Chapter 20
Jesus is teaching in the temple area, and some chief priests come up and demand to know who gave him authority to teach. Jesus says he has a question for them, as well. He asks them their opinion on John the Baptist’s baptism – was it from heaven, or from men? The chief priests have a quick huddle to discuss it; they know if they say it was from heaven, Jesus will ask why they didn’t believe John then; but if they say it was from men, the townspeople will rise up against them because they believe that John was a prophet. Finally, they tell Jesus that they don’t know. Jesus tells them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” (Matthew 21, Mark 11)
He tells a parable about a landowner who built a vineyard and rented it to some farmers while he was away. When harvest time came, he sent a servant to collect the rent, but the workers beat him and sent him away with nothing. The landowner sent another servant, but the workers beat him up too. The owner sent a third servant and the same thing happened. The owner decided to send his beloved son, thinking that surely the workers would respect his son. But when the workers caught sight of the son, they decided to kill him and take his inheritance. Jesus asks, what will the owner do now? He will come and kill those murderous tenants, and give the vineyard to others. The people in the crowd are appalled at the shameful conduct of the hypothetical servants, and declare, “May this never be!” Jesus quotes the scripture that says, “the stone the builders rejected has become a capstone.” He says that “everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” The chief priests become angry because they know the parable is aimed at them, but they can do nothing because Jesus is too popular. (Matthew 21, Mark 11)
The chief priests keep a close eye on Jesus, and send some spies into the crowd to mess with him. One spy, pretending to be an honest citizen, asks Jesus a question. First he sucks up and showers Jesus with flattery to soften him up, then he springs the trap: he asks Jesus whether it’s right to pay taxes to Caesar or not. He knows that if Jesus says it’s right to pay Caesar, he can claim that he’s disloyal to Israel; but if Jesus says it isn’t right, he’ll get in trouble with the Romans. Jesus sees through the ruse, and tells him to pull out a coin, so he does. Jesus asks whose picture and inscription are on the coin, and he responds that it’s Caesar’s. Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” The spy is startled by this answer, and falls silent. (Matthew 22, Mark 12)
Later that day, some Sadducees (who are a Jewish sect who disbelieve in resurrection), ask Jesus about the law of Moses. According to Moses, if a man dies without children, his brother must marry the wife and have children for him. Say a man dies without children and his wife survives him, and, in accordance with the law, she then marries the second brother. What if the second brother also dies without children, and the wife then marries the third brother? And what if the third brother also dies without children, and so on and so on down to the seventh brother. When everyone is resurrected at the end of the world, whose wife will she be? Since she was married to all seven. Jesus says, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection of the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die … [God] is not the God of the dead but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the teachers of the law hear Jesus’ answer and approve of how well he’s explained it. No one dares to ask Jesus any more questions. (Matthew 22, Mark 12)
Jesus then asks the crowd, How can it be that people say the Messiah is the son of David? Jesus quotes a Psalm, written by David, where David calls the Messiah his Lord. The father is superior to the son, so if David calls the Messiah “Lord”, how can he be his son? Jesus goes on to say that the teachers of the law like to wear expensive robes, have the most important seats, have everybody pay attention to them, and make lengthy self-congratulatory prayers, but they abuse the people they’re supposed to protect. “Such men will be punished most severely.” (Matthew 22, Mark 12)
Commentary
Re: “the stone the builders rejected has become a capstone.” Back in Matthew and Mark it was pretty clear that the “capstone” referred to the gentiles: they are the new servants brought in to replace the old, murderous ones (the old servants being the Jews, who keep killing God’s prophets/messengers and soon his son as well). They are the stone rejected by the Jews, who will turn out to become the cornerstone/capstone of Jesus’ new Church. All good so far. But then, it says that anyone who falls on the capstone will be broken to pieces, and anyone it falls on will be smashed. That makes it sound more like the capstone refers to Jesus himself – anyone who opposes him will be defeated. Is the capstone thing supposed to refer to both the gentiles and Jesus? Or does the gentile-reference hold throughout, and it actually means that anyone who opposes Jesus’ Church or following or whatever you want to call it will be flattened? Or am I way overthinking this again?
Re: the seven brothers. Jesus’ speech there is very interesting. According to the notes, “this age” and “that age” refer to the current age (“the present age of sin and misery”, according to the notes) and to heaven (“the future age to be inaugurated by the return of the Messiah”, from the notes). So, in the “future age”, only those “worthy” will be participating in it? Jesus makes no distinction here between heaven and hell – he refers to just a general future age over all. Does that mean hell won’t be permanent? I.e. hell would be just a temporary storage for crappy souls until the end of the world, after which it will be destroyed and only heaven will continue on, consisting only of “those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age”? Cause that’s pretty much what it sounds like. Then again, I’m no theology expert, and I’m sure I’ve got a nice migraine waiting when we get to Revelations. The thing about everybody being alive to the Lord is a nice thought.
I was confused about the whole Messiah-isn’t-David’s-son thing. Does it really matter? Who cares if he’s David’s son or not? Then I re-read my own notes over the same story in Matthew 22, and realized that apparently it’s supposed to be a set-up for proving that the Messiah is in David’s line, according to the prophecies, but is not a biological descendant of him. I.e. Jesus is elliptically revealing that he fulfills this prophecy. He’s from the house of David, via his step-father Joseph, but isn’t a biological descendant of him, owing to his birth via the Holy Spirit and Mary rather than from Joseph and Mary. Which fulfills both prophecies in one fell swoop. I’m curious as to whether the crowd got what he was saying, or whether this is only something that became clear later and we only get it now because we’ve had two thousand years to think about it.
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