Luke 19:45-20:19 The Continued Cleansing of the Temple
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 19:45-20:19, and that’s on page 879 in the pew Bibles. I know that it looks like it’s going to be a big bite here but it really is one continuous story that we really shouldn’t break up even if the paragraph headings suggest we should.
We are going to be looking at an exchange between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem, in the Temple itself. In a lot of ways this event is a continuation of the fulfillment of Psalm 118 that we considered last week in Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
So first, let’s pray, and then we’ll read our text.
45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
1One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
So to make this a little more manageable we’ll break it into little chunks and examine them one at a time. There are three of them but don’t be fooled, this is not a three point sermon. We are going to consider the herald, the vineyard, and the stone.
First, the Herald.
In Jesus’ continuing work of cleansing the Temple He is confronted by a group of prominent religious leaders, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders as He was teaching the people and preaching the gospel.
This group poses two questions to Jesus in verse 2. “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”
What they are in essence demanding of Him is, “What is your mission and who sent you on it?”
And Jesus responds to their question with a question. Now, this isn’t Jesus’ attempt at being annoying here by answering a question with a question. This is a form of rabbinical dialogue and discourse.
Now, because we have it all written out for us, of course we know the answer to these questions. Jesus preached and taught and healed and drove the money changers and merchants out of the Temple by God’s authority as Messiah, it was God Himself that sent Him to preach the Good News to the lost sheep of Israel and here are the leaders of those lost sheep, still very lost themselves trying to trap Jesus whom God had sent.
So Jesus say, answer my question and I’ll answer yours. The trick is that all the questions have the same answer.
3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?”
So, first of all, what is the right answer, was the baptism of John the Baptist from heaven or from man?
John 1:6-8 says about John the Baptist, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.”
Written 6 or 7 hundred years earlier, in the Old Testament, Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”
Was John sent from God or from man?
The problem is that these religious leaders had despised John and his message just as they despised the Lord Jesus and His message. These leaders of the people feigned ignorance when they knew the answer full well. The problem was that they didn’t like the answer. If John was sent from God, that meant Jesus was too and they were not willing to admit that.
5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
If they publicly recognized the divine source of John’s mission, though he had done no miracles like Jesus had, they would have had to recognize Jesus’ authority that much more and if they denied the divine source of John’s mission they would show that they were not competent to judge the authority of Jesus and would be stoned by the people who believed both John and Jesus were from God.
So it was pride and fear that kept them silent and this gave Jesus the right to not answer their questions since they refused to answer His.
What I both love and hate here is that Jesus didn’t let the issue drop there. He moves on from the Herald to the Vineyard. He pursues His retreating enemy with the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.
Before we look at the parable there is some background that we need to explore.
Vineyards were not only commonplace in Israel at that time but they were also held as symbolic of the nation of Israel itself.
Isaiah 5:1-7
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
Not much had changed in 700 years.
9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
Now we can easily discern that again the vineyard represents Israel that God Himself established. The shepherds of Israel, these very religious leaders, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders that were questioning Jesus, they were the wicked tenants. The servants that the vineyard owner sent were the prophets and the beloved Son was Jesus.
This parable didn’t only serve as a rebuke to these leaders, exposing their hypocrisy and lust for power and influence, but also was a word of prophecy.
Just as the wicked tenants beat up and threw out the servants of the master like Israel had done the prophets, they threw the beloved Son out of the vineyard and killed Him just as, in a week’s time, they would kill Jesus, the Beloved Son, outside the city walls at Calvary.
Instead of having thoughts of respect, the coming of the beloved Son brought thoughts of murder.
JJ VanOosterzee wrote, “The more light there was before their eyes, so much the more hatred in their hearts.
Jesus was a threat to their influence and control over the people, they thought by getting rid of Him they could rest secure in their grip on the people of Israel.
But His death outside the city walls was not the only prophecy in the parable. Look at verse 15.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
Do you know who the others are? Gentiles, it’s us! Jesus is telling them that their rejection of messiah will result in the Gentiles being brought into the Kingdom of God!
What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!”
This is where Jesus moves on from the vineyard to the Stone.
17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
The cleansing of the Temple began and ended with Psalm 118, Jesus just quoted verses 22 and 23.
This is also a reference to Isaiah 8:14-15.
14 And [the Lord of Hosts] will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
I think that there is something that we must be very careful of as we examine texts like this. I think it is very easy for us to thumb our noses at the bad guys thinking that they got what they deserved and that they are nothing like us.
I want to read to you from Romans chapter 11 as we close and remind you and me that there is a lot more going on than just good guys and bad guys and that if we can put our trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation so can they.
15 For if [Israel’s] rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
May God our Father grant us wisdom by His Spirit to discern His Word to us today.
Let’s pray.
