Luke 20:19-26 19And the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that same hour, but they feared the people, for they recognized that he had told this parable against them, . 20And watching closely, they sent spies, who pretended themselves to be righteous, in order that they might catch him in his word, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.
The parable of the wicked tenant farmers hit home for the scribes and chief priests. There was something in that story that convicted them. We will often identify with a certain character in a story. If the character acts like us, we may put ourselves in the story and pretend we are that person. In the case of the parable, the Jewish leaders saw themselves as the tenant farmers. Verse 1 of this chapter shows that these leaders were the target of the parable. The question at the end of the parable is how they would respond to what Jesus said. The parable was a test and opportunity for them to avoid the outcome the tenants experienced, but they failed. They were like their ancestors who rejected the prophets God sent, and now they were going to reject God’s Son.
The one thing that stopped them from acting at the moment was fear of the people. They were more afraid of people than God. Many things could have caused this fear, including not wanting to lose respect and honor from the people. These leaders were in high positions with certain privileges and had a lot of influence. Their fear could have also been caused by misguided religious piety and thinking that their interpretation was correct. The scribes were the teachers and scholars and had influence over the theology of Judaism. They placed their thinking over God’s revelation, which is a danger for scholars today.
They reacted to the situation by scheming how to catch Jesus in something he would say. That way, they could put the blame on him for any problems and not blame themselves. The spies they sent pretended to be righteous but were just insincere hypocrites. They were developing a plan that would get rid of Jesus once and for all. Instead of listening to the convictions of the Holy Spirit through Jesus’ words, they hardened their hearts and followed their own thinking. The verb deliver up has an ominous sense that prepares for the upcoming events in chapter 23. Luke shows that the Jewish leaders had rejected Jesus and were behind his death. They had many opportunities to repent and believe but refused out of their own prejudice, thinking, scheming, and rejection. God continues today to convict people and provide enough evidence to believe, but they fall into the same pattern of humanistic thinking and rebelling the scribes and Pharisees did.
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