Whose Son is the Christ?

Luke 20:19-47 

Key Verse 20:44

David calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" 

As Jesus was facing the last battle, that is, his sufferings and crucifixion on a tree, Jesus left with the race a question: “David calls him ‘Lord.’ How can he be his son?” The only right answer Jesus expects us to come up with is this: “The Son of God.” What difference then does it make for one to know Jesus as the Son of God? At least based on the passage for today it means three things:

First, it empowers man to live the life that is giving. 

Look at verses 19-22. “[19] The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. [20] Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. [21] So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. [22] Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" 

When we look at the teachers of the law and the chief priests, we cannot help but feeling that what they do is quite pathetic. Supposedly they are “spiritual” leaders. As spiritual leaders they are supposed to do what is right. For example, the teachers of the law (or simply lawyers) must endeavor to be fair so that justice should prevail. Priests must purify themselves, offer themselves to God, and then work to ensure that people live under God’s blessings. Numbers 6:25-26 

But betraying their titles they were playing dirty tricks on Jesus. Why did they become so pathetic? Why did they degenerate so much? What is their real problem? More importantly what is the solution to their problem? I think we can find answers to all these questions in what Jesus said to them. Look at verse 23-25. “[23] He saw through their duplicity and said to them, [24] "Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?" [25] "Caesar's," they replied. He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." 

To the teachers of the law and the chief priests, the question was whether to pay or not to pay the taxes. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not? In the play “Hamlet” Shakespeare came up with a famous line: “To be or not to be that was the question.” To the religious leaders of Jesus’ day however the question was “To pay or not to pay that was the question.” In order to better understand where they come from, we must think about the meaning of “us”. Is it right for “us” to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Who does “us” refer to? Of course “us” refers to the Israelites, the chosen people, a holy nation. In Exodus 12 and beyond we see that the Lord God set them apart as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In their minds, compared with this exalted status of Israel, the Gentile nations like that of Caesar existed on a lower level. To them, the difference in status between the Israelites and the Romans was like the different between a man and a dog. Obviously man has a sense of dignity, but dogs do not. Dogs are just dogs. And man does not pay taxes to a dog. But the problem is that the Romans are not animals but human beings. And they are human beings as much as the Israelites were. Furthermore God did not establish Israel as a chosen people only to make them feel superior to other nations but to use them as a shepherd nation – a nation that serves all other nations with God’s word. 

 

At the heart of their calling as a servant nation, though, is the message of giving. God called them to give what is good to all other nations. Notice that while the religious leaders used the word “pay” (which is based on give and take) Jesus used the term “give”. And he used it twice, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, give to God what is God’s.” 

What does the word “give” mean? It means what it says. Each time we see Jesus repeating something, we must think of the reason why Jesus repeats what he says. Why does he say, “Give, and give”? The answer is simple: just as Jesus established the religious leaders as a source of blessing for all peoples on earth, so also Jesus wants them to practice the blessedness of “giving”, for the Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 

Practically however no one can live the blessed life of giving in his or her natural person. Only those who know Jesus personally and accept him as Lord and Savior (or simply as the Son of God) can live a life that is giving and giving all the time. The religious leaders did not repent. John the Baptist came and preached the message of repentance. Yet they rejected God’s purpose for themselves, which was for them to repent and turn to Christ. 

Because they kept Jesus outside of themselves, and even saw Jesus as their competitor, they ended up working as instruments of the Devil.  

So daily we must keep Jesus Christ inside of us. Jesus is the Son of God. By definition, God is the God of blessing without a limit. The Bible says that even God’s name is love, and love chooses to give what is good even to those who are not lovable.

 

Again maintaining a close relationship with Jesus Christ and letting His Spirit and His Word reside within us is the key to living a life that is constantly giving. In Revelation 4 we saw that from the throne of God come flashes of lightening, rumblings and peals of thunder. Revelation 4:5 These expressions (flashes of lightening, rumblings, and peals of thunder) denote God’s power of giving. According to a research paper posted on the Internet, Each cloud-to-ground lightening flash involves energy equal to the energy required to operate five 100-W light bulbs continuously for one month. 

Knowing Jesus as the Son of God then is as good as one being charged with as much energy (which is the source of giving) as the sum total of all the energies that are represented by constant flashes of lightening, rumblings, and peals of thunder that come out of the throne of God. 

When Charles and I went to Nigeria I saw God’s energy (the spirit of giving) working in and through Missionary Monica Park. Before going to Lagos, I was a little bit concerned about her, because I heard that she was sick with all the burdens of her missionary work. She is the mother of three children (Monica 14, Peter 13, and Hanna 11). Without Missionary Peter Park, day and night she has to serve Nigerian students who are always hungry. And they are tall and handsome, and they eat like a vacuum cleaner. When I met Missionary Monica face to face, I saw that all of my worries are just unnecessary concerns. The Lord God is working in and through her. God put a powerful spirit in her.  She is staying on the upper floor of the Bible center, and she keeps serving students, while still staying “young”. 

“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, to God what is God’s.” Jesus came to teach us the blessed life of giving. In Proverb 30:15 King Solomon says, “The leech has two daughters. 'Give! Give!' they cry.” As this passage says, this world is filled with people who are like the two daughters of a leech: “Give me this, give me that” they cry. In a way the teachers of the law and the chief priests behaved like the leech’s two daughters. Jesus had mercy on them, and despite their ill intention, Jesus taught them the blessed life of giving. Thank and praise God that God sent Jesus the Son of God who empowers us to live a blessed life of giving.   

Second, it transforms a man of flesh into a man of God’s Spirit.

Next, to the teachers of law and the chief priests, came out some of the Sadducees to test Jesus’ integrity as the Son of God. The sect of the Sadducees originated as a political party founded in the second century BC.  It is said that they denied the immortality of the soul. They did not believe in angels or the resurrection of the dead. Acts 23:6-10 They rejected the rabbis’ interpretation of the first five books of the Bible. They rejected the idea that the rest of the Scriptures like Joshua or Samuel and all others represent God’s word. Josephus, the Jewish historian of Jesus’ day, writes about them in the book entitled “Wars of the Jews” (Book 2, Chapter 8, Paragraph 14), “[The Sadducees] suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say that to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to every one, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, [unlike the Pharisees who are friendly to one another] their behavior is in some degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is as barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is what I had to say concerning them].”

Josephus’ description of them gives us a pretty good picture of them, that is, they reduced human beings to an animal level. The Bible teaches us (and we affirm this truth in our daily life) that God IS concerned about man’s doing whether it be good or evil. And God holds man accountable for what he does whether he does good or bad. We know this to be the case with King David as we see the stories of his life in the daily bread passages thus far. For examaple, when King David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, and in order to cover it up committed an additional crime, that is the murder of Uriah, God did not like what David did. God sent Nathan and rebuked him saying, “You are the man.” 2Sa 12:7 And although God quickly forgave him upon his repentance, God had to punish him by making him pick up all the broken pieces. Indeed God is concerned about what we do and how we do it. 

But the Sadducees did not believe in God. Naturally they ended up living pleasure seeking lives. To them, since the life on this side of the grave is all there is to life, they tried to get the most out of this world, and then perish. So their philosphy was “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” 

In order to support their hedonistic lifestyle then they came up with the theory of “No Resurrection”. What was the theory? Look at verses 27-33. “[27] Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. [28] "Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. [29] Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. [30] The second [31] and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. [32] Finally, the woman died too. [33] Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?" 

They came up with this story to prove that there is no resurrection. Using this hypothetical case, which is almost impossible to actually take place, they at least tried to prove the absurdity of the Biblical teaching of the resurrection of the dead. 

What was Jesus’ reply? Look at verses 34-38. “[34] Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. [35] But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, [36] and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. [37] But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' [38] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." 

In his reply Jesus taught them that the life in the age to come is different from the life in this age. He also affirmed the resurrection of the dead. He indicted that not all can receive resurrected bodies. Only those who are considered “worthy” can participate in that age. Jesus recognized the existence of angelic beings. Being members of the Jews they were familiar with the fathers of faith like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Jesus said that although Abraham for example physically died about one thousand years before Christ, spiritually all of them are still alive [in God’s kingdom]. 

Then in verses 41 and beyond Jesus made them consider the possibility that Jesus the promised Messiah can be and indeed IS the Son of the living God, not merely the son of David. 

In short to the Sadducees who lived on an animal level, Jesus introduced himself as the Son of the Living God. Why? With what hope did he do this? Only one answer is in order: Jesus wanted them to know God through the Son of God, for Jesus is God who became flesh. Why did God who is Spirit become flesh? It was to help them to no longer live as animal men, but to live as God’s children. God’s children must look like God, just as the good old saying goes, “Like father like son”. 

“But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." In this short sentence we see the word “God” repeating itself four times. Just in case however the Sadducees could not believe in the living God as a footnote Jesus introduced himself as the Son of the Living God, so by looking at Jesus who is truly living, they could believe in the God of the living, and live as children of God, who is spirit. 

What Jesus did then reminds us of Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” Of all the revelations, Jesus Christ himself is the greatest revelation. In fact, in Jesus, we have everything that needed or will ever need to be revealed, and of all that Jesus came to reveal, the most important is the revelation of who God is. Therefore if anyone comes to Jesus Christ and believes in Him, Jesus reveals God to him. Then, he can continue to grow up in the Lord until he overcomes an animal state, and live as a child of God. 

Third, it empowers man to keep all the enemies of life underfoot. 

Knowing Jesus as the Son of God however does far more than these. Look at verses 41-44. “[41] Then Jesus said to them, "How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? [42] David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand [43] until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." '[44] David calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" Here, Jesus quoted from verse 1 of Psalm 110 which is one of the Messianic Psalms. In quoting from this passage Jesus revealed not only his identity as the Son of God, but also the ultimate victory he came to win for his children, the victory over all the enemies of God. 

King David was a prophet. In his prophetic vision he saw a glorious scene in the heavenly realm, the scene in which the Lord God was talking to Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate form. In this prophetic vision, David saw God sending Jesus to die on a tree, and thereby establishing the foundation for God’s kingdom to arise in the hearts of all who believe in Jesus. Then through Jesus’ soldiers, who spread the good news of the gospel, God is going to defeat all the enemies of God, particularly the enemy of sin, death, and Satan. As of now, Jesus is risen and is seated at God’s right hand.  

In Matthew 28:18-20 then the Risen Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." This world mission command is in fulfillment of Psalm 110:2-3 reading, “The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty,         from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.”  

Again in Psalm 110:1, the expression “I [will] make your enemies a footstool for your feet” is symbolic of the ultimate victories Jesus enables his soldiers to win, the victories over all the enemies of God. In the ancient world after a war between nations when a king wins a victory over his enemy nation, he drags the enemy king out, has him kneel down before him, and then has him stretch out his neck before him. Then, the victorious king steps on the head of the enemy king. This is the kind of victory Jesus came to win for us. 

In conclusion, as Jesus closes his public ministry and goes to the cross of mission, Jesus indirectly revealed his identity as the Son of God. And we thank and praise God for through him we can overcome materialistic and humanistic ways of life, and live as victorious children of God, living to conquer the enemies’ kingdom in Jesus’ name.

One word: Whose Son is the Christ?  

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