Threat to Power

Within the span of a week, people in Jerusalem went from praising Jesus as their king, to calling for His crucifixion. What happened? How did the attitudes of the people change so quickly? Riding a donkey into Jerusalem was an unmissable sign that Jesus was declaring Himself as the Messiah. Jesus was becoming a bigger and bigger threat to the religious leaders in Jerusalem, and they could see their control and power slipping away. Very shortly after Jesus’ triumphant entry, the religious leaders sought to trap and embarrass Jesus in front of the people, and three different times they ended up getting embarrassed. First, they challenged Jesus’ authority.

“One day as Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the Good News in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. They demanded, ‘By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?’” (Luke 20:1-2)

It’s a pretty common tactic to call into question the authority of someone who is threatening the power of the powerful. Questioning the authority of the One who set the universe in motion, however, doesn’t go well.

“‘Let me ask you a question first,’ he replied. ‘Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?’ They talked it over among themselves. ‘If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet.’ So they finally replied that they didn’t know. And Jesus responded, ‘Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.’” (Luke 20:3-8)

Interestingly, the first thing Jesus does is exercise His authority over them. He doesn’t answer their question; instead, Jesus gives them terms that He sets. Notice that this is not questioned or argued and the religious leaders go along with it. Once they analyze Jesus’ question, they realize there is no good answer as there is never any good answer to a good question when you are objectively in the wrong. The religious leaders had to admit that they didn’t know if John’s authority was from heaven or earth. Since they had agreed to Jesus’ terms, Jesus then did not have to answer their question. Jesus makes it very obvious Who has authority over whom.

The second embarrassment for the religious leaders came from a story Jesus then immediately told to the crowd around them. 

“Now Jesus turned to the people again and told them this story: ‘A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and moved to another country to live for several years. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. So the owner sent another servant, but they also insulted him, beat him up, and sent him away empty-handed. A third man was sent, and they wounded him and chased him away.
“What will I do?” the owner asked himself. “I know! I’ll send my cherished son. Surely they will respect him.” But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they said to each other, “Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!” So they dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?’ Jesus asked. ‘I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.’
‘How terrible that such a thing should ever happen,’ his listeners protested. Jesus looked at them and said, ‘Then what does this Scripture mean?
“The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” Everyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.’ The teachers of religious law and the leading priests wanted to arrest Jesus immediately because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the people’s reaction.’” (Luke 20:9-19)

Notice that their reaction to Jesus telling a story is that they wanted to arrest Him. That seems extreme but unfortunately not too unfamiliar to us today. If someone insults the people in charge while pointing out truth, and that person has the attention of the people, those in charge often seek to imprison and punish. Today we call this cancel culture. The desire to get rid of Jesus only grew. Jesus made it clear in the story that He knew the Pharisees were planning on killing Him and again they felt threatened. So the religious leaders decided to switch tactics and bring in the Roman government. They reasoned that if they could catch Jesus saying something against the Romans, then they could get the Romans to arrest Him.  

“Watching for their opportunity, the leaders sent spies pretending to be honest men. They tried to get Jesus to say something that could be reported to the Roman governor so he would arrest Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ He saw through their trickery and said, ‘Show me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?’
‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.
‘Well then,’ he said, ‘give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.’ So they failed to trap him by what he said in front of the people. Instead, they were amazed by his answer, and they became silent.” (Luke 20:20-26)

The religious leaders of the day, those in power among the Jews, spied on Jesus and tried to trick Him into saying something that could get Him in trouble with the Roman government. Jesus is no fool, and as Luke notes, He saw through their trickery. Not only did He see through it, but He gave an answer so amazing that those who posed the question were amazed and fell silent. The Pharisees could see their power and control slipping away and they seemed powerless to stop Jesus. Within a week they would pay off one of Jesus’ followers, arrest Him in the dead of night, hold an illegal trial and march Him before the Roman government. When those in power feel threatened, they tend to lash out. The Pharisees had to manipulate the people and break the law to arrest Jesus and get the Romans to kill Him, but their attempt to get rid of this Man would not last long. As we officially enter this Holy Week leading up to Good Friday, remember that when Jesus broke the grave, He broke the power of sin and Death for all those who trust in Him. 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed