(Matthew 4:19) And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men
And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? (Matthew 21:24) And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. (Matthew 21:25) The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? (Matthew 21:26) But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. (Matthew 21:27) And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. (Matthew 21:29) He answered# and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. (Matthew 21:30) And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. (Matthew 21:31) Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
Introduction
By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? (Matthew 21:24)
It is clear from the way the priests and elders reasoned among them selves after Jesus asked them that question that their minds had a prior commitment to preserving their own power base, and it was from this motive came the question of Christ’s authority. Out of this fear of losing status, position and influence, they suppressed the truth that the baptism of John was either from God or from man. With (what should have been apparent to them) amazing perception, Christ turned their own question back to them and invited them to see their inconsistency. Either they would remain loyal to their own ambitions to keep a firm grip on the reins of religious power and privilege or they would abandon themselves and be loyal to the truth. Such is the temptation of all who wield authority.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power"
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
Absolute power corrupts absolutely Lord Acton
Choosing to remain loyal to their own ends but still fearing the people they did what many politically minded do. Keeping politically correct, they fudged it by saying they did not know! Jesus, seeing through this ruse nevertheless pointed out their unwillingness (as opposed to their contrived ignorance) by saying Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
This study is not primarily about authority, but about the way Christ handled questions and His reasons for handling them the way He did.
· If Christ had chosen not to answer by way of asking another question what would be the direct answer to their question? –[Because “All power” (authority) “is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18), or because he was “Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?” (Mark 5:7)]
· And what line of questions might this have led to? [Why was all authority given? And who gave it? And why did He give it?]
· And so what result could be envisaged as a consequence to a direct answer to their question? [Somewhere at this point Jesus would have had to reveal his heavenly origin and identity prematurely]
· Why did He not consider it wise or expedient to reveal his true nature to them at this time?[ I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (John 16:12,13)]
· What other consideration might need to be taken into account? [Jesus was inexorably approaching an appointment with his destiny, the cross. It was imperative that in order to fulfil prophecy he was crucified in the days of the Passover, not before, therefore. …Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. (John 2:24,25)]
· If a man were to go around immediately declaring openly and emphatically that he was God, what response would he get? [Very few, if any would give his claim any credibility without other evidence, he would be relegated to being a madman which would nullify his mission to reveal the only true God] As C.S. Lewis so aptly pointed out- he had to be either a liar, lunatic, or Lord there are no other possible explanations, and the most reasonable possibility when taking into account the sort of motives and methods Jesus employed is that he is indeed Lord.
· What does this teach us in regard to handling some questions? [ Some questions are best answered at a point in time when the right grounding has been covered in order for someone to accept the position readily and not before, this requires wisdom.]
· What other questions are raised in these sorts of conversations that might warrant a similar response? [Questions of God’s justice, hell, questions about miracles-the resurrection, walking on water, election and predestination, the trinity. Eg. If a person is first thoroughly convinced of the existence of God then many of the difficulties over these other questions pale into insignificance, but until the first question (the existence of God ) is well settled the other questions will remain an insurmountable obstacle to faith]
No comments:
Post a Comment