By Pastor Dave Farmer
The religious establishment confronts Him publicly in order to humiliate Him before the people. The Scripture tells us that "the chief priests and the elders came to Him" and they are members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling and governing body of Israel. It is their responsibility to oversee all matters that relate to the nation, the temple, and the people and especially to protect the people from false teachers.
Review - Monday, 11 Nisan, 30 A.D.
Monday was a very busy day. On the way to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus cursed the fig tree, a picture of Israel who had plenty of leaves, but no fruit. They had evidence of life, but they were spiritually dead. When He arrived in the temple, He drove out the moneychangers. After the cleansing of the temple, the sick were brought to Him, and He healed them. Some Gentiles requested an audience. They said, "we want to see Jesus." As they gather before Him, He spoke of their need for salvation." He concluded this day by condemning Israel for rejecting Him as Savior.
Tuesday, 12 Nisan 30 A.D.
In our next studies, our Lord Jesus Christ is under siege. The religious establishment confronts Him publically in order to humiliate Him before the people. The Scripture tells us that "the chief priests and the elders came to Him" and they are members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling and governing body of Israel.1 It is their responsibility to oversee all matters that relate to the nation, the temple, and the people and especially to protect the people from false teachers.
However, this day is different. They have already determined that the Lord Jesus Christ is not the true Messiah and therefore He must be stopped. The problem is Jesus' popularity. The crowds flock to Him wherever He goes into the city and whenever He is in the temple so that they are stymied. They can't arrest Him publically for they fear the people.
Nevertheless, they are committed to vilifying Jesus. It seems that on this day they have conspired together to debate Him. They desire to embarrass Him before the people and show that He is a charlatan. They have already explained away the miracles that Jesus performed by declaring Him demon possessed and so getting His power from Satan. They have said that Jesus was in league with the Devil [see Matthew 12:24,25].
They are in for a rude awakening for our Lord is brilliant and will expose their evil schemes thus robbing them of their victory. They are confronted with the God-Man 2, the Lord Jesus Christ and they are no match for His genius. I realize that when I say this someone will say, "Well, of course, He is smart, He is God!" Yes, but never forget that He is a man and that He had to study and learn just like you and I [Luke 2:52].
As a twelve-year-old, He amazed the Rabbis’ with the depth of His understanding of spiritual things [Luke 2:46-47]. This required diligence and daily effort. He had to do it; no one would do it for Him. Bible study is not easy, but I can’t imagine what it would be like without all the tools we have today. He had to do it, even though as God He knew all that could be known about everything. Sometimes we forget this. Jesus voluntarily set aside the independent use of His divine nature to fulfill the plan of the Father. He became a man to be our Savior, and in fulfillment of that purpose, He experienced the limitation of human nature. This meant He had to master the Hebrew language, which is no small feat. He would need to be tutored. He would have to go to the synagogue to study the sacred writings. He didn’t have a Bible in a nice compact book as we do; for instance, the scroll of Matthew is about 23 feet long.
The text of Study: Matthew 21:23-27
Disrupting the Lord
23) And when He had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?"
Matthew says that "as He was teaching" they came up to Him meaning that they interrupted Him. The present tense indicates continuous action. The religious leaders kept saying, "By what authority do you teach, who gave you permission to teach?" They kept on doing this. They were rude and disruptive and would not stop until Jesus answered them. Why did they hate Jesus? Isaiah's prophesy indicates that "The Messiah would be despised and forsaken of men.” [Isaiah 53:3] Here are some reasons:
They did not ordain Him. They were the religious authority in the land. No one could preach without their permission. So they were upset that Jesus never came to them for a license. Their prestigious seminaries never issued Jesus His degree. He was not from the school of Hillel or Shammai.
Secondly, they were upset because of His popularity. They were jealous of the great crowds that He drew.
They hated Him because He lived a perfect life. They tried everything to find something wrong with Him, some flaw in His character, some philosophy or idea that was ungodly. They placed Him under microscopic scrutiny and found nothing. They ended up breaking their own law to charge Him in their court of law for the Scripture says "Thou shall not bear false witness." [Exodus 20:16]
He healed the sick, raised the dead, helped the needy, and cured those who had incurable diseases. He was compassionate and merciful, loving and kind. He brought comfort and hope to all, and they hated Him for it. Religion cannot meet the needs of people. [Matthew 23:1-5 cp Matthew 11:28-30]
They hated Him because He broke all their human viewpoint taboos and religious traditions. [Matthew 15:1-6].
He gave eternal salvation to all who would receive Him - WITHOUT MERIT. He saved tax collectors, prostitutes, military people, and Gentiles. Religion is legalistic and can't stand anything without works. They hated Grace, and therefore they hated Jesus [Matthew 9:10-13].
They hated Jesus because Satan motivated them. Religion hates the truth. Jesus told the truth, and they hated Him for it. [Matthew 23 2 15; John 8:39-44] Jesus said: "I am the way the truth and the Life" [John 14:6] and they hated Him for it. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" [John chapter 8], and they hated Him for that. He said, "I am the good shepherd that lays down His life for the sheep" [John 10], and they hated Him for telling the truth.
Defense of the Lord
24) And Jesus answered and said to them, I will ask you one thing too, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.
Our Lord answers their question with a question. Once again His human genius is at work. They thought to put Him on the defensive, but He turns the table on them. This is debater’s techniques par excellent. Here is the question:
25) "The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?" And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?'
26) "But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude; for they all hold John to be a prophet."
They asked Jesus “Where did you get the authority to teach?” Jesus said, "I will tell you if first, you tell me where John the Baptizer got his authority to preach. Did he derive his permission from God or man?" Any answer they give puts them in jeopardy. They hated John too. He was not nice to them. He called them hypocrites, snakes in the grass, stupid and they despised him.
Besides this, where did John preach? In desert places, and not in the beautifully adorned temple of Jerusalem. The people went out to see John and attendance at worship fell, and their lavish and extravagant lifestyle was affected. No people, no money! So, they hated him. They could not bring John or Jesus under their control. Religion attempts to control people’s minds, to pressure them to conform to their mold. They hate anyone they can’t bully. You can't intimidate a person who knows the Word of God.
The first choice
If they said John's authority came from heaven, then they were admitting that John was a prophet. If John came from God, then his message is true and should be embraced. John said his mission was to be the herald who pointed out the Messiah. The leaders of Israel came to John and asked him “Are you the Messiah.” He said, "No! He is over there." John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." They looked at Jesus and said he’s no king. If John received his authority from God, then Jesus could counter, "Why did you reject the message of God that John brought you?"
A second choice
They could say John was not a prophet and had no authority. That is what they thought! They treated John as a leper. Like Jesus he did not graduate from their seminary nor was he commissioned by them to preach, but John was loved and admired by the people, and they were afraid to criticize him openly.
27) And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." He also said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
They rudely interrupted the Lord, and their purpose was “to shut him up,” but Jesus has effectively silenced them. When they said, "we do not know." Their mouths were shut. Now, Jesus takes the initiative. He presents in parabolic form three stories: (1) The Parable of the Two Sons [Matthew 21:28- 32]. (2) The Parable of the Landowner [Matthew 21:33-46]. (3) The Parable of the Wedding Feast [Matthew 22: 1-14].
ENDNOTES
1 The Sanhedrin is said to have consisted of seventy-one members, the high priest being president. They were of three classes: (1) the chief priests, or heads of the twenty-four priestly courses (1 Chr. 24), (2) the scribes, and (3) the elders. As the highest court of judicature, “in all causes and over all persons, ecclesiastical and civil, supreme,” its decrees were binding, not only on the Jews in Palestine but all Jews wherever scattered abroad. [Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.]
2 God-man - This expression is used to summarize the unique nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is both God and man. He is the unique member of the Godhead in that He is a man. He is at the same time the unique member of the human race in that He is God.