Perplexing the Pundits (Luke 20:20-40)

Reformed & Expository Preaching

Christ’s Mission and Unwavering Obedience

Christ enters his ministry fully aware of his mission and his fate: he must live a perfect life, die at the proper time as the true Passover Lamb, and be raised by the Father and the Spirit. His path is one of precise obedience, never deviating from the prophets or his Father’s will. As opposition grows, the religious leaders seek to trap him with questions that could compromise his credibility or hasten his death, but Christ remains faithful, calm, and clear-headed in every test.

The Coin Test: Loyalty to God Above All

The first test concerns paying taxes to Caesar. The chief priests and the scribes sent spies to trap Christ. They approach Christ with flattering words, hoping he will either endorse rebellion against Rome or show disloyalty to God, ultimately losing credibility with the crowds. By asking for a coin from the spies and pointing to Caesar’s image, Christ exposes their hypocrisy. They act like they are wrestling with a moral dilemma, but clearly, they already live within Rome’s system. His response, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s,” affirms both lawful duty and ultimate loyalty to God, leaving his opponents silenced and the crowd marveling at his wisdom.

The Marriage Test: The God of the Living

The second test comes from the Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, and they seek to challenge Christ. They lay out a hypothetical scenario of the Levirate (Latin husband’s brother) marriage in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. The purpose was so that a man’s name would not be blotted out from Israel (Dt. 25:6). They challenge Christ with a hypothetical about a woman with seven husbands. They aim to prove the resurrection absurd because they want to know whose wife she will be in the resurrection. They are viewing life as nothing more than an earthly continuation. Christ corrects their misunderstanding by teaching that in the resurrection, people are like the angels who no longer marry, but are living in glorified bodies in God’s presence. He then uses Moses, their own authority, to prove resurrection is real: God is not the God of the dead but of the living, for he declared himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when God appeared to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3. God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.

Christ’s Victory and Our Hope in Resurrection

Through these encounters, Christ shows that he will not be trapped or turned from his mission. He is the Lamb of God, steadfast until the appointed hour of sacrifice, and every test only confirms his identity and authority. For believers, the coin points to our true citizenship in God’s kingdom, while the marriage question points to our final hope that we will arrive at the banquet of the Lamb of God in glory. Christ’s victory assures us that we are a resurrection people both now and in the future. We are called to live with hope, peace, and confidence that our redemption is secure in him because he has been raised and we walk in His Spirit united to our redeemer.