23 Jesus had gone into the temple and was teaching when the chief priests and the leaders of the people came up to him. They asked, “What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered, “I have just one question to ask you. If you answer it, I will tell you where I got the right to do these things. 25 Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God in heaven or merely some human being?”
They thought it over and said to each other, “We can’t say that God gave John this right. Jesus will ask us why we didn’t believe John. 26 On the other hand, these people think that John was a prophet, and we are afraid of what they might do to us. That’s why we can’t say that it was merely some human who gave John the right to baptize.” 27 So they told Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said, “Then I won’t tell you who gave me the right to do what I do.”
Read Matthew 21:23-27 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
During one of the times Jesus visited the temple, the religious leaders demand to know what gave Jesus the right to do what He did. These leaders wanted to know who gave Jesus the authority to speak and act the way He did.
However, while this sounds petty, it is actually a trap in disguise. The two possible answers are from God, or from a human. Either way Jesus answers, He incriminates Himself. Saying His authority is from God would be seen as blasphemy, but saying His authority is from a human would both be lying and it would cause Him to lose credibility.
But Jesus can see the trap, and He has a response. Jesus asks a similar counter-question with the same two options: Was John given the right to baptize from God or from a human?
It is in the Pharisees response and Jesus’ final statement that I see a big idea.
After talking it over, the Pharisees respond by saying, “We don’t know.” (v. 27a)
The Pharisees fake ignorance because they don’t want to admit they share a different belief than the crowd. The crowd believed the answer to Jesus’ counter-question to be God, and the Pharisees were worried that if they answered contrary to the popular belief surrounding John, then they would upset the crowd.
Knowing full well that these leaders were simply avoiding the question, Jesus responds by saying: “Then I won’t tell you who gave me the right to do what I do.” (v. 27b)
While the leaders’ fake ignorance, Jesus simply says He won’t share His answer. Jesus does have an answer, but He sidesteps the question – because it is one that is better for Him not to directly answer.
Jesus could have simply responded that He got His authority from the same place as John, but that would have given an answer that would play to the biased beliefs of each group of people present. Instead of trying to be clever, Jesus simply calls out the fake answer, and says that it isn’t good enough to get a response from Him.
This also tells me that sometimes it is okay to admit that we don’t know, but it is never okay to sidestep the issue of who Jesus is to us personally.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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