Palm Sunday started so joyfully (Luke 19:37). Jesus was recognised as the Messiah, and the people shouted their praise. Perhaps they thought their excitement would grow into an overwhelming affirmation of Jesus as He entered Jerusalem, and somehow, He would be accepted as King. But Jesus saw it so differently. As the view of Jerusalem opened up, He looked over the city; tears were in His eyes and anguish was in His heart.
The temple in Jerusalem, which was consecrated to the Lord, had attracted all sorts of businesses who traded profitably rather like the shrine shops in pagan temples. In some ways it seemed legitimate and practical: worshippers travelling a long way would prefer to buy an animal or bird for sacrifice in Jerusalem rather than carry or drive it from their home village. But, when they arrived at the outer court of the temple (the Court of the Gentiles), where these animals were being traded, no coin with an image of a foreign ruler or pagan god on it would be accepted, only Jewish
There is a big difference between power and authority. Power underlies the ability to do something, but authority determines the right to do it. Jesus had demonstrated many 'works of power', and even the religious leaders, who wanted to get rid of Jesus, could not deny the powerful miracles . So, they asked what the basis of His authority was to do them. These people were the religious authority in Israel, and Jesus was fundamentally threatening their powerbase. Even Pilate knew that their hatred of Jesus was because they envied His superior power (Mark 15:10).
In the week before Jesus was crucified, even though He knew exactly what would happen (Luke 9:22) He was not afraid of those plotting to kill Him. He chose to teach publicly in the temple (Luke 20:1) so that the disciples could later understand how to teach essential doctrines to the Early Church (John 12:16). This parable was a prophetic description of the hatred of the religious establishment against Him. The priests and religious lawyers who were hovering in the back of the crowd knew that the story described them, and it intensified their lethal hatred (Luke 20:19).
In Jesus' parable of the tenant farmers (Luke 20:9-19), we have reached the part of the story where a number of the owner's servants were violently denied access to the vineyard and its produce. Finally, the owner sent his son. However, the tenants carried their rebellion to the limit and killed the heir, assuming that they would have the ownership of the vineyard.
Jesus was telling a story about rebellious tenant farmers who had no respect for the owner of the vineyard or his representatives or his son (Luke 20:9-19). Indeed, they decided to kill the son, assuming that they would then inherit the property as sitting tenants. So Jesus challenged His listeners to decide what would be the right action for the vineyard owner to take. Clearly, those who had been left in charge of the farm had demonstrated their untrustworthiness. The only sensible conclusion would be for the owner to dismiss the farm managers and employ others who
A ‘touchstone’ is a stone used to test the quality of gold alloys: the word is used for a standard against which other things are compared. Until Jesus, the Old Testament law was the only standard, and religious leaders assessed people's righteousness by how well they obeyed it. But it could only condemn those who fell short: the law could never make sinful people righteous and the sacrifices could never take away sin (Hebrews 10:1-10).
Within days of Jesus' appointment with death, His accusers still had no way to bring Him to a legal trial. Although they had decided that He must die, under Roman occupation, they had no authority to execute Him: and He never did anything to offend the authorities. So, the Jewish lawyers hoped that He could be provoked into incriminating Himself in some way, perhaps by speaking against Caesar - which would be treason, a capital offence (John 19:12-16).
Luke describes these men who are trying to trap Jesus as 'spies'. As in all espionage operations, they were looking to find a way to achieve their objectives without being noticed or blamed. Like many they started with flattery. You will find the same technique in business, professional and educational conversations world-wide. Flattering people is supposed to soften them up, making them believe that they are your friends ... so that they will let down their guard and expose their weakness ...
Spies planted in the crowd posed this riddle, hoping that Jesus would incriminate Himself. The question was skilfully framed so that Jesus could be criticised whichever choice He made. Supporting Caesar's authority and the punitive tax system would have inflamed the Jews against Him; but advising non-payment of taxes was a criminal offence for which the Roman authorities would have to put Jesus on trial.
