Luke

By Joyce Webb 2021

Chapter 20 Verses 1-18

Verse 1-2 One day while Jesus was teaching in the temple, the Jewish priests and leaders (scribes) came to him and asked him —who gave him authority to say these things and do these things.

Jesus had also chased the money changers out of the temple.

(Scribes are men who write and copy the scriptures to new scrolls.

They also write or copy others Jewish teachings.)

Verse. 3 Jesus said, I will answer you, if you tell me something..

So then Jesus asked them a question. What about the baptism of John? Was what John preached from heaven or just thoughts of men?

The Jewish leaders talked among themselves. They knew that John the Baptist was well liked with the people. The people thought John the Baptist was preaching the truth about God. They thought John was a true prophet from God.

The leaders said among themselves, If we say John’s teaching was from heaven, then Jesus will say, Why did you not believe him?

If we say that John’s teaching was just some man’s idea and thoughts, the people will be so angry with us —they will throw stones at us.

So the Jewish leaders were afraid to say yes, and afraid to say no.

Verse 7 So they said, We can not tell you if John’s teaching was from heaven or man’s thoughts.

Verse 8 So then Jesus said, Well then, I can not tell you from where I get my authority.

(When Jesus was teaching the disciples and the people , he told them plainly that everything he said was from His Father in heaven. That everything he did was because it was God’s plan and purpose for him to do it.

The reason Jesus did not answer the Jewish leaders’ question about where he got his authority, was because Jesus knew they were trying to get him to say something that they could call “blasphemy against God”. They wanted Jesus to say something so they could punish him.

So Jesus turned the question on them, and did not fall into their “trap”.

Most of them knew what Jesus had said to the people. But Jesus had probably not said such direct words to them personally.

So all the leaders had was “hear-say” about what Jesus said.

They wanted direct words that they themselves heard from his mouth, so they could blame him.)

Verse 9 Jesus then began to talk to the people. He told them a parable—a earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

The story: A man planted a vineyard (grapes). Then he hired a man called a “husbandman” to take care of it, and he hired workers for it.

The man went away on a long trip.

Later when it was time for the grapes to be ripe, the man sent a servant to get some of the fruit.

When the servant came to the vineyard, the husbandman beat him, and would not give him any of the grapes.

Vs. 11 The man sent a second servant to get some of the grapes.

The same thing happened to this second servant.

Vs. 12 The man sent a third servant to get some of the grapes.

The same thing happened to the third servant.

Vs. 13 Then the man said, I will send my beloved son. They will respect him. He will get the fruit.

Vs. 14 When the husbandman saw the son coming, he said to himself, Here is the heir who will inherit the vineyard. We will kill him and then the vineyard will be ours.

Vs. 15 So he and the workers killed the son.

Then Jesus asked the people—What do you think the owner will do the husbandman and workers?

Vs. 16 Then Jesus answered it himself, The owner (lord) will come and he will destroy (kill) the husbandman and others. Then he will give the vineyard to someone else to be in charge and take care of it.

Then the people said, God forbid. (Meaning–may God not let that happen)

It seems that some of the people understood the meaning of the story. And they understood who the “lord-owner” was, they understood who the “son” was and they understood who the “husbandman and workers” were.

What did the story mean? The lord or owner in the story is God the Father. He owns the vineyard.

He gave authority to the husbandman to take care of it.

The husbandman was the Jewish nation of people and their leaders, priests. They were the group of people that knew the true God in heaven. They were the group of people that were given the 10 commandments. They were given the laws of God. They were the group of people who God spoke to through prophets/preachers.

Of all the nations on earth, the Jewish people were the only people who worshipped the true God in heaven. All the other nations worshipped idols.

The Jewish people were different than all the other nations on earth.

Their laws told them to he honest and truthful., they were to be pure sexually, they were to be kind, and helpful to others, they were not to murder, etc.

They were never to bow down to any idol. They were to worship God in heaven only.

They were to preach and teach these things to other people so that the other people would know the true God.

The vineyard was the “world of people”. To take care of the “vineyard” was to take care of the people of the world to tell them about the true God in heaven.

God also promised the Jewish people that he would someday send a Messiah-Christ-Savior—to them. He would save them.

God made this same promise to Adam. That some day the “seed” of the woman—-would be born —and he would bruise Satan’s head.

The Jewish people knew this promise and kept the hope of the promise year after year—–for hundreds of years. They knew that some day a Savior Messiah would come and save them.

As the years went by, the Jewish people often did not obey the laws the Lord gave them. Then God let other nations come in and rule over the Jewish people. Some of the nations took many of the Jewish people captive and carried them far away to other lands.

The Jewish people would cry out to God for forgiveness and God would let the people come back to their own land, or he would help them overcome and conquer the people who ruled over them.

The Jewish people kept thinking about the Messiah that was to come save them. In their thinking, the Messiah would save them from other countries and nations and kings –from ruling over them.

Through the years, they forgot what God’s promise to Adam was.

The person born to a woman was to bruise Satan’s head.

This was a spiritual thing. Not a saving them from other nations ruling over them. But saving them from what Satan did in the garden of Eden—when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin came to man.

So, in this story about the “lord” and the “husbandman” — The

husbandman is to be taking care of the vineyard (people of the world) telling them about the true God.

As the years went by, the Jewish people began to think of themselves as “special” because they knew about the true God in heaven.

They began to look down on the other nations as dirty and not worthy. Gentiles. Dirty dogs. And other names.

The Jewish people were suppose to be missionaries. They were to be telling these people about God—not looking down on them and calling them names.

And the Jewish people were thinking the coming Messiah-Savior was coming for one reason—to make them an independent nation.

God sent prophets to the people —all through the years–to try to get the Jewish people to see the truth.

Much of the time, the Jewish people refused to listen to the prophets, and many of the prophets were put in prison, beaten, and even killed.

Just like the “servants” that were sent to get the grapes from the vineyard.

Finally, God send his own beloved Son to the Jewish people. Just like the “lord” in the story sent his son to the vineyard.

When Jesus came to the Jewish people, they did not see that he was God’s son. They missed the Old Testament scriptures telling about him. That he would be born of a virgin. That he would come from Bethlehem and Nazareth.

Like in the story, the owners son was not respected and was killed.

Jesus was not respected and was killed.

In Vs. 16 When the people said, God forbid. Some of them saw the meaning of the story.

That the husbandman and workers were the Jewish people who did not respect the owners (God’s) son.

They did not want God to punish them for rejecting the Son.

Vs. 17-18 Jesus continued to explain—because there were those who did not get the meaning of the story. So Jesus quoted Psalms 118: 22—The stone that the builders rejected (would not have)

That stone is now the cornerstone.

A corner stone in a building, is put into the corner of a building where everyone can see it. It is usually make of a special different kind of stone than the building, and it usually is carved with the name of the building and or the date the building was made.

So the stone that the builders “threw away” as not good—was the stone that was chosen to be the special stone for the corner.

Jesus was that stone.

Vs. 18 Jesus said, Whoever falls on that stone, will be broken. Whoever that stone falls on will be crushed to powder.

In other words. People who fall on that stone–Jesus—will have to become broken. Those who come to Jesus for salvation understand they are sinners. They are “broken in spirit” as they think of their sin and wrong doing. They are “broken in spirit” when they think of punishment in hell for their sin.

Those people who refuse to come to Jesus for salvation, some day the “stone” will come to them, and fall on them, and they will be crushed.

Those who refuse Jesus will be sent to hell—because they still have their sins—they have never been forgiven because they did not come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness.