Luke 20:1  “…on one of those days…”
One of the days He went to the temple and taught.  Just after He had the triumphal entry.  I would guess Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

1  “…chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders…”
Concerted effort.  He was really getting under their skin with this last batch of teachings.  Jesus wasn’t pulling any punches on this last effort.

5  “…reasoned among themselves…”
Didn’t have a real answer.  They weren’t interested in the truth, to His question or even to theirs.  They only wanted something with which to accuse Him.  The possibility that John or Jesus had been sent from God with a message from God never entered their thinking.  They were so blinded by their self righteousness they couldn’t see God at all.  If Jesus had simply told them He received His authority from the Father, they would not have believed Him nor would they have been able to know as they couldn’t recognize the Father.  In reality, it was a fruitless question.

16  “He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others…Certainly not!”
Was obvious to the listeners He was speaking of God and His covenant with the Jewish people.  The idea that God would destroy them and give their relationship to others was beyond belief.  Of course, Jesus never meant the entire Jewish people.  God always has His remnant.  He was referring to those who heard Him and rejected Him.  Actually, in a sense He did remove the responsibility of spreading the Gospel from the Jews and give it to Gentiles.  But that in no way negates or reduces His promises to Abraham and his descendants.  All of those will be fulfilled.  And the land of Israel belongs to Abraham and his descendants forever.

19  “…they knew He had spoken this parable against them”
They were listening and understood.

20  “…who pretended to be righteous…”
Had to pretend because they were nowhere near actually righteous.  Actually, Luke means they were acting as just normal people asking honest questions instead of spies trying to trick him.

21  “…we know that You say and teach rightly…”
Terrible actors.  If they had wanted to blend in, they shouldn’t have led off with such horrible flattery.  No one believed that maple syrup baloney.

23  “…Why do you test Me?”
Would have made their case for them.  Had He made any statement against the Romans, they could have charged Him with sedition which would have allowed them to get Him before Pilate who could kill Him.  The only thing they could finally get Him on was saying He said He was King of the Jews.  Very flimsy notion that He was setting Himself up over Caesar.  Of course, Pilate saw through that, but was too weak to do anything about it.

25  “…Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”
God sets up or allows the earthly governments.  He knows we are citizens of them and has no problem with us performing the works of good citizens as long as we don’t contradict His laws.  Any government which violates the laws of God will answer to Him.  Which is why our government is on borrowed time for all the atrocities we’ve committed.

34-36  “…sons of this age marry and are given in marriage…neither marry nor are given in marriage…nor can they die anymore”
This has been a topic of much discussion, namely around the question of whether we’ll know each other in Heaven and what will be the status of relationships between people.  The words of Jesus recorded here may give a better clue as to what He meant.  They can’t die anymore.  Part of the reason for marriage on the fallen earth is so the lifelines will continue due to the fact that fallen man dies.  Marriage as we know it now won’t be needed because no one dies.  But when Adam and Eve were perfect and without sin and death, they still had a relationship.  I don’t know what the relationships will be like then, but I think they will be similar to here.  The idea then will be total freedom and purity and understanding.  And I see no reason that we shouldn’t remember the relationships we had here.  Some question the remembrance of the lost.  I think the fact that we’ll see things as they truly are will negate any sorrow and loss.  We’ll see the lost for what they really were, those that rejected Christ.  We may remember the love for them, but won’t have a problem with the fact they’re gone because of their rejection.  They became the enemy.

37  “…even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised…”
Jesus knew this was the real issue, the fact of a resurrection which the Sadducees denied.  He used their own go-to person, Moses, to show the resurrection.  They loved to say Moses said, Moses said.  So He showed them that Moses also said there was a resurrection.

39  “…some of the scribes answered…”
Some even admitted He had spoken the truth, and they couldn’t argue against it.  Not sure if that meant they were close to understanding or that they just conceded He had made a good point.

44  “…David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son”
If the Christ will be called Lord of David, how can that be unless David has gone somewhere where he continues to exist?  Without the resurrection, David’s statements make no sense.  David calls the Messiah his Lord.  He knew there would be a day when both he and the Messiah would be together with the Messiah reigning.

45  “…in the hearing of all the people…”
He’s not pulling punches anymore.  Not concerned with repercussions.  Never was, but did try to keep a lower profile until His work was done.  He’s reached that point so He’s not concerned with who hears.

47  “…These will receive greater condemnation”
Sin is sin.  But these are in positions of power and influence.  Committing your own sin is one thing.  Leading others astray to sin is another.  An additional condemnation.

I hope you enjoy reading and studying His word.  May it accomplish what He desires.  Please feel free to comment or post questions.  Thanks for reading!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.