“Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.”
~ Luke 20:46
Hi James and Ellen,
Has one of your classmates ever told a lie about you to another kid? Has a teacher ever accused you of doing something that you know that you did not do? Has a guy or gal ever tried to make a fool out of you? A committed, faithful Christ-follower guy, gal and kid should expect that non-Christ-follower guys, gals and kids will tell mistruths about him or her, make false allegations against him or her and/or do whatever they can do to devalue his or her beliefs. Jesus was lied about, accused and demeaned. How do you feel when you – as a Christ-follower kid, have to go through what Jesus went through – such as being lied about, falsely accused and/or unjustly demeaned? How do you think that Jesus felt when chief priests, Mosaic law teachers and some elders did whatever they could do to trick Him to compromise His beliefs. Luke – in Luke 20, reports several instances when Jesus was confronted by guys who wanted to undermine His teachings and chip away at His credibility.
The day is Tuesday. Jesus two days earlier had triumphantly ridden into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt. As Jesus was riding on the donkey’s colt on the road that led from Bethphage and Bethany into the city of Jerusalem, Jesus rode past a large crowd of animated guys and gals. The throng of guys and gals had used their cloaks and palm branches to cover the road. The next day and while visiting the temple that was located in the city of Jerusalem, Jesus cleansed the temple by literally throwing out the guys who were selling their merchandise in the temple. Jesus had the proactive support of the guys and gals who were following Him – as they really did believe that He would become their next king. Jesus did not receive that same kind of enthusiastic support from the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees and Sadducees really struggled with guys like Jesus who they perceived were usurping their self-designated territory of influence and control. The Pharisees and Sadducees thought of themselves as being the religious experts and spiritual leaders of the day. The Pharisees and Sadducees were not ready to let go to any guy off the street – like a guy like Jesus, their self-ascribed sacred authority. The Pharisees used the inhouse chief priests, Mosaic law teachers and some elders to confront Jesus. The chief priests, Mosaic law teachers and elders did not know what to do or say when Jesus threw back at them a question that they had asked him – a question that had to do with on whose authority was Jesus submitting Himself to as He taught what He was teaching, by asking them a question about on whose authority did John the Baptist teach what he had taught. The chief priests, Mosaic law teachers and elders had two options to answer this question that Jesus asked them. They could say that it was either God or guys who had given John the Baptist the authority to teach what he had taught. The chief priests, Mosaic law teachers and elders knew if they answered that God was Who had given John the Baptist the authority to teach, that Jesus would ask them why they refused to believe in what John the Baptist taught. The chief priests, Mosaic law teachers and elders knew if they answered that guys like them were the ones who had given John the Baptist the authority to teach, that they would be stoned to death by the misguided guys and gals who were their followers – as the misguided guys and gals who were their followers also really believed that John the Baptist had been a God-sent holy prophet
Because the Pharisees and Sadducees saw Jesus as being an annoyance, they could not comprehend that Jesus could be God – as God the Son, and an incarnate guy. The chief priests and Mosaic law teachers who were the Pharisee and Sadducee leaders thought that they could outsmart Jesus as it was not in their mindset paradigm that Jesus could read their minds – that He always knew in advance what they would say and/or do. When Jesus was asked by guys who the chief priests and Mosaic law teachers had embedded into the crowd that followed Jesus – to have them ask Jesus some trick questions such as whether or not they should pay taxes, Jesus asked for a denarius. Jesus told the guys to look at the inscription on the coin. Jesus then told the guys that they were to give to Cesar what was Cesar’s and that they were to give to God what was God’s. When the Sadducees – who did not believe that there is going to be a bodily resurrection one day, asked Jesus about a supposed situation where a gal after the seven bros who she was married to had all died and because she did not have any kids from any of the seven bros – which was based on what Moses said was to happen if a guy died leaving his wife without a kid to take care of her that the oldest bro of the guy who died was to marry the gal so that . . . , who her husband would be in heaven. Jesus answered the Sadducees by telling them that heaven was not a place where guys and gals would relate as they related on planet Earth but that guys and gals are and will be in heaven as angel types, Jesus then told the guys and gals who were with Him what Luke recorded in verse 46, ““Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.” Your grandmaa and grandpaa are hoping that you will never be fooled or duped by a non-Christ-follower guy or gal into believing something that is untrue.
Luke 20 (778)