Grosey's Messages

Luke 20 Recognition and Rejection

27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife."

 34 And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons  of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him." 39 Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question.

41 But he said to them, "How can they say that the Christ is David's son? 42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, "'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,   43 until I make your enemies your footstool."'

 44 David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?"

45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47  who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

Luke 22: 1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.  3 And he said, "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

Here is the second test that those who rejected the Lord Jesus used to try to trap the Lord. They were trying to bring Him into disrepute.  This time it is the Sadducee's turn.

Hughes introduces us to the Sadducees.

The Sadducees had become a class unto themselves, based on their hereditary advantage as descendants of Zadok, those who had been granted the privilege of serving as priests after the return from the Babylonian captivity. These "Zadokites" formed the nucleus for the priesthood staffing the Jerusalem temple. During Jesus' time the Sadducees had a lock on the high-priestly line and were a tightly knit group of lay as well as priestly leaders. Josephus described them as "well-to-do" (Ant. 13.10, 6 §298) and "men of the highest esteem" (Ant. 18.1, 4 §17). As such, they were thoroughly rooted in this world. The temple business of selling animals and exchanging money belonged to the Sadducees. Josephus said of the Sadducean high priest Ananias that he advanced in reputation because "he was able to supply them with money" (Ant. 20.205).

As a result the Sadducees had become thoroughgoing philosophical/theological materialists—a most convenient philosophy for the "haves." They did not believe in life after death, and they did not believe eternal judgment awaited anyone. Josephus explains, "As for the persistence of the soul, penalties in death's abode, and rewards, they do away with them" (War 2.8, 14 §165), and also, "the soul perishes along with the body" (Ant. 18. 1, 4 §16). This all produced a blatant denial of the resurrection. The basis for their belief was a strict interpretation of the Torah (the Pentateuch), in which they claimed they could find no reference to resurrection. They rejected the resurrection witness of the non-Pentateuchal parts of the Old Testament (for example, Job 19:26; Psalm 16:9–11; Isaiah 26:19) and remained closed-minded to any of the Pharisees' arguments to the contrary (cf. Ant. 13:297)."

This tight little circle of mean-spirited, religious aristocrats, Josephus says were "indeed more heartless than any other of the Jews" (Ant. 18:17) and that "The Sadducees . . . are, even among themselves, rather boorish in their behavior, and in their intercourse with their peers are as rude as aliens" (War 2, 8.14).

And these Sadducees had a theological question they loved to pose for their opponents, the Pharisees. They had used riddle to embarrass and silence the resurrection-believing Pharisees. (29–33).

The idea may have been borrowed from the apocryphal book of Tobit, which tells the bizarre story of a woman who married seven times only to have each husband strangled by a demon in the bedchamber on the wedding night (a kind of intertestamental Stephen King tale!—cf. Tobit 3:8, 15; 6:13; 7:11). They were having a go at the ridiculous story to make it seem even more ludicrous.

Seven brothers marrying the same woman–and each of them dying.  Can you imagine them telling the story.. some cook this girl was!

So they tell the story with humour, and ask.. in the resurrection, which one's wife shall she be?

So the Lord answers.

First, Jesus said, there will be no marriage in the resurrection (Luke 20:34-36). This showed (a) that the present Age contrasts sharply with the Age to come; and (b) when people are resurrected, they will be like the angels, being God's children and children of the resurrection. Jesus did not say that resurrected people become angels. His point was that they, like angels, will be immortal. Thus there will be no further need for procreation, and the marriage relationship will not be necessary.

Second, Jesus pointed out that there certainly will be a resurrection (vv. 37-38). He referred to an incident when the Lord told Moses that He is the God of the patriarchs (Ex. 3:6). Jesus appealed to Moses because the Sadducees wrongly taught that Moses' teachings did not reveal a resurrection. The statement that the Lord is the God of the patriarchs should have shown the Sadducees that the patriarchs were still alive (He is . . . the God ... of the living), even though those words were uttered several hundred years after the last patriarch's death. God was preserving them alive for future resurrection.

He shows you and I how to answer those who mock us.  Tell them the truth. Unalloyed.  Throw in a scripture!  These Sadducees didn't respect the scriptures. The Lord did. And we do!  Their attitude is not our problem. It is their problem.

There are numerous places in the Old Testament outside the Torah from which resurrection can clearly be understood.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:2, 3)

Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!  For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. (Isaiah 26:19; cf. 25:8)

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.  (Psalm 73:24; cf. vv. 25–28)   (Job 19:25–27)

So the resurrection is clear in the Old Testament. But more specifically, the Torah itself bears evidence as well.

The Lord, however, wasn't defending a biblical proposition about what heaven and the resurrection would be like. He was demonstrating the heart of people.

Some people receive Jesus. Some people reject Jesus.

So the Lord Jesus then turns to the real question.  The real question is."who is this One standing before them? Is He the Messiah? Is He the Lord? Is He Yahweh?"

Do you receive or reject Jesus?

20:41-44. Jesus took the offensive and asked a question of the people around Him. The question concerned the nature of the Messiah-How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David?  Jesus then quoted from Psalm 110:1, in which David called the Messiah my Lord and said that He was exalted by being at Yahweh's right hand, the place of prominence. Two points are evident in these words of Jesus.

First, the Son of David is also David's Lord (Luke 20:44) by the power of the resurrection. (In Acts 2:34-35 Peter used the same verse from Ps. 110 to prove that Jesus' superiority is based on His resurrection.)

Second, David must have realized that the Son, who was to be the Messiah, would be divine, for David called Him Lord.

Now this is aimed directly at the Sadducees.    They were the hereditary Priests. Some thought of themselves as Priest-Kings!  "But [Jesus] said to them, 'How can they say that the Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool"'" (vv. 41–43).

He, Jesus, is David's Messiah-King, David's Lord. Jesus received the title shouted from the lips of the blind Bartimaeus: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (18:38).

Jesus received the acclaim of the people who cried out in terms derived from the prophet Zechariah's description of the Priest-King the previous day "hosanna in the highest, Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!" as He rode into Jerusalem mounted on the donkey as Zechariah prophesied.

And now, He quotes it back to them from Psalm 110!  He is the Priest King who replaces them!!  The Psalm's description of this king's mission makes it clear that he is Messiah.  Also, the opening two words of the Psalm ("The LORD") is literally "Yahweh"—"Yahweh says to my Lord [Messiah]: 'Sit at my right hand.'"  Verse 4 asserts that Messiah will replace the old covenant's temporal Levitical priesthood with the eternal priesthood of Melchizedek. Thus the entire Psalm describes the Messiah as an eternal Priest-King. The writers of the New Testament grasped this in a big way, making Psalm 110 one of the most quoted Old Testament texts.  (Hebrews 1:13).  (Acts 2:34–36)  (Hebrews 5:4–10) (Hebrews 7:15–17,20,21).

The Lord challenges each person there with one question: Who do you say Jesus is?

41 But he said to them, …  44 David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?"

The question is framed as an out there question, a cognitive question demanding an answer. It is a riddle for the Sadducee's minds. But it is a bigger riddle for the human heart. If Jesus is the Messiah, if He is the One who  "'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,   43 until I make your enemies your footstool."'

What is your heart attitude to Him? Have you recognized Him as your Lord, Saviour, Prophet Priest and King?

Now having said that the Lord will now point up the Priests problem.

Can you imagine the Lord Jesus seated there in the temple as various people move through the temple, merchants, shepherds poor people, carpenters, farmers, with their various offerings. Some so poor.. and all the while the Sadducees hovering around making sure they are going to get their cut of the profits. 

45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47  who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

Luke 22: 1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.  3 And he said, "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

The Priests and scribes lives were bound up in greed and pride-they desired to be on display (flowing robes),  to have people's attention (to be greeted in the marketplaces), prominence above others showing their power (important seats in the synagogues and . . . at banquets), and  more money, taking from those who did not have much (e.g., widows).

That's why there is the bit about the poor widow comes in from the next chapter. "[They] devour widows' houses" (v. 47). They did this by taking payment from widows for legal aid even though such payments were prohibited, cheating inexperienced widows of their inheritance, living off the hospitality of lonely women, mismanaging widows' property who had dedicated themselves to service in the temple, and accepting money from the naive elderly in exchange for special prayer. Widows had little means of support, were socially powerless and were to be protected under Jewish law. Jesus could mean that these teachers exploit widows' resources by seeking extensive tithes (which they could set at twenty to thirty percent, on top of the heavy land taxes levied by the government); or he could mean that they follow the letter of the law toward creditors in legal decisions, rather than showing mercy to the poor as the law also required. These teachers may have lingered long in their individual prayers in the synagogues; here Jesus criticizes not the length of prayers but the motive for this length."

Jesus ended his attack on the teachers with the deadly warning: "They will receive the greater condemnation" (v. 47b).

The Lord is comparing these people.  But the real issue is their heart attitude towards the Lord Jesus.

The Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees were more enamoured with what the world could give them.  They loved the things they could get from religion.

But they didn't love the Messiah.

The poor widow putting her two cents in the place showed more love for the Messiah than those religionists.

And it is the same today.

There are some who are more concerned for dollars and cents than they are for love to the Messiah. There are some who are more concerned for personal recognition than they are for the Messiah Jesus.

If you recognize Jesus as your Messiah He will over-turn all those things in your life that matter!  He will reveal the secrets of your heart to you!  Do you find your personal security in a healthy bank account and good job?  Do you find your personal security in your house or property or in the Lord Jesus?  He will touch those things that you value most to show you which one you truly treasure most.

As Joseph Bayly observed, "No person can foster the impression that he/she is great, then exalt a great God."

Our greatest problem as Christians is not the people outside who don't hear our words about the Messiah Jesus, it is us inside the church who though we know about the Lord Jesus, still have things in our lives that to us are more important than the Messiah Jesus: Our pride at being seen as doing something for God, our significance drawn from others, while we haven't really settled that issue in our won hearts, drawing our true significance from the Messiah! Our security in our own personal wealth and well being.

And the solution is recognising deeply who Jesus is, and what He calls us to be in relationship to Himself.

The Lord tells now the outcomes:

To one group:  Rejection!  They will receive the greater condemnation."

To others: Recognition! "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them… but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

If you do not recognise Jesus as Lord and Messiah there will be rejection!

If you do recognise Jesus as Lord and Messiah, other things grow pale in that light, and He will recognise you. I wonder.. do you think that poor widow recognized how big her gift was in comparison? Did she recognize that she was giving all she had to live on? Probably not. It was her custom to love God. It was her custom to await her Messiah. Nothing else mattered but that.