In The Authority of Heaven

Matthew 21:23-32

Immanuel – 1/26/24

          This is now the second weeks into a thematic section of Matthew I have entitled, “A Kindling Fire.” Throughout this Gospel, we have seen clashes between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. But these clashes have not been prolonged, and Jesus has looked to avoid serious confrontations.

          That is over now. When Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, with massive crowds crying “Hosanna,” He knowingly forfeit all possibility of a low profile. Then, flipping tables in the temple, calling it a den of robbers, Jesus was intentionally starting a fire – a refiner’s fire burning away impurities and purifying that which is precious to God.

          And note, all of this takes place within the last week of Jesus’ life, Passover Week. These are the events the Church remembers during Easter Week. The Triumphal Entry was Sunday. Jesus flipped the moneychangers’ tables on Monday. It is now Tuesday, when Jesus openly, publicly, and sternly enters into prolonged confrontation with Jerusalem’s religious leaders. Wednesday Jesus will rest in Bethany. Thursday He will be betrayed and arrested. Friday He will be crucified. Sunday He will rise.

          But Matthew spills more ink on this Holy Tuesday than any other single day in his Gospel: From the cursing of the fig tree in Matthew 21:18 all the way to the plot to kill Jesus in Matthew 26:5. There is so much written about Tuesday that this single day will hold our attention for about 15 weeks.

On this especially fiery day, Jesus is tearing down the corrupted temple system, and the hypocrites that lead it. Tuesday will come to an apocalyptic climax in the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus prophesies the coming cataclysmic destruction of the temple, and the age that emerges afterwards.

          But today, in this first study of Holy Tuesday, the final collision between Jesus and the religious leaders begins.

          Read vs 23

          Let’s set the scene. It is Tuesday morning and Jesus has returned to the temple. After the events of the past two days, everyone in Jerusalem is talking about Him. The city is a mixture of excitement and curiosity and skepticism. So when Jesus enters the temple complex, crowds naturally gather to Him. And, naturally, Jesus begins to teach them.

Last week Eric showed you this helpful graphic of the temple complex. You can see that colonnades line the perimeter. They were spacious and provided shade, making for the perfect place to gather. Crowds would often gather to listen to preachers in these colonnades, their stone walls aiding in acoustics. Jesus was probably standing in one of the colonnades, teaching, when the chief priests and elders made their approach.

The Jews only had one high priest at a time. One could only become a high priest through lineage, through family. The chief priests in our passage are the high priestly family and some of their closest political allies.

Coming with them are members of the Sanhedrin – the rulers of the temple – which Matthew calls “elders of the people.” I think Matthew repeatedly refers to them as elders because throughout the Old Testament, the elders represented the whole of Israel. Thus, by calling them “elders of the people,” Matthew is communicating that the Sanhedrin’s posture towards Jesus is representative of the Jewish majority.

An Ambush

Together, the chief priests and elders of the people are the guardians of the temple; and they come in ambush, interrupting Jesus while He is teaching. They don’t care if they are interrupting, they want to make a scene. They want to discredit Jesus, even shame Him, and they want as many people to see as possible. How confident they are in themselves! But they don’t know who they are dealing with – as is evident by the two questions they ask.

By what authority are you doing these things?

Who gave you this authority?

What were “these things” that the religious leaders referred to? Clearly, the things that have just transpired: riding like the Messiah into Jerusalem, driving out the moneychangers, teaching in the temple.

In 1^st century Jewish culture, you gained no credibility as a teacher unless you were quoting an authority, some respectable rabbi or scribe. You had to operate under some recognized authority. The things Jesus was doing were so loaded with cultural and religious significance, He could not possibly do them without legitimate, respectable, authority. Any Jew would agree. And there was no way the chief priests and elders had authorized all this.

Thus, if Jesus cited some other Jewish authority, it would be an authority lesser than the chief priests. They could simply shame Jesus and tell Him to stop. If Jesus was brash enough to claim that He was operating under the authority of God, as guardians of the temple they could condemn Jesus for blasphemy and have Him killed. In their minds, either answer gives them a win.

In Jewish debate it was customary to answer a question with another question. It’s one of Jesus’ favorite ways to expose the deeper truth. And like a master tactician, Jesus flips the script and reveals the woeful lostness of the religious leaders.

Read vs 24-25a

Jesus is very willing to tell the chief priests and elders – and the entire crowd for that matter – under what authority He is operating, so long as the questioners are willing to be honest. And to test that honesty, He directs their attention to John the Baptist. Was John’s authority derived from heaven or from man?

Aren’t these the only two choices? The religious leaders quickly realize they have been bested.

Read vs 25b-27a

We have seen throughout Matthew’s Gospel that the people believed John was a prophet of God. Huge crowds went down to the Jordan River to hear John preach, and to receive his baptism. Some scholars think that John drew crowds even larger than Jesus did. John was a very popular figure.

But John was not well received among the religious leaders. Let me remind you of what John said about the religious leaders.

When [John the Baptist] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”                                                                 -Matthew 3:7

Jerusalem’s Sanhedrin was composed of Pharisees and Sadducees – the very ones that Matthew calls “the elders of the people,” the very same that now confront Jesus. Later, on this Holy Tuesday, Jesus will use the same scathing words against them that John did, calling them a brood of vipers (Matthew 23:33).

They refuse to listen to Jesus, just as they refused to listen to John. Instead of hearing John’s rebukes and his calls to repentance, the religious leaders hardened their murderous hearts against him. How dare he call them vipers, and group them in with Satan, that ancient serpent! And yet, frustratingly, they were unable to say that John was not a prophet, that his authority did not come from God, for all the people believed he was. They would discredit themselves if they claimed John was not a prophet.

Of course, they did not actually believe that John was a prophet. Otherwise they would have to listen to him, to change their ways and repent. If John was a prophet, then they would be forced to acknowledge that Jesus was indeed the Son of David, the Messiah, and their King. For John proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah.

[John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because He was before me.’ I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel.”

                                                                   -John 1:29-31

          If John’s authority came from heaven, the religious leaders should immediately fall to the ground before their King! But they did not believe. They would not bow to this outsider, this backwoods preacher. He was no Messiah they wanted! Preposterous!

          Unable to answer either way, they completely cop out: “We do not know whether John’s authority came from heaven or from man.”

Read vs 27b

Jesus has exposed the insincerity and hypocrisy of the religious leaders. They were not actually seeking the truth. They didn’t really care how Jesus answered. They didn’t want to believe Jesus just like they didn’t want to believe John. So Jesus will not answer directly.

But He has answered. It was implied in His question. Jesus came in the same authority as John: in the authority of heaven. Even the faith the size of a mustard seed could have seen it: Jesus and John came in the authority of Almighty God of Israel – Yahweh Himself.

Because of the obstinate unbelief, the willful stubbornness, Jesus launches into a series of three parables against the religious leaders. We only consider the first today.

And Jesus begins this first polemic parable by telling the religious leaders to put on their thinking caps.

Read vs 28-31a

Jesus offers a very simple parable, so easy to understand, so skillful. This parable is focused not on a person’s understanding, not on what a person says, but on what a person does – on obedience. He asks the religious leaders which type of person truly does the will of the father?

They answer correctly: The one who does the will of the father is the man who obeys the father’s command, even if he first said he wouldn’t. And then Jesus really applies the pressure.

Read vs 31b-32

In the eyes of the religious establishment, tax collectors and prostitutes are the lowest of the low. Tax collectors have betrayed the people of God, profit off of them, and work for their pagan, Roman oppressors. Prostitutes make money defiling themselves and incuring sin in the land. The guardians of the temple are disgusted by tax collectors and prostitutes, and would never grant them access to the temple – would never grant them access to God.

These deplorables, living in opposition to the will of God, these began their life by saying “no” to God. But then they heard the preaching of John. They heard and they believed. John preached repentance, and they repented.

But the religious leaders thought they said “yes” to God. They studied the Scriptures. They did all the right things in the temple. For goodness’ sake, they were the guardians of the temple.

But they refused to listen to John. They would not listen to the Father, as spoken through the voice of the prophet. As Jesus says in verse 32, even as the religious leaders saw the repentance of spectacular sinners, and how tax collectors and prostitutes turned their whole life around, still they could not recognize that God was behind it. Still, they refused to change their minds and believe.

And there they stand before the Messiah, the Son of God, whom John authenticated, and they shut their ears. They gnash their teeth at Him. The obstinance of the chief priests and elders of the people is breathtaking.

As Jesus said of their Galilean counterparts:

“You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” -Matthew 15:7-8

But all is not lost for them. We must see another truth in Jesus’ parable. If the religious leaders take but a moment to truly consider Jesus’ words, there is hope for them. They would see the desperation of their state, that they are the sons saying “no” to God, that they are no better than tax collectors and prostitutes, and in repentance turn in obedience and say, “Yes! I believe!”

Salvation is there, if only they would turn and obey the Father, as spoken through the voice of the Son of the Father. If they could see it, the religious leaders are the wayward sons the Father would joyfully welcome home!

But there is no joy in their rejection; only proof of their sad condemnation. They condemn themselves. A fire of judgment is kindled, and without repentance all Jerusalem would burn. First though, these same chief priests and elders of the people would have Jesus crucified.

On this Tuesday, Jesus would not directly answer their question about authority. But in the early hours of Friday, while on trial, Jesus would make crystal clear where His authority came from. Referring to Himself as the Son of Man, like He so often did,

The high priest said to Him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, “I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He utters blasphemy. What further witness do we need? You have now heard His blasphemy. What is your judgment?” [The chief priests and elders] answered, “He deserves death.” Then they spit in His face and struck Him.                                                                             -Matthew 26:63-67

The religious leaders condemned Jesus as a blasphemer for not only claiming to be Messiah, but equating Himself with God. Jesus was claiming an authority dimensions higher than that of the high priest, - the authority of divinity.

Finally, unambiguously, in their unbelief the chief priests and elders could condemn Jesus for blasphemy. And what they thought was a win was their most severe loss. For the man they condemned to death, through that very death, would win salvation for the whole world. It is as John proclaimed, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

Two Applications

Though this passage deals with the very specific events unfolding in Jesus’ final week, and how they result in the King of Israel dead upon a Roman cross, I want to draw out two applications for us.

The first application is that following Jesus means living in obedience to the Father’s will. Eric touched on this last week. We are not called to pay lip service to the King, we are called into obedient action! He calls us to purity, we pursue purity. He calls us to humility, so we repudiate selfish gains. He calls us to love our neighbor, to we give of ourselves to serve them. He calls us to make disciples, so we actually go to the lost and open our mouths and speak the words that bring eternal life in the gospel of grace! We do not pay lip serves to these things, we do them!

Of course, I am not talking about following rules. That’s what the chief priests and elders of the people excelled at doing. I’m talking about an obedience born out of love. When you love your earthly father, you do what he says not because you will be in trouble if you do not, but because you want to please him. Similarly, I obey my Heavenly Father because I love Him, because I want nothing more than for my life to bring a smile to His glorious face. Is there anything in all existence more rewarding that to know that the Creator of the universe is well pleased with you? I think not!

I do not want to be the person that pays lip service to God! How terrible to have said “I will,” but my life says, “I will not.”

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” -Matthew 7:21-23

          No! I do not want these words to be about me! I want my heart to be near to God’s. I want to live in obedience to Him! What do you want? And how does your life testify to that?

If you believe Jesus really had the authority that he claimed to have, that he demonstrated to have, then you would obey him. All the more when you understand that Jesus does not lord his authority over you, but exercises it in gracious love and humility.

To not live in obedience is to testify with your life that you do not believe.

          The second application to our passage today: So long as you breathe, there is hope! Just as Jesus offered grace to tax collectors and prostitutes, even to the religious leaders that wanted to kill Him, so He offers salvation to you! Do not harden your heart, today is the day of salvation.

And perhaps you are one of those that have said “yes” to Jesus for years and years, and yet very little in your life reflects that you obediently follow Him. You are comfortable in your sins. You have told no one about Jesus. You have made no disciples. Your prayer life and time in the word is non-existent. Even if you tell people you have, especially on Sundays, you have never really worked the Father’s vineyard.

          Maybe you’re afraid, or lazy, or indifferent. But do not become callous, like those temple guardians. Open your eyes to the hypocrisy of your life! Repent! The Lord will welcome you home!

          The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

                                                                                      -2 Peter 3:9

          The Father is patient, abounding in steadfast love. If you come to Him in obedient belief, He has nothing but grace for you. Tax collectors and prostitutes found life in the kingdom of God. Even some religious leaders repented and obeyed. Bring you heavy burdens and your exhausted soul to Jesus and find rest. Take His yoke upon you and find that obedience is joy, is light, is life and life abundant! He will not disappoint! With all the authority in heaven and on earth, Jesus will save your soul!

See the Father's plan unfold, bringing many sons to glory, grace unmeasured, love untold! (From the song, “Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery”)