Wednesday Bible Study: What Jesus asked, part 22

 

This one is about how you read, as well as what you read.  At the core is this passage:

Mat 21:23  And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"
Mat 21:24  Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Mat 21:25  The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?" And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
Mat 21:26  But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet."
Mat 21:27  So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

So here Jesus establishes a precedent that applies to truly unlocking any Biblical wisdom- is it from man, or from God?  To say the Bible is merely a book written by men cuts you off from it; to say, it is from God, opens the door for you.  But if you say, "You tell me," Jesus answers, "I will not." Because, YOU need to read it and make that determination, from right motives.

Having established our ground rules, let's look on either side of this passage at the four questions we just skipped...

Mat 21:15  But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant,
Mat 21:16  and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?" 

Mat 21:28  "What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'
Mat 21:29  And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went.
Mat 21:30  And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go.
Mat 21:31  Which of the two did the will of his father?" 

 

 Mat 21:33  "Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.
Mat 21:34  When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
Mat 21:35  And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
Mat 21:36  Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
Mat 21:37  Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
Mat 21:38  But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.'
Mat 21:39  And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Mat 21:40  When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 

 

Mat 21:42  Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
 
So now let's look at these.

When Jesus asked in v28, which one did the will of his father? He connected this to their lack of faith in John's message. They failed to change their minds, because in their minds, they were always right, and it was Jesus who needed to provide proof.  Thus they judged themselves guilty.

When Jesus asked in v40, what will the master do to the tenants, they replied,  "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." (v41).  In this, they chose not only their own punishment, but why the faith was about to be handed over to the Gentiles.  And by telling the two parables, He showed them that they themselves knew why what was about to happen would happen; they had no need to know where Jesus's authority came from to see it.  I think this applies well to the current arguments you see going on over Roe being overturned.  By claiming 'abortion is a human right', you are yourself saying that denying a human right is wrong; yet for no better reason than 'controlling your own body', you deny human rights to the smallest of humans. Your evil names your own judgment.

But now, have you noticed our set here is bookended by two "Have you not read"s? The first is involving the people recognizing Jesus as Messiah, and the elders resisting and condemning it.  After all, THEY are the mature in the Law, THEY will decide who is and isn't Messiah.  And Jesus replies with Psalm 8:

Psa 8:1  To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
Psa 8:2  Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

Not only is Jesus telling them that God will bring about praise from the 'infants' of faith rather than them, but that their voices will be stilled before God by these infants!  The second one involves one famous verse from Psalm 118, but just look at what is around it:

Psa 118:19  Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.
Psa 118:20  This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.
Psa 118:21  I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
Psa 118:22  The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
Psa 118:23  This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
Psa 118:24  This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psa 118:25  Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!

So here's the part that you may not know- the word Hosanna, being used by the people which set off the pharisees' indignation? Hosanna MEANS "save us!"  Jesus has totally turned their objections on their heads.  And everything He's done- all the things they questioned His authority to do- has been right there, well known, before them.  And they chose out of self-righteousness, out of adherence to their agenda, out of all their 'we know better than you'- to reject it.  And in so doing, chose their own fate.

And here's the sad part that grieves me now- you see that in all these pro-choice arguments.  "My body" is the first thing you hear. "Freedom from religion" is the next. "Just delete yourself if you don't agree" is the third.  Satan may work through different people, but he works the same way.