Luke 20
The chapter is the sustained controversy sequence of the final week's temple teaching. The authority question — answered by the John's-baptism counter-question — is followed by the Wicked Tenants parable, in which the vineyard owner sends multiple servants (all rejected), then his beloved son (killed), and the tenants receive judgment and the vineyard is given to others. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Pharisees' spy-sent-as-sincere-questioners ask about taxes to Caesar; the image-and-inscription response — give Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's — silences them. The Sadducees' seven-brothers resurrection puzzle is answered by the argument that the resurrection-life is not a continuation of present-life arrangements (no marriage) and by the Exodus-burning-bush proof from the Torah: he is not the God of the dead but of the living. Jesus' own counter-question — how can the Messiah be David's son if David calls him Lord? — points toward the divine origin that transcends the Davidic sonship. The chapter closes with the beware-of-the-teachers-of-the-law warning: flowing robes, marketplace greetings, best seats, long prayers, devouring widows' houses — they will be punished most severely.
Luke 20:8
Jesus said, neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things — neither will I tell you: the Sanhedrin that refused to answer John's-baptism question receives no answer to the authority question. The honest question receives the honest response: the dishonest question receives no answer.
Luke 20:9
He went on to tell the people this parable: a man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time — the Wicked Tenants parable is addressed to the people (unlike the authority question which was addressed to the Sanhedrin). The vineyard imagery draws on Isaiah 5:1–7 — the vineyard of Israel entrusted to its caretakers.
Luke 20:10
At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they could give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed — sent a servant: the servants are the prophets sent to collect the covenant fruit. Beat him and sent him away empty-handed: the rejection and abuse of the prophetic messenger.
Luke 20:11
He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed — sent another servant: the second prophet, also beaten and shamed. The pattern of sending and rejection is the prophetic history of Israel.
Luke 20:12
He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out — a third, also wounded and thrown out. The pattern is established: every servant is rejected. The owner's patience is extended multiple times.
Luke 20:1
One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him — the temple teaching context: Jesus is teaching and proclaiming the good news (euangelizomenou) when the full Sanhedrin leadership (chief priests, teachers of the law, elders) approaches. The official delegation represents the complete institutional authority of Jerusalem.