But it wasn’t exactly a Hallmark moment. Magic didn’t play
blindfolded, or with both arms tied behind his back. He didn’t give the kid a
break at all. He played him straight up, and it went like you’d imagine. Like
an NBA superstar effortlessly smoking a seventh grader from the neighborhood.
Do you ever think what it was like when Jesus’ enemies tried
to take Him down on points of the Law? Or when they tried to embarrass Him
publicly? It was like Magic playing a toddler. Like Roger Federer serving
against a scarecrow.
Luke 20 is a chronicle of multiple attempts by Jesus’
enemies to embarrass and entrap Him, and it all takes place in the Temple only
days before the cross.
The week started with Jesus’ cleansing the Temple, driving out
the money changers and the animal vendors like He owned the place. Which He
does.
Into this sanctified place, a 20+-acre campus of courtyards, colonnades,
and sacrificial enclosures, Jesus began to teach and preach and heal. The
Jerusalem crowds surged in to hear Him.
And so did His embittered enemies, prideful men desperate to
hold onto their power, money, and religious tradition and determined to bring Him down any way they could.
They tried to set Him up with carefully crafted questions designed
to undermine His popularity and indict Him before Roman law.
By what authority do
You do these things? Just who do You
think You are? I wonder if Jesus didn’t smile tolerantly when He replied. Let me ask you boys a question: remember
John? Was his baptism from heaven or from men? His simple response threw them into chaos.They huddled together, feverishly playing out their possible
answers. Well, if we say, “From heaven,”
He’ll just say, “Why didn’t you get baptized and follow Me? Because that was
John’s whole point.” But if we say, “from man,” well, the crowd will likely
turn on us. All these losers believed in John.”
He bested them with a single question.
They attempted a different tactic. They sent in the Herodians
to trick Him into a public call for insurrection. Endorsing the popular
hatred of Roman tax overreach would have put Him in irons in about 15 minutes.
So they tried. Hey,
Jesus. Does God want us to pay tribute to Caesar? Again I imagine a flicker
of amusement in His eyes at their childish transparency. Anybody got a denarius? Whose image is this?
Well, you better pay Tiberius what’s his. But you all bear the image of God. So
give Him what’s rightfully His. Slam. Dunk.
Finally they gave the Sadducees a shot. They challenged Him
to a game of isn’t-believing-in-the-resurrection-stupid with a sophomoric
scenario about seven brothers in a levirate marriage. In the resurrection (smirk), whose wife will she be, since she was
married to all of them? Jesus handed them their hats. Here’s where you boys are wrong. You don’t know the Bible and you don’t
know God’s power (cf. Matthew 22:29).
Luke, in his understated way, gives the score: Then some of
the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." For they no
longer dared to ask him any question. Luke 20:39-40
Of course His enemies were under they illusion that they won. Within 48 hours
Jesus was hanging on a cross. But this happened, not because they wore Him
down, not because their assaults weakened Him, but because He chose it. He won in straight
sets. When you go against Jesus, the score is always 900-0.
Nobody can stand against Christ. There’s no one like Him. He’s
too smart, too wise, too powerful. He’s always 20 moves ahead. He knows the
Word better than anyone because He is the Word. You can’t beat Him and You can’t
avoid Him. In the end everyone bows the knee and confesses He is Lord. Philippians 2:10
So even here, just two days away from His humiliation and
death, they never laid a glove on Him. As Jesus Himself said of His life in John 10, I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord (vv. 17-18).
Undefeated and still Champion.
