“Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” Jesus in Matthew 21:27
The created are asking the Creator about his credentials. The pot is asking the Potter for his I.D. No reference is made to the miracles. No question is raised about his teaching. They want to know about his ordination. Did he come out of the right seminary? Does he have the proper credentials? Incredible. Cross-examining God. (Max Lucado, And the Angels Were Silent, p. 89)
“You can’t handle the truth!” (Colonel Nathan R. Jessep in a “Few Good Men”)
It is Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus has returned to the temple. He is “moving about the temple” (Mark 11:27) and “preaching the gospel” (Luke 20:1). The people are “hanging upon His words” (Luke 19:48). For a brief shining moment, all is well. After the cleansing (see Matthew 21:12-13), the temple is now functioning as it should – the place where God says, “they shall be My people and I will be their God,” (Jeremiah 32:38).
Then the darkness returns.
The chief priests and elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching (v. 23). Their intent was to “destroy Him” (Luke 19:47). Perhaps some of the elders of the people were part of a hit squad. The moment they found Jesus alone they would kill Him. Perhaps the chief priests were listening to every word, trying to find a flaw in His teaching upon which they could pounce. But Jesus was constantly teaching and the crowds were amazed for He taught “as one having authority, and not as their scribes,” (Matthew 7:29).
Since their efforts to destroy Jesus were unsuccessful (see Luke 19:48), they had to settle for trying to trap Him with a question: “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” (v.23)
Jesus, as a master teacher, answers their question with a question of His own; He conditions His response on whether or not they can indentify John’s authority: “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” (v. 25). Jesus was referencing the teaching of John, which involved baptism. Matthew 3:5-6 says “Jerusalem was going out to [John], and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.” And John was no friend of the religious leaders of Israel, calling them “a brood of vipers” (Matthew 3:7).
The chief priests were now between a rock and a hard place. For if they answered Jesus’ question with, “from heaven,” Jesus will say to them, “they why did you not believe him?” (v.25) For John himself said of Jesus, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29). If they said, ‘from men,’ then the people would stone them (Luke 20:6) “for they all hold John to be a prophet,” (v.26).
Jesus has turned the tables in the temple once again; those that wanted to kill Jesus now feared being killed themselves. Realizing their dilemma, they answered Jesus with stunning intellectual acumen, “We do not know.” To which Jesus says, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things” (v.27).
Jesus certainly won this spar but it seems like He missed a perfect opportunity to preach the gospel to these religious leaders of Israel. But Jesus is dealing with the withered fig tree. The religious leaders of Israel had no fruit; they had no faith. Except in themselves. Now “the axe has been laid” and “the winnowing fork is in His hand” (Matthew 3:10,12). Our God is an awesome God. Friday looms large. But Sunday is coming…
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