Day 3 of Passion Week: The Lord's authority questioned and the trap set Him Matt 21:23-27; Luk 20:1-8; Matt 22:15-22

Day three of the Passion week:

 

Again on night number 2, the Lord and His disciples returned to Bethany and in the morning they return to Jerusalem. A lot of things went on during this day. This would be the busiest of the week.

 

It is very difficult to put these events in order since so much happens in this day, so we will just group them together.

 

While walking along on Solomon’s porch His authority is questioned:

 

Matt 21:23-27

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?" 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. 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." 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.

 

Luke 20:1-8

And it came about on one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him, 2 and they spoke, saying to Him, "Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?" 3 And He answered and said to them, "I shall also ask you a question, and you tell Me: 4 "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?"  5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say,' Why did you not believe him? '  6 "But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet." 7 And they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

 

For, there was no principle more firmly established by universal consent than that authoritative teaching required previous authorization. Indeed, this logically followed from the principle of Rabbinism. All teaching must be authoritative, since it was traditional - approved by authority, and handed down from teacher to disciple.

 

The ultimate appeal in cases of discussion was always to some great authority, whether an individual Teacher or a Decree by the Sanhedrin.

 

And, to decide differently from authority, was either the mark of ignorant assumption or the outcome of daring rebellion, in either case to be visited with ‘the ban’ - excommunication.

 

And this was at least one aspect of the controversy as between the chief authorities and Jesus. No one would have thought of interfering with a mere Haggadist - a popular expositor, preacher, or teller of legends. But authoritatively to teach, required other warrant.

 

In fact there was regular ordination (Semikhah) to the office of Rabbi, Elder, and Judge, for the three functions were combined in one. According to the Mishnah, the ‘disciples’ sat before the Sanhedrin in three rows, the members of the Sanhedrin being recruited successively from the front-rank of the Scholars.

 

The person to be ordained had to deliver a Discourse; hymns and poems were recited; the title ‘Rabbi’ was formally bestowed on the candidate, and authority given him to teach and to act as Judge [to bind and loose, to declare guilty or free].

 

It is at least certain that, at the time of our Lord, no one would have ventured authoritatively to teach without proper Rabbinic authorization.

 

 

 

The question asked of Jesus was cunningly framed. For, it did not merely challenge Him for teaching, but also asked for His authority in what He did, referring not only to His Work generally, but, perhaps, especially to what had happened on the previous day.

 

They were not there to oppose Him; but, when a man did as He had done in the Temple, it was their duty to verify his credentials.

 

In fact, prior to this they seemed to assume that the Lord got His authority from Beelzebul.

 

Mark 3:22

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

 

The point in our Lord’s reply seems to have been strangely overlooked by commentators.

 

Luke 20:1-8

And it came about on one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him, 2 and they spoke, saying to Him, "Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?" 3 And He answered and said to them, "I shall also ask you a question, and you tell Me: 4 "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?"  5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say,' Why did you not believe him? '  6 "But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet." 7 And they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

 

He did answer their question, though He also exposed the cunning and cowardice which prompted it. To the challenge for His authority, and the dark hint about Satanic agency, He replied by an appeal to the Baptist. He had borne full witness to the Mission of Christ from the Father, and ‘all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.’ Were they satisfied?

 

What was their view of the Baptism in preparation for the Coming of Christ? No? They would not, or could not answer! If they said the Baptist was a prophet, this implied not only the authorization of the Mission of Jesus, but the call to believe on Him. On the other hand, they were afraid publicly to disown John!

 

And so their cunning and cowardice stood out self-condemned, when they pleaded ignorance - a plea so grossly and manifestly dishonest, that Christ, having given what all must have felt to be a complete answer, could refuse further discussion with them on this point.

 

They have not desire for the truth. They only want to discredit Him. If they were at all interesting in the truth they would have already made some commitment about John, but they did not because they were only interested in maintaining power. That’s why they are always afraid of what the crowd says rather than being afraid of God in not honoring His truth.

 

Christ refuses to tell them who He got His authority from since they refuse to tell Him anything in honesty. Not to mention, Christ has already taught dozens and dozens of times that His authority comes from His Father.

 

 

Question of tribute to Caesar: Was Jesus a nationalist?

Matt 22:15-22

 

Honestly thinking themselves just men, they now came to Jesus with honeyed words, intended to disarm His suspicions, but, by an appeal to His fearlessness and singleness of moral purpose, to induce Him to commit Himself without reserve.

 

Was it lawful for them to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? Were they to pay the capitation-tax of one drachm, or to refuse it?

 

We know how later Judaism would have answered such a question. It lays down the principle, that the right of coinage implies the authority of levying taxes, and indeed constitutes such evidence of de facto government as to make it duty absolutely to submit to it.

 

So much was this felt, that the Maccabees, and, in the last Jewish war, Bar Kokhabh, the false Messiah, issued a coinage dating from the liberation of Jerusalem. By issuing their own coins they gained the authority to tax.

 

We cannot therefore doubt, that this principle about coinage, taxation, and government was generally accepted in Judæa. On the other hand, there was a strong party in the land; with which, not only politically but religiously, many of the noblest spirits would sympathise, which maintained, that to pay the tribute-money to Cæsar was virtually to own his royal authority, and so to disown that of Jehovah, Who alone was Israel’s King. These were the nationalists.

 

They would argue, that all the miseries of the land and people were due to this national unfaithfulness. Indeed, this was the fundamental principle of the Nationalist movement. History has recorded many similar movements, in which strong political feelings have been strangely blended with religious fanaticism, and which have numbered in their ranks, together with unscrupulous partisans, not a few who were sincere patriots or earnest religionists.

 

It can be suggested that the Nationalist movement may have had an important preparatory bearing on some of the earlier followers of Jesus. Certainly many of them saw Jesus as an answer to the Roman occupation if He would become their earthly king.

 

The question they ask here of Christ might have called forth sympathy from an uneducated person unfamiliar with their motivation, but Christ is very clear about their motivation.

 

Satan is a master at this and he has succeeded in blinding many Christians into a sympathetic agreement with false doctrine that to the untrained and uneducated (unwise) seem sincere and good.

 

But what was the alternative here presented to Christ? To have said No, would have been to command rebellion; to have said simply Yes, would have been to give a painful shock to keep feeling, and, in a sense, in the eyes of the people, the lie to His own claim of being Israel’s Messiah-King!

 

There is another interesting group involved in this contrived and feeble trap.

 

The Herodians were one of the Jewish parties of Jerusalem and Judea during the human lifetime of Jesus Christ, the others being the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes. Unlike the others however, the Herodians were primarily a political group, rather than religious - as their name implies. They were supporters of The Herods, and ruled from Rome.

 

The Sadduccees opposed Jesus Christ because they viewed Him as a competitor for religious leadership of the people. The collaborationist Herodians opposed the Messiah because they viewed His growing popularity as a political threat to their Roman masters.

 

The Herodians joined with the Pharisees to oppose Jesus Christ, even after witnessing His miracles. They were there when:

MAR 3:1-8He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward!" And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. 

The Romans declared Herod the Great king of Judea in 40 BC. It was the beginning of more misery for the people of God. In the Jew's mind there were three criteria for judging whether a king was of God. One was his relationship with the temple.

A true king would set the temple aright or build the true temple of God. Another was that he would deal with the enemies of Israel. Finally, a messiah/king would establish the kingdom of God in the land. Such ideas went way back to David and Solomon and were reinforced in the Maccabean revolt.

Herod the Great must have thought one out of three ain't bad. He set out to build the grandest temple of them all to give him his place in history and perhaps in the people's hearts. He began rebuilding the temple in 19 BC.

Solomon’s temple took seven years to build. Herod’s grand design was not completed until AD 63. It was a project so monumental that it took over eighty years to finish.

Many of the Jews considered both Herod and those who ran the temple as illegitimate.

 

Matt 22:15-22

Then the Pharisees went and counseled together how they might trap Him in what He said. 16 And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. [Be careful when people start to flatter you] 17 "Tell us therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?" 18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19 "Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax." And they brought Him a denarius. 20 And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"  21 They said to Him, "Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."  22 And hearing this, they marveled, and leaving Him, they went away.

 

Mark 12:13-17

And they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him, in order to trap Him in a statement. 14 And they came and said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are truthful, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15 "Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?" But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at."  16 And they brought one. And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" And they said to Him, "Caesar's." 17 And Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at Him.

 

Luke 20:20-26

And they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so as to deliver Him up to the rule and the authority of the governor. 21 And they questioned Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. 22 "Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" 23 But He detected their trickery and said to them, 24 "Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?" And they said, "Caesar's." 25 And He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  26 And they were unable to catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and marveling at His answer, they became silent.

 

Again it is the ignorance of the unwise and arrogant who think that God is of this world because they are of this world. They make God out to be a man and since He has the heart of the man then He must be divided when it comes to man’s authority.

 

This is another trap that Satan is very successful with and was certainly successful with the arrogant groups of the first century. If you are of God or of the people of God then you must not submit to the authority of any man.

 

God has given authority to certain parts of the human race so that the race would not end up in chaos. There are the laws of divine establishment and there are the laws of spirituality and both coexist but they do not blend into an earthly type of religion.

 

The Pharisees, Saducees, and Herodians thought for sure they had Him because in their earthly minds they saw a great conflict here.

Even our Lord followed the authority of the rulers who ordered His crucifixion because He understood that authority came from His Father.

 

John 19:10-11

Pilate therefore said to Him, "You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?" 11 Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin."