What does Luke 20:1 mean?

Mark 11 seems to specify that this encounter happened a few days after the triumphal entry. Luke later says, "And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him" (Luke 21:37–38). Jesus is not inside the inner areas of the temple, itself. Rather, the temple site is bordered by porticoes and hallways. There, rabbis can teach whoever is willing to listen. For Jesus, this audience includes some immensely powerful men.

The "chief priests and the scribes with the elders" may include members of the Sanhedrin: the religious authority over the Jews. "Chief priest" is not a title God ordained in the Mosaic law; it likely refers to former high priests and/or priests with notable influence and power. "Scribes" are the equivalent of lawyers; they are experts in the written Old Testament law. Scribes could also be Pharisees: members of a sect fanatical about adherence to a set of traditional laws meant to protect the people from breaking God's law. However, most of the Sanhedrin are Sadducees: a branch of Judaism which only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament and generally dismissed spiritual or supernatural ideas. "Elders" are influential laymen, most likely businessmen in Jerusalem. The Sadducees and elders have good relations with the Romans and wouldn't want Jesus to drive them out. The Pharisees are against the Romans, but they are too jealous of Jesus to support Him as a replacement.

The leaders' immediate purpose seems to be questioning Jesus' authority to drive out the money changers and merchants who had filled the Court of the Gentiles (Luke 19:45–46). The high priest's family almost certainly received kickbacks from those merchants; the elders probably owned some of those stands. All three groups have reasons to want Jesus gone.