Recapitulation
Last time we saw how Jesus had challenged the Pharisees for
their lack of fruit while His followers were encouraged to depend totally on
Jesus who could help them accomplish the impossible. Previously, Jesus had pointed out that it is
very difficult for a person who is used to thinking that money can buy anything
to start depending on someone else—especially when wealth was popularly
considered a sign of God’s blessing. But
Jesus said at that time, “With God all things are possible.”
Now, this is why it is important for them to ask their
heavenly Father for the things they need—even to “moving a mountain.” This is a Semitic figure of speech that is
used frequently in Scripture to stand for anything that seems impossible by
ordinary means. Paul, for instance, says “If I had faith to move mountains and
don’t have love I am nothing.” He also
talks figuratively of self-sacrifice to the point of self-immolation – not that
he is recommending it! —but pointing out that love is more important than doing
miracles or making the ultimate sacrifice.
In Matthew, the point is similar.
God can indeed do miracles through us—by prayer and trusting (having
faith in) God—in order to do His will.
Authority to Teach “Change”
Here in Matthew 21:23-27, Jesus is now challenged by the
religious leaders—specifically, the chief priests and the elders. These are the people who ought to know the
Word of God and how to rightly apply it and teach it.
Their challenge is very public—perhaps deliberately so—in
order to force Jesus to take sides on a very divisive issue in a public
forum. The presenting issue is authority
but the unstated issue is still “change your ways.” Jesus has been subtle in His previous answers
to such questions. Those who clung to
their own authority were eager to see that it was not being challenged by this
prophet from Nazareth whom the people were calling the Son of David—the royal
heir—the crown prince as it were. And
changing their ways to God’s ways sounded like a losing proposition. So, if He persisted, they would suppress Him
and His followers. By now this latter
action was the consensus among the religious leaders. Jesus had way too much sway among the people
and He had already accused them of being unworthy of their positions. He was too dangerous to be left alone. Now that He had come to Jerusalem, their
chance had come.
So, as He taught and healed in the temple precincts, they
challenged Him: “By what authority do you do these things?” The “things” they referred to were His
clearing out the merchants and healing and teaching in “their” territory. But really, it was the content of His
teaching that antagonized them: “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is within
reach.”
Got Authority?
No matter how He answered, one of the listening authority factions
would find fault—for it was not by the authority of either Rome or the
religious leaders. But He answered,
“OK. First you tell me by what authority
John the Baptist preached and baptized.”
This was a similar trap for the leaders. But they could not point it out because the
people listening all held John to be a prophet which the leaders well
knew. But they couldn’t admit it. One
answer and they would be mobbed. The
other, they would be shown to be hypocrites.
So, they came up with the agnostic defense. “We don’t know.” So, Jesus said “OK then I won’t answer you
either.” By the way, why is it that
agnostics seem to come to the end of the road intellectually eventually? Because they have denied an obvious truth.
Mathew’s point isn’t that Jesus was really smart—although
that is self-evident. But he wants us to see that the leaders themselves had no
authority—and knew it—as well as the fact that John (and by extension Jesus
Himself) had real authority from heaven. Thus, their message had real weight.
The Tale of Two Sons and the Authority of Their Father
Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter and uses a parable
of two sons who ought to be subject to their father’s authority to illustrate how
crucial it is to follow the one who has the authority of heaven. In verses 28 to 32, Jesus tells this parable
to the temple audience regarding their short window of opportunity to do God’s
will. The father has two sons that he
successively asks to work in His vineyard.
The first refuses but changes his mind and goes ahead and works. The second agrees but never goes. Jesus asks the audience, “Who does the will
of his Father?” The answer is agreed
upon by His temple audience as the first son—even though he initially refuses.
Then Jesus makes a categorical statement that infuriates the
leaders. He said, “Tax collectors and
prostitutes will get into the kingdom of heaven before you!” Why? “Because
they believed the preaching of righteousness by John the Baptist” while the
religious leaders who had been representing themselves as examples of
righteousness had refused to believe. “And when you saw it,” He said,” you did
not afterward change your mind (literally-repent-as the first son did) and
believe.” They saw the changed lives of converted sinners responding to John’s
message and still refused to believe.
Repent Regarding Jesus’ Authority to Promise the
Kingdom
As I have pointed out over and over to the question of the
necessity of repentance, we all have many things to repent of, but regarding
the beginning of our spiritual journey, we must believe in Jesus first of all
and repent of anything that prevents us from believing. Then as the Spirit convicts us and we grow in
the knowledge of God’s will, we will need to continue to repent as we discover
things that are incompatible with the Christian life and God’s will. That is what we see here as well.
Some people when confronted by the claims of Christ’s
ultimate authority attempt to give the agnostic defense—like these religious
leaders. “We can’t possibly know,” they
say. But it betrays the conviction of
the Spirit of God for which there is only a limited window of opportunity. God’s conviction is a good thing. It means he is dealing with us. He is not finished with us. Beware the day when you feel nothing. You
can’t wait until later. You don’t know
how much time you have.
The message to those who say they are believers is also very
pointed. Are you doing the will of your
Father? If not, you need to repent. For those who know they are not believers,
the message is clear. You need to
believe that Jesus does have the authority of heaven to forgive sins based on
His death on the cross in your place and that he lives and continues to care
about you. If there is anything preventing you from believing, you need to
repent—change your mind—about that first.
© 2018 Eric Thimell
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