2BeLikeChrist Bible Commentary - Luke Chapter 20
Commentary - Luke Chapter 20
Luke 20:1-8
Luk 20:1 One 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
Luk 20:2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”
Luk 20:3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me,
Luk 20:4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?”
Luk 20:5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’
Luk 20:6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”
Luk 20:7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from.
Luk 20:8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
One day, when Jesus was teaching in the Temple, He was confronted by the Jewish authorities.
The chief priests, scribes, and elders wanted to question Him.
They asked Him who gave Him authority to overturn the Temple tables, perform miracles, and preach a new message.
Was it an honest question?
Answer: It wasn’t, are you surprised?
In order to expose their dishonesty, Jesus committed to answering their question if they could answer one of His first.
“…was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?”
Essentially, He was asking if John the Baptist made up his teaching or if he was a prophet with a message from God.
The Jews discussed it amongst themselves and quickly discovered they were in a dilemma.
They couldn’t say John made it up because it would put them out of favor with the common people.
The common people believed John was a prophet.
The Jewish leaders feared they would be stoned if they insulted John.
They couldn’t say it was from God because they rejected John’s teaching.
If they admitted it was from God, Jesus would ask them why they didn’t heed John’s words.
Not to mention, they would have to accept Jesus as the Christ because John confirmed Jesus as the Messiah.
They were stuck.
Like any good politician, they dodged the question.
They responded, “We do not know” (Mark 11:33).
Their dishonesty had been exposed, and because of their inability to answer the question, Jesus didn’t answer theirs.
APPLICATION:
Jesus spoke boldly about the nature of God, right vs wrong, and truth vs. error.
His bold speech led to His physical death.
The Pharisees, scribes, chief priests, Sadducees, and elders refused to take a stand on controversial issues.
Their cowardice and silence preserved their safety and reputation with the people.
But at the end of time, the script will be flipped.
Those who spoke boldly for God, will be preserved in God’s love for eternity.
Those who remained silent, to preserve their reputation with other people will experience spiritual death.
APPLICATION:
Jesus didn’t allow His time to be consumed with answering questions from dishonest people.
Some people ask questions with the sole intention of tricking someone or tripping them up.
We should be careful with our time.
Don’t allow closeminded critics to consume your time to the point that you don’t have any time left to find honest hearts.
Luke 20:9-15
Luk 20:9 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.
Luk 20:10 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.
Luk 20:11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.
Luk 20:12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.
Luk 20:13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’
Luk 20:14 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.’
Luk 20:15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
The Parable:
A man planted a vineyard.
He put a great deal of effort into the vineyard.
“…put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower…” (Mark 12:1).
He leased the vineyard to some tenants and then took a long trip into another country.
The tenants would have been responsible for caring for the property and nurturing the plants.
When harvest came, they would pay the owner by giving him a percentage of the crop.
Around harvest time, the owner sent a servant back to the vineyard to collect what was due him.
Instead of paying the owner his fare share, the tenants beat up his servant, and sent him away with nothing.
The owner sent a second servant, but he was also beaten up, treated shamefully, and sent away with nothing.
The owner then sent a third servant. The tenants wounded him and threw him out of the vineyard.
Finally, the master decided to send his son, assuming the tenants will have greater respect for him.
But upon recognizing the owner’s son and realizing he was the heir of the property, the wicked tenants decided to kill him.
That is exactly what they did!
Jesus concluded the parable with a question, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?”
The Interpretation:
Jesus didn’t give us the interpretation, but the context is enough to reveal the meaning.
God had put a lot of work into the nation of Israel.
He trusted them to keep His commandments and statutes.
But they often failed Him.
God sent many messengers to the Jews to ask them to give Him what He deserved (worship and reverence and faithfulness and single-hearted devotion).
They treated God’s messengers very poorly.
God continued sending messengers, eventually sending servants like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Malachi.
Some were beaten, some were stoned, and some were killed.
Eventually, God sent His Son (Jesus).
You would think the people would respect His Son, but that wasn’t the case.
A few days after these words were spoken, the rebellious tenants of the nation of Israel would take Jesus outside of the city and kill Him.
They would attempt to make themselves the true rulers of God’s people.
Jesus was condemning the Jews, specifically their religious leaders, for being wicked tenants.
Luke 20:15-16
Luk 20:15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
Luk 20:16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!”
In Matthew’s gospel the Jewish leaders answered Jesus’ question.
What would the owner do with the wicked tenants?
Mat 21:41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
They judged the wicked tenants quickly.
They knew what ought to happen to people who abused their position.
They could see other people’s sins but not their own.
This answer isn’t recorded in Luke’s account, we only have Jesus’ confirmation and restatement of their answer.
When Jesus confirmed their answer, something must have clicked in their minds or Jesus must have indicated somehow that they were the tenants, because they immediately rejected His conclusion.
“Surely not!”
They rejected the idea that they acted like the wicked tenants.
They rejected the idea that they would be relieved of their spiritual leadership.
Luke 20:17-18
Luk 20:17 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’?
Luk 20:18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
This was a quotation from Psalm 118:22-23.
Jesus was the cornerstone of God’s work on earth.
The cornerstone was the first (and most important) stone laid in the foundation of a building.
All the other stones were placed according to the level and positioning of the cornerstone.
But those who had been entrusted with the revelations of God (Jews) were going to reject the cornerstone (Christ).
They didn’t consider Jesus “foundation material.”
Like the vineyard owner’s son, they didn’t respect Him, and they were already making plans to kill Him.
But God had already accounted for their stubborn hearts and woven His redeeming work through the hardness of their hearts.
He wasn’t surprised at their rejection.
His will couldn’t be stopped by their rebellion.
We all ought to spend some time marveling at God’s plan for salvation.
The foundation laid by Jesus was the only eternal foundation.
It’s the only permanent foundation durable enough to overcome all adversaries.
Forces will come against the cornerstone and try to destroy it, try to smash it.
But no force will succeed.
Instead, the things that come against the cornerstone will be “broken to pieces” and crushed.
For generation, people, groups, and governments have tried to destroy the work of Jesus, but Jesus and the Kingdom of God have survived them all.
Many of those adversaries have dissolved into history.
Eventually, all of them will disappear into the past and only the Kingdom of God will be left.
The Jewish leaders to whom Jesus spoke these words were just the beginning of many failed attempts to stop God’s work.
Luke 20:19-20
Luk 20:19 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.
Luk 20:20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.
The scribes and chief priests were furious at Jesus for comparing them to the wicked tenants, but they were afraid to do anything to Jesus for fear the people would oppose them.
They decided to return to their underhanded ways and send agents into the crowd.
The agents were instructed to ask Jesus tricky questions.
The scribes and chief priests were hoping He would slip up in His words so they could pounce.
This shows us how dishonest the Jewish leaders were.
They were willing to do anything to undermine Jesus.
When they realized they were no match for Jesus face-to-face, they resorted to deceit.
They would do anything not to be defeated.
Truth wasn’t the issue; their pride was the issue.
APPLICATION:
Someone who loves truth and values truth is ok with being corrected.
But someone who is proud will go to any length to avoid what they perceive as the humiliation of correction.
We need to be mindful and aware of how we respond to correction.
Our response to correction reveals a lot about the condition of our hearts.
Luke 20:21-26
Luk 20:21 So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.
Luk 20:22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”
Luk 20:23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them,
Luk 20:24 “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar's.”
Luk 20:25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
Luk 20:26 And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.
The sneaky spies came to Jesus and asked Him a question about taxes.
They started off with some flattery, hoping to conceal their true intentions.
They asked, “Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”
What was their angle here?
They probably thought they could trap Jesus no matter which way He responded.
If He told the people to pay their taxes, He would lose some of His popularity and the Pharisees, chief priests, and scribes could go around telling people Jesus was a Roman sympathizer (obviously not what the people were looking for in a Messiah).
If Jesus told the people they didn’t have to pay their taxes, Jesus’ enemies could report Him to the Roman authorities and have Him arrested.
Genius!… or so they thought.
Jesus was not deceived by their flattery.
He knew immediately who they were and why they had come.
In Matthew’s account, Jesus accused them directly of being “hypocrites” (Matt 22:18).
He then asked for a denarius (coin used for paying tribute).
They would have brought Him the coin shown below:
This is likely the same coin referred to in Matthew 20:1-16 in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.
The man pictured is Emperor Tiberius who reigned from 14 AD – 37 AD.
Jesus asked them whose likeness (face) was on the coin and they responded “Caesar’s.”
Jesus told the people to give Caesar what belonged to him and give God what belonged to Him.
You’ll have to forgive me if I’m wrong about this next point, but I can’t help but think Jesus was asking people to connect an unstated truth when talking about the likeness on the coin.
Why did Jesus ask for the coin?
Everyone knew who was on the coin.
They didn’t need to physically see it.
I think it may have been an object lesson.
Jesus was setting up His critics and the listening audience for a truth the coin revealed about their relationship to God.
Jesus’ enemies confirmed the coin bore Caesar’s likeness and Jesus told them that what bears Caesar’s likeness belonged to Caesar.
“Give Caesar his silver if he asks for it.”
But if they had read the scriptures, they would have also had to confirm a greater truth based on this principle.
Whose image and likeness did they bear? God’s (Genesis 1:26).
What did that mean?
It meant what bore God’s likeness belonged to God.
So, give Caesar your silver and give God your heart!
Is it possible the text should be understood as follows:
“Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s” He said to them [gesturing to the money] “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, [gesturing to the individuals surrounding Him] and to God the things that are God’s.”
It was certainly a masterful answer!
It isn’t surprising that Jesus’ critics marveled at His answer.
They didn’t have any rebuttal.
APPLICATION:
Although it isn’t the main point of this text, it is important to note that Jesus instructs us to pay taxes to our government.
We may not agree with everything the government leaders support, but we are to fulfill our responsibility as citizens.
Jesus certainly didn’t support everything the Roman government stood for.
I’m glad this text is in the Bible, otherwise I think I’d have a dilemma of conscience giving money to a government that supports abortion, and unnatural marriages, and verbally supports sin.
We are not going to be held responsible for the way some people abuse our tax dollars.
Luke 20:27-38
Luk 20:27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,
Luk 20:28 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.
Luk 20:29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children.
Luk 20:30 And the second
Luk 20:31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.
Luk 20:32 Afterward the woman also died.
Luk 20:33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
Luk 20:34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,
Luk 20:35 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,
Luk 20:36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
Luk 20:37 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.
Luk 20:38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”
This passage has a parallel in Mark 12:18-27.
Who were the Sadducees and how did they differ from the Pharisees?
Who were the Pharisees?
Generally made up of wealthy men who turned their attention to religion.
They had significant influence among the common Jewish citizens.
Promoted strict adherence to the Old Testament laws and oral traditions.
Promoted Jewish culture rather than Hellenization (Greek/Roman influence).
Believed in the supernatural.
Believed in an afterlife.
Who were the Sadducees?
Upper economic class among the Jews (contrast with Jesus’ followers).
They had significant influence with the governing Roman authorities.
Rejected the Pharisees’ binding of tradition. Viewed the written Torah (first 5 books of the Old Testament) as the only binding law.
More friendly to Hellenization.
Limited belief in the supernatural.
Rejected the resurrection of the body, the afterlife, and angels.
Responsible for the management of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Some of the Sadducees approached Jesus with another challenging question.
As is mentioned above and in Luke 20:27, the Sadducees rejected the idea that people would resurrect from the grave after death.
The question they brought to Jesus was one they believe to be very tricky.
They seem to be setting Moses’ Law against the resurrection.
Suggesting if one was true the other couldn’t be true.
The Hypothetical Question:
To understand the question, it is important we know a few things about the Old Testament Law.
According to the Old Testament Law, when a married man died without having a son, the widow was not to marry again outside the family.
Instead, the brother of the man who died was required to marry his dead brother’s widow and have children with her.
The first son of their union was considered the son of the dead brother.
You can read about this in Deuteronomy 5:5-10.
The Sadducees’ exaggerated question asked, what if this happens 6 times in a family with 7 brothers?
On earth, the widow would have been married to 7 different men, so who would be her true husband when she and her 7 husbands were resurrected from the dead.
They obviously believed this was a great dilemma.
The Answer:
Jesus obviously didn’t believe this is a great dilemma.
Their confusion about the issue was due to their fundamental misunderstanding of the marriage relationship in eternity, and their failure to look closely at the scriptures.
In two short statements, Jesus dismantled the false dilemma, and used Moses’ own record of God’s words in Exodus 3:6 to show them the foolishness of their view on the resurrection.
(1) The question about the woman’s true husband following the resurrection was irrelevant, because marriage doesn’t exist in eternity.
The marriage relationship as we know it will not continue through death and into the next life.
The resurrected will be like the angels who are neither married nor given in marriage.
It’s interesting that Jesus mentioned the angels to prove His point.
The Sadducees didn’t believe in angels.
Jesus was not-so-subtly telling them they were wrong about more than just the marriage issue.
(2) In regard to the resurrection, God’s own words, when speaking to Moses out of the burning bush, confirmed the resurrection of the dead.
Exo 3:5-7 - Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.
Notice, Jesus chose a text from the Torah. The Sadducees believed the Torah to be inspired.
The text records a conversation God had with Moses at the “Burning Bush.”
When God was talking to Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were 400+ years dead.
But God didn’t say, “I was the God of your father, the God of Abraham…”
God said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham…”
He was their God, currently and presently, even 400+ years after their physical deaths.
Jesus indicated God’s words to Moses were very specific and not accidental.
God intentionally chose “am” over “was.”
He was not the God of a bunch of long-gone dead people who existed only in the past tense.
He was the present tense God of some people who were long gone from the earth but still very much alive.
The Sadducees “question” was mute.
Physical marriage does not translate to the spiritual realm.
And, the resurrection of the dead is a truth confirmed by Moses in the scriptures the Sadducees claimed to believe.
No contradiction or dilemma existed between the commands of Exodus 3 and the resurrection of the dead.
Luke 20:39-40
Luk 20:39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
Luk 20:40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question.
The crowds were astonished at Jesus’ teaching (Matt 22:33).
This may have been a point of great contention in Jewish circles, as may have been the question about paying taxes.
Jesus, in a few sentences, answered both questions.
It probably made the people rethink what it meant to be an “expert” in the Law.
Even the scribes had to admit Jesus’ wisdom.
They said, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
We don’t know if their compliment was genuine or if they only said it because they couldn’t think of anything else to say.
I imagine there were some among the Jewish leaders who came to recognize Jesus’ legitimacy.
Whether they ever confessed their convictions isn’t known.
Luke 20:41-44
Luk 20:41 But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David's son?
Luk 20:42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
Luk 20:43 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
Luk 20:44 David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
Rather than the Pharisees or Sadducees asking the questions, Jesus had a question of His own.
He intended to make clear to the people that their rulers were not the experts they claimedto be.
He asked His critics for their interpretation of a scripture in the Psalms.
If they were experts, they ought to have no problem.
Especially considering there were multiple of them.
In Psalm 110:1, David referred to the Christ (Messiah) as “Lord.”
This term would have been used to refer to a superior.
But how could a father be inferior to one of his descendants?
In those days, a father was held in higher honor than his children.
If the Christ was nothing more than a physical descendant of David, it doesn’t make sense for David to refer to Him as a superior.
There must have been something more to the Messiah than just being a physical son of David.
In verse 42-43, Luke records David’s words about the exaltation of the Messiah at the throne of God and how all things will be subjected to Him.
Jesus asked the Jewish scholars how to explain David’s comments.
They had no idea how to respond!
“And no one was able to answer Him a word…” (Matt 22:46).
This text suggest the Jewish scholars believed the Messiah would be a descendant of David, but they did not take texts like Isaiah 7:14 literally.
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14)
Immanuel means “God with us.”
There was something extraordinary about the Messiah.
The Messiah was God!
If the Jews believed the Messiah would be divine, they wouldn’t have had any problem answering this question.
But they could provide no answer.
In stumping His critics, Jesus was doing a few things:
(1) He was opening the minds of the people to the true nature of the Messiah.
(2) He was humbling the Jewish religious leaders by stumping them with their own scriptures.
The Jewish elite had been whipped, and they finally learned their lesson and retreated.
They weren’t smarter, or cleverer, or wiser, or better students of the Law than a 30-year-old from Galilee.
They stood no chance against Him on a battlefield governed by reason and civility.
They would not return to question Jesus anymore.
They would resort to uncivilized violence to keep their hemorrhaging pride alive.
Luke 20:45-47
Luk 20:45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples,
Luk 20:46 “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,
Luk 20:47 who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
This was one of the most, if not the most, severe condemnation Jesus spoke against the Jewish religious leaders.
This condemnation is recorded at greater length in Matthew 23.
Jesus boldly condemned the scribes for their abuse of God’s religious system.
“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes…”
Matthew mentions how they loved to be admired for their religious devotion.
Mat 23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
Their religion was motivated by pride.
They were more interested in receiving praise from men than giving praise to God.
APPLICATION:
This was not just a Pharisee and scribe problem.
This is an everybody problem.
When we’ve escaped the pride that keeps us outside of Christ, we then have to begin a new battle with pride inside the Church.
Satan does an excellent job at tempting religious people to become proud in their religious devotions.
What was a phylactery?
A phylactery is also known as a tefillin.
It contained small rolls of parchment on which were written passages from the Old Testament scriptures.
It is thought the phylactery was created in response to Deuteronomy 1:18
Deu 1:18 You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Although many Jews believed this passage to be metaphorical, others created specific traditions of practices around these words.
Archeological evidence in Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found) confirm the existence of phylacteries in the 1st Century.
A phylactery had two parts.
The first, was the small box worn on the head which contained Torah passages.
The second, was the leather band wrapping around the forearm.
Additional traditions developed around these two items.
Debate existed about the order in which the Torah passages had to be placed inside the phylactery.
There were also rules about the length of the leather arm strap and how many times it had to be wrapped around the arm.
What were the “fringes” or long garments of Matthew 23:5 and Luke 20:46?
This probably referred back to a command given to the people of Israel in Numbers 15:37-40.
Num 15:37-40 - The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.
Today, we see blue clothing everywhere, but in the ancient world, it was probably much less common to see blue fabric.
God told the Jews to wear blue tassels to remind them of God’s commands.
Apparently, the Pharisees and scribes made theirs especially large to indicate their respect for the Law.
There are also early rabbinic traditions which specify the number of strings which needed to be dyed blue and what type of dye was to be used.
Some rabbis even cursed those who used cheaper dye alternatives.
Other scriptural principles were often pulled into these debates to give legitimacy to a particular position.
Is it hard to see why Jesus was mad at the scribes and Pharisees?
They cared so much about the tassels on their clothing, but cared nothing for the poor and sick.
What’s more, the only reason they cared about the tassels on their clothing was because they hoped people would admire them.
The Pharisees and scribes weren’t concerned at all for the weightier matters of the Law (Justice, mercy, and faithfulness) but they cared a whole lot about their tassels, because when they wore them, they knew they looked good in the eyes of other men.
They were only religious because it brought them attention.
APPLICATION:
It is possible to be surrounded by religious practice and scriptural study and have no affection for God.
The Pharisees did it everyday. They had scripture on their forehead, wrapped around their arms, and hanging from the corners of their clothing, but they didn’t love God or know Him.
Consider a child who grows up in a strong church with godly parents.
They grow up attending Bible class.
Reading the Bible.
Participating in “Church activities.”
Singing.
Praying.
And then as soon as they leave the house, their faith seems to evaporate.
How does that happen?
Because they were good at religious practice, but the deeper meaning behind the practice was never appreciated.
A person can be surrounded by beauty and never appreciate it.
A person can be surrounded by people who love God and never learn to appreciate God themselves.
A person can go through the motions but observing someone in a motion doesn’t reveal everything about the state of their heart.
Jesus also said the scribes liked “greetings in the marketplace.”
This must have been more than a simple “hello.”
These greetings must have in some way indicated the scribe’s “importance.”
The scribes were people of importance in the community and they savored the fact that people recognized them and greeted them as such.
The scribes loved to have seats of honor at feasts and in the synagogues.
Again, a need for recognition.
Their egos were their interest.
Jesus advised them on this issue back in Luke 14:10.
Clearly, they didn’t put His words into application.
They devoured “widow’s houses.”
This was a serious accusation under the Law of Moses.
The Psalms refer to God as the protector of widows, but these Jews had been using God’s name to abuse them.
Psa 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
Deu 27:19 “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Finally, Jesus mentioned how they “for pretense” made long prayers.
Synonyms for “pretense” include: trick, con, sham, hoax, and fabrication.
Their prayers were fake, intended to communicate more to men than to God.
They prayed a really long time to make others believe they were really holy.
“They will receive the greater condemnation.”
There are sinners who are selfish, prideful, extortioners, blasphemous, liars, thieves, etc…
But then there are sinners who are selfish, prideful, extortioners, blasphemous, liars, and thieves, and use God’s name as a way to mask their intentions.
“They will receive the greater condemnation.”
