Year 1, Day 229: Luke 20

Control

This chapter is predominantly about the issue of control.  How comfortable are we in letting God be in control?  Or are we much more comfortable believing that we know best and it is us who should be in control?

I have always loved Luke 20:1-8.  This is the old “where the rubber meets the road” principle.  Jesus asks the question about the authority of John’s baptism and whether it was divine (as the crowds see it) or human (as they saw it).  They were stuck between stating what they believed and being unpopular or stating what people wanted to hear and going against their own convictions.  In the end, they choose neither option and remain silent.

Ultimately this is a question of authority (and therefore control).  A wise person always submits to true authority.  If someone out there can teach you something, the wise person learns the lesson.  The chief priests here refuse to take a position, not only putting their authority in doubt but also preventing them from being confronted with the authority of Jesus Christ.  Their love of control and popularity among the people prevents them from coming face to face with the truth.  It is sad whenever people reject the truth for any reason, control being the top of the list.

Seeing God’s Hand Instead of Our Own Desire

This propels us to the parable of the wicked tenants.  I think the point of this passage is clear.  God has given the Promised Land and the Law to the Jews.  Yet they refuse to see what God is doing with respect to salvation.  They have been given the vineyard of God’s grace yet they refuse to share the fruit or even recognize that the authority belongs to Him in the first place.  God has sent prophet after prophet to them but they always want to do things their way.  Rather than waiting with open eyes to see what God is doing, they make up their mind that they are right and don’t want to be told how they are wrong.  They would rather kill the Son to prove that they are correct than give up control and becoming open to God’s “new thing.”

Are modern Christians any different?  Human history testifies that our legalism (love for control) always gets in the way of God.  What got in the way of Jesus?  Legalism.  What got in the way of the Apostle’s early preaching?  Legalism.  What got in the way of God’s vision for the Apostle Paul?  Legalism.  What got in the way of Martin Luther’s reform of the church?  Legalism.  God has given us the keys to the kingdom. God has given His Holy Spirit to us.  Do we to see ourselves merely as His tenants and bow to His will?  Or do we receive the keys to the kingdom and the Holy Spirit and suddenly believe that we are in control and can make our own decisions?  How often do we prevent the good that God is trying to do because even we do not wish to submit to the true master of this creation?

Entrapment

Of course, we also realize that our love for control leads to sin – especially the sin of entrapment.  Look at this chapter.  The Jews have already tried to trap Jesus on the question of authority and now the try to trap Jesus on the question of taxes.  They know they cannot touch Jesus on scriptural grounds, so they try to entrap Jesus in other matters. 

However, Jesus gets out of the trap by again returning the focus onto control.  When I live my life as though I am in control I get upset when “I have to pay my taxes” while “other people who don’t pay taxes get benefits!”  But when I remember that God is the one in control then I remember that He will care for my needs.  No longer is it about “my taxation” but about being a “good citizen for the sake of the Lord.”  We should never violate our conscience when it is driven by the Holy Spirit, but neither should we show disrespect to the Lord by being unjust citizens.

Sadducees

Up next is the control of the Sadducees, who not only deny the concept of the resurrection but who also only supported the use of the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy).  Their take on control is not just about marriage in an afterlife that they didn’t believe in but rather on the proper understanding on what scripture is even about.   Notice that Jesus teaches to them out of Exodus, which is a story that Jesus and the Sadducees would agree upon as being part of scripture.  Jesus uses scripture to teach that there is a resurrection and that God is the important player in the resurrection.  What is important is not that we get what we want in eternal life but rather that we get to be in God’s presence forever.  Again, the proper perspective is only gained when we understand that God is in control, not us.

Messiah

Finally, we have the issue of control in determining the nature of the Messiah.  The Jewish leaders wanted to control who the Messiah could be – and more importantly control how the Messiah would be recognized.  Yet, Jesus tells us that the Messiah is the Son of David (literally, a human being of David’s line) as well as David’s Lord (literally, God).  Jesus is teaching that the proper perspective on the Messiah is only found when people submit to God and give control to Him.  We can’t force the Messiah to come according to our standards; the Messiah comes according to God’s standards.  When we want control over what God is doing in our midst we will inevitably miss out on what God is doing.

Control Revisited

So much about spirituality is about letting go of control.  Yes, we are to make bold stands between sinful behavior (against God’s ways) and righteous behavior (with God’s ways).  But far too often we make bold demands about things which are not sinful (paying taxes, marriage, when the resurrection will happen … among a myriad of other topics).  When we draw those lines in the sand on non-sinful topics we are wrestling control out of God’s hands.  When we simply mandate that the only pure stand is between sin and righteousness we acknowledge that God is in control because we are following His ways.

I think it is time we start looking at ourselves and identifying were we are no different than the Jewish leaders.  Does God really care about whether we use wine or grape juice (or even red Kool-aid)?  Does God care whether we use sourdough bread or a French baguette?  Does God care whether I wear jeans and a t-shirt or dress pants with a black clerical shirt and the white tab?  No, we let so many things divide us and – like the Jewish leaders – we let our thirst for control distract us away from what God is doing in the world.

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