For much of the Gospel of Luke, the scribes and the Pharisees have been trying to cancel Jesus. For anyone who might need a quick refresher, the Pharisees were the reform movement in Judaism at that time. Their goal was to teach Israel to obey God’s word well enough that God would bless his people and make them an independent nation again with an heir of David on the throne in Jerusalem. As part of this, they created the institution of the synagogue, which is the model for church as we know it, to teach the word of God to the people of God. They were held in high esteem by most Jews for their knowledge of Scripture and their personal holiness, even though most Jews weren’t interested in matching the Pharisaic standard of personal holiness. The scribes, meanwhile, were the religious scholars of the day; modern translations often refer to them as “teachers of the Law” or “lawyers.” The reason they’re always mentioned in tandem with the Pharisees is that most of them, understandably enough, were Pharisees.
So, for maybe fifteen chapters now, the scribes and the Pharisees have been trying to trip Jesus up. You might say they’ve been playing a long-running game of “Jesus Jeopardy” . . . and they’re riding an unbroken losing streak. They are the anti-Ken Jennings. Here in Luke 20, their great rivals the Sadducees decide to try to take advantage of their ongoing failure.