Luke 20- Andy's thoughts

So Many Questions

Questions about Income
This chapter is full of questions. I think that it is really helpful to see that it is permissible to ask questions- of God, of Jesus, of the Bible. The questions reveal not just a curiosity about God but also about the concerns of those asking the questions.

The first section begins with a question by the teachers of the law. Why are they asking Jesus a question? Well, what was Jesus doing? He also was teaching on the law. I think that they felt a threat to their income. If people turned to Jesus and his teaching they would be out of a job. They want to know by what authority he taught. If he couldn’t prove his authority to teach, then no matter how well he taught or how much truth he imparted, he could be discredited.

Their question was actually a bit of a trap. The true answer to their question is that God himself had given Jesus the authority to teach. If Jesus said this, then they would have attacked him for blasphemy. If he denied this, then he would have been lying. This was a no-win question.

Instead of allowing himself to be suckered into a no-win question, Jesus turns the question around and asks the teachers a similar question. He asks them about John the Baptist and his authority. Jesus and everyone else there knew that John had been extremely well regarded as one ordained by God. John had even suffered execution by the Romans for standing up to the immorality of Herod. He was the ideal Jewish teacher. No one could speak poorly of him. Yet, the teachers of the Law did not support John or claim to believe him as a prophet. They knew that they were also better off not answering this no-win question.

Jesus 1. Others 0.

Questions about Identity
In the next section Jesus tells a parable about a land owner and the tenant farmers. As I had mentioned in my post on chapter 19, one of the keys to understanding a parable is to identify the central message. Not all of the details of the story have direct spiritual parallels. Sometimes a detail in the story is simply there to help the hearer more clearly imagine the scene being described.

In this parable, the central teaching appears to be Jesus condemning the Jewish leaders for their failure to acknowledge the prophets of God. He is also not so subtly identifying himself as the actual Son of God. Jesus prophesies that he will suffer and die because of these blind leaders. The teachers knew this and got angry at Jesus. They prepare to do exactly what Jesus said they would do.

Jesus asks them a question- “What does it mean when the Scriptures say that ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’?’ Jesus uses the Scriptures (of which the teachers were supposed to be experts) to condemn these teachers. A cornerstone is a piece of stone that stabilizes the foundation of a building. Jesus is saying that the teachers of the law have rejected Jesus (the stone) as part of the Kingdom of God and now Jesus has become the foundation (cornerstone) of the Kingdom of God. The teachers have no good answer to this question.

Jesus 2. Others 0.

Questions about Responsibility
In the next part, people come to ask Jesus about taxes. This was supposed to also be a no-win question. “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?” If Jesus said yes, then he would seem disloyal to the Jews who hated their Roman oppressors. If Jesus said no, then he would seem disloyal to the Romans who had the legal right to demand taxes. No matter what Jesus said, it seemed that he was going to be in trouble with somebody.

But Jesus surprised them with a simple question and statement. “Whose inscription is on it?” Caesar. “Well, then give to Caesar what is Caesar, and give to God what is God’s.” What brilliance. Jesus reminds them that money is just an earthly thing that is important to our earthly rulers. We should be mindful of eternal things and our responsibility to our eternal ruler. After this, those questioners became silent.

Jesus 3. Others 0.

Questions about Belief
Next, the Sadducees ask Jesus about the afterlife. They did not believe that there was a resurrection of the dead; the Pharisees did believe in the resurrection. They ask a hypothetical question which is supposed to disprove the logical consistency of the resurrection. Jesus points out the hole in their reasoning by telling them that there is no marriage in heaven. Their premise was flawed from the beginning. He reminds them that God is not dead, nor is he the God of the dead. After this, no one asked Jesus any more questions.

Jesus 4. Others 0.

Questions about the Kingdom
In the final section, Jesus asks the crowd one more question. Jesus asked, “Why is it that the Messiah is said to be the son of David?” “The LORD said to my Lord…”

Steve, you had asked about what this passage means. I think that it is a bit confusing until we look at two different words used for “lord” in this quotation. In Hebrew, the word LORD is ‘YHWH” and is usually translated as LORD (with all capital letters). This was the name that God used to identify himself to Moses. (the Hebrew word for “God” is “El” or “Elohim”). There is another word in Hebrew for “lord” as in a master. That word is “Addonai.” In our English Bibles it is translated as “lord” (with all lower case letters).

Jesus quotes from Psalm 110:1. In the Hebrew, the text reads something like this- “YHWH said to my master…” The Jews at the time would have understood that distinction. It gets lost on us in English. It actually could be confusing in Greek too because they only have one word for “lord” also (Kurios) and so in the Greek of Luke, it is the same word. But by looking at the reference that is being quoted, which is in Psalms, which is written in Hebrew, which has the two different words, we can understand what is meant.

As for what Jesus was actually teaching here- it would seem odd if David referred to his biological son Solomon as his master. David ruled over Solomon, Solomon did not rule over David. So it would be unlikely that David would call Solomon his lord (Addonai). Jesus was telling the crowd that there would be a descendant of David that would in fact have more authority than David. Jesus is telling them that there was a king that would be more of an Addonai to Israel than even their most beloved and respected king in history. Jesus is that king. Again this is Jesus teaching about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus wins. Flawless victory.

The Problem of Evil
I think that there are questions that our culture is still asking Jesus. One in particular has been presented as a no-win question. It is called the “problem of evil.” Students in a first year philosophy or theology class will often study this logical argument. I think it is worth noting how Jesus smashes the premises and conclusion.

Here’s the question in syllogism form-

The Argument
Premises:
1) God is all good.
2) God is all powerful.
3) An all good and all powerful God would not allow evil to exist.
4) Evil exists.
Conclusion:
God does not exist.

This is supposed to be the classical proof to disprove the existence of God- or at least the God of the Bible. There is something viscerally appealing to the argument. It preys upon our frustrations with sin and suffering. It preys upon our desire to see someone strong and just swoop in and make everything right. It strikes at our desire to be free from suffering. There is even an elegance to the simplicity of the argument. Yet despite all of these things, there are still several gaping flaws in the argument.

The Flaws in the Argument
In this argument, philosophers have constructed what is commonly called “the god of the philosophers.” This god is defined by absolute, unchanging terms. This god’s nature is limited by logical constraints and semantic terminology. Yet this god of the philosophers is not the God of the Bible. In the Bible, God does not make a series of propositional statements to define Himself. He does not use mathematical proofs or syllogisms to communicate with us about His identity. He tells us stories. We see him in action.

Philosophers have a notion about what it means to be “all good” and “all powerful” but the Bible never buys into that primitive simplistic terminology. God’s goodness is understood through the stories of His compassion towards cruel people. God’s power is seen in the stories of His creative acts. These two attributes are seen in conjunction in His redemptive acts.

The Bible does not say that God would never allow evil to exist. At times we wish it did. Emotionally, I think we struggle not so much with why does evil happen (in the abstract) but rather “why does evil happen to me?” The Bible does say that God’s goodness and power will triumph over evil. I think that the question of how God’s power and goodness can coexist with evil is answered at the cross.

As Jesus hung on the cross, evil was clearly present. It took great evil to nail a kind person to a cross. On a spiritual level, the forces of evil seemed to be at their greatest power at the moment Jesus hung there. Yet at the same moment, God’s goodness and power were also clearly present. For Jesus to willingly suffer for those who had done evil to him was a sign of the pure goodness of God. For Jesus to choose to refrain from using his power to simply kill everyone there was also a sign of his goodness. For Jesus to rise from the dead afterward was a sign of the power of God. Not even death is more powerful than God. For the Bible, there is no logical inconsistency for God’s power and goodness to coexist with evil. The lesson of the Bible is that goodness overpowers evil.

There are lots of questions that we will face as Christians. I hope that we will keep asking questions. I hope that we realize that Jesus is asking questions of us too. I hope we see that even apparently no-win questions are winnable for Jesus.

Application:
• What are the questions we are asking about Jesus?
• What are the questions that Jesus is asking of us?