20:1 ¶ And it came to pass,
that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and
preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him
with the elders, 2 And spake unto him,
saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that
gave thee this authority? 3 And he
answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me:
4 The baptism of John, was it from
heaven, or of men? 5 And they reasoned
with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then
believed ye him not? 6 But and if we
say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was
a prophet. 7 And they answered, that
they could not tell whence it was. 8
And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do
these things.
Jesus uses the
popularity of John the Baptist here in this encounter with the chief priests,
scribes, and elders. It is a masterful answer in its simplicity as He deals
with this interruption before continuing to teach the people. By asking the
question Jesus places them in a difficult position where either way they answer
the question works against their agenda.
The authorities saying
that they do not know the origin of John’s authority to say what he said
underscores the political nature of their ways of thinking. If a Pharisee,
scribe, or elder admitted that what John the Baptist said and did was from God
they would be ostracized from their peers. If they said it was not from God
they would face a riot. There was really no way out that their conniving minds
could find.
The condition of a
person’s heart determines whether they are willing to hear the truth. Modern
Christians, especially conservative and traditional ones, often try to employ
argument on behalf of Christ to try to win someone over. And yet, people do not
come to Christ by argument. They come to Christ by a changed heart. There are
people who practice a religion whose god is so weak he needs them to kill
non-believers for him. He has no power over reality because he is an invention
of a crazed psychopath’s imagination. There are people who believe that there
are only secular, political answers to the questions of life and they are not
just atheists in not seeing evidence for God’s existence and sovereignty but
they are anti-theists in that they display a religious zeal to keep others from
believing what they don’t believe.
Jesus did not
acknowledge any authority over Him by these religious leaders who came upon
him, violently and suddenly, demanding an answer by giving them one. Later, He
will do the same in denying Herod’s authority over Him in any respect by
remaining silent in the face of Herod’s questions.
You should understand
that when confronted by the two types of people I mentioned just a moment ago,
among others, that there are people who attempt to dominate by demanding from
you an answer that they will not hear, that they have already eliminated as a
possibility from their mind. Do not argue with them. There are those among
their ranks, very few admittedly, who will see the logic and beauty of Christ’s
Gospel because of the testimony of your life in the way you live and in your
ability and willingness to publish the Gospel, the working of the Holy Spirit
in their spiritual heart, and their previously unrealized willingness to
receive the Gospel. But, you will not win them by arguing with them. In doing
so you only give them power. It is similar to when someone teaches self-defense,
they teach a person to not let themselves become engaged in a conversation with
a stranger because just talking with a person intent on doing one harm gives
them power and an advantage.
There are several times
when Jesus denies some group’s authority over Him by asking a question and not
arguing but simply stating a fact and walking away or simply refusing to answer
at all and remaining silent as prophesied in Psalms 38 & 39 and Isaiah 53.
Two examples will suffice, I think.
First, later in Luke
with Herod in a passage showing that the enemies of Christ may hate each other
for other reasons but will put aside their enmity in their hatred of Him, and
you for trusting in Him.
Luke 23:6 When Pilate heard
of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean. 7 And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto
Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem
at that time. 8 And when Herod saw
Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many
things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. 9 Then he questioned with him in many words;
but he answered him nothing. 10 And the
chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. 11 And Herod with his men of war set him at
nought, and mocked him, and
arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.
12 And the same day Pilate and Herod
were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.
The second is coming up
regarding money. There is no argument, simply a question and a statement,
neither of which were answerable by Christ’s enemies. Just imagine for yourself
an unanswerable question you can ask when confronted. For instance, an atheist
or agnostic, which is an atheist who is hedging his bets, says there is no God.
You ask, “well, if there is no God then why is there something rather than
nothing? Things don’t create themselves.”
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