Gospel, these same leaders will help send Him to the cross.
But even there, He won’t cease to be Lord.
So instead of coming to Christ merely asking Him to explain Himself to us, may we come humbly enough to say:
“Lord, search me. Examine me. Show me what’s in my heart. And whatever You show me, help me surrender it to You.”
