The Gospel of Matthew Study Help (Matthew 21:23-32)

(Jesus’ final week of earthly ministry)

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What was Jesus’ method of defense against the chief priest and the scribes?
2. What did the Sadducees do in Israel?
3. What did the Pharisees do in Israel?
4. What did the Herodians do in Israel?
5. What was the motive of the religious leaders for testing Jesus?
6. Where did Jesus receive His authority to teach?
7. Initially, where did the Apostle Paul receive his authority to preach and to teach?
8. Why was John the Baptist esteemed so highly in the sight of the Jews?
9. What was  the point being made in the parable Jesus used to trap the religious leaders?

Introduction

Today we take up where we left off with Jesus’ four days of testing leading up to His crucifixion on the cross. A view of these four days is given to us by all four of the gospels, and mark gives us a clear timeline of the events in Mark chapter 11 if you care to go there and read his account.

Today we see Jesus as He comes to the Temple on His arrival to Jerusalem. It is late in the day, so He only stays a little while before retreating to Bethany to spend the night with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Matthew records that on this same day, Jesus was confronted by the Chief Priest and the scribes for His first test. Children called out to Jesus recognizing Him as the Messiah; this upset the Chief Priest, and the scribes, so they challenged Jesus to hush them. Instead, Jesus quoted a Psalm indicating that the children knew the truth over the educated scribes and the Chief Priest. Rather than defending Himself, Jesus often used Scripture instead.

According to Mark, Jesus returned to the Temple on Monday the second day. On the way to the Temple, Jesus placed a curse on a fig tree because it bore no fruit. Also, on this day, Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers running them out of the Temple. Jesus quoted from Isaiah declaring the house of God had become a den of thieves. Although Sunday and Monday were two separate events, Matthew combined them into one. The third day fell on Tuesday, which many things occurred, making it a very long day for Jesus. Matthew records these events from chapter 21 up to chapter 26.

There will be several encounters between Jesus and various religious leaders from three groups: First, there were the Sadducee, which occupied the majority of seats in the Sanhedrin; they also controlled the Temple, and all the business of the Temple. They received a salary from the tithes of the Temple, and they were the Chief Priests. They opposed Jesus for His conservative stand on Scripture, which contradicted their liberal views. Jesus also stood against the corruption of the Temple, which was the Sadducees’ source of income.

Second, there were the Pharisees. They were conservative in doctrine but depended on the traditional laws handed down through the ages, which was called the Mishna, and was but not the written inspired Scripture. Even though the Pharisees were a minority in the Sanhedrin, they were the spiritual leaders of the day. They made the appointments of the rabbis in the synagogues, authorized the training, and were the judges of the law. They were referred to as the elders of Israel. They opposed Jesus because He was a threat to their rules of the Mishna; that also threatened their source of income.

Third, there were the Herodians, which were counted as the moderates occupying a place somewhere between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They leaned toward the culture and economic power of Rome. The Herodians supported the Roman rule of Herod, Rome’s appointed King, which was their namesake, “Herodians.” Their salaries came from their association with Rome making money through political alignment with Herod. They opposed Jesus because He was referred to as a king, and if He set up His Kingdon, they would lose their source of income. All three groups joined together to oppose Jesus, although they all had a different perspective. They came to Jesus with difficult questions to trick Him up but failed each time. Jesus, often using parables, used those occasions to teach His disciples.

Now with that overview, we will look at the first attack on Jesus by the chief priests, and the elders: 

Matthew 21:23, “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?”

The chief priests are the Sadducees and the elders are the Pharisees. On this day, they come to Jesus and attack Him by asking who gave Him the authority to teach in the Temple; the Pharisees considered this as something only they had the right to do. These two religious groups are generally on the different ends of the spectrum, enemies to each other. Now they join together against Jesus. Jesus was their enemy, so they united to find a way to destroy Him. Both are members of the Sanhedrin, and they come as representatives of the organization to test Jesus and to trick Him into something to accuse Him of and bring Him before the Sanhedrin for judgment.

In verse 23, they challenge Jesus concerning what authority He has to teach. According to Pharisaic rules, only those who had been adequately trained could teach concerning religious matters in the Temple. Even today, it is not unusual for churches to require a pastor to have a degree from a seminary, and some churches even expect a doctorate.

In the time of Jesus, the rabbis trained those aspiring to become a rabbi and gave them the authority to teach. Therefore, each rabbi had received their training by another qualified rabbi who had received his training by another composing an unbroken chain of rabbis. Paul received this sort of training when he was a Pharisee before he trusted Jesus as savior, Acts 22:3 (KJV): “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.” 

Just as Jesus, Paul received his authority, not from Gamaliel but a higher source, the Heavenly Father. Paul gave his pedigree to put his skeptics to rest. On the other hand, Jesus did not give the chief priest and elders an answer. Jesus wasted no time defending Himself to those who did not accept Him as the Messiah. Had Jesus given then the truth on this occasion, they would have accused Him of blasphemy, which was what they were seeking.

Instead, Jesus reveals the dishonest motives of these authorities of the Sanhedrin: 

Matthew 21:24-27, “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. 25The 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? 26But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. 27And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.”

In verses 24, 25, Jesus counters the chief priest and elders by asking them questions; this was not uncommon because these religious leaders often tested each other by posing questions. Jesus asks, “was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” This question referred to John the Baptist when He was conduction baptisms in the Jordon River. Was the authority of John from heaven, or was it done in John’s initiative? If it was by John’s initiative, it was not genuine but instead a fraud. What reference does this question have concerning John’s legitimacy have to do with that of Jesus? John was sent to introduce the coming Messiah, and Jesus was that Messiah, so there was a close relationship between them. 

The question Jesus asks puts the chief priest and the elders on the spot; they huddle together to conceive an answer. Jesus began His public ministry at the time He was baptized by John the Baptist. There is a direct connection between Jesus and John. If the Pharisees respond by saying John’s ministry was from heaven, then Jesus could say that He received His authority from John. They were fearful of answering otherwise because the Jews accepted the ministry of John, and he had baptized many of them. However, if they endorsed John’s ministry as coming from heaven, they had no cause to discredit the authority of Jesus.

Jesus knew the minds of these men and knew they would not endorse John’s ministry as being from heaven because they opposed John. The rabbis had never authorized the ministry of John, and therefore, John was not one of them. John had publicly called the Pharisees hypocrites and vipers in their presence; therefore, for the Pharisees to say, before the people, that John’s ministry was from heaven would be to admit that they themselves were hypocrites.

Otherwise, if they said that John’s ministry was not from heaven, they would be accusing him of being a fraud. John became a martyr for standing up against the Romans, and he was a hero in the people’s sight because Herod murdered him. It would not have gone well with the people if the Pharisees had called John a fraud.

The Pharisees were between a rock and a hard place to use an old cliché. They couldn’t say that the authority for John’s ministry came from heaven; neither could they say that his ministry was under his own authority. Jesus had trapped those who came to trap Him. In verse 25, they try to figure out what to do. They decide the only way to save face was to say they could not say. Jesus responds in verse 27: Since they refused to answer His question, He also refused to answer theirs. The logic was if the Pharisees allowed John to continue his ministry in his day, why are they now trying to halt the ministry of Jesus?

By what authority do we minister today. It is by the same authority given to Jesus in His day. We minister by God’s authority laid down in His Word. Today, our authority is being called into question by the unbelieving liberals who want to put God out of the public place and out of sight. God has given believers spiritual gifts to enable them for service, including His authority to use those gifts in His service. If it is the gift of teaching, we are to use it; if it is the gift of giving, we are to use it, etc. It is not the government’s place or anyone else’s to give us authority to serve our heavenly Father. Our authority comes from the Lord. That is not the case in a communist country like China, which has usurped God’s authority over the church telling it what to say and what to do. There is a danger that will happen here in America also.

Believers do not have to minister in their initiative; we operate the same as the Apostle John, “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak,” John 12:49 (KJV). The body of Christ, His church, has the authority to reach out to the world with the gospel. We are accountable to God for how we carry on the ministry and will be rewarded accordingly. God does send those who have been appointed with authority to lead the church body. Members of the body of Christ are to follow that leadership as we move out to serve others.

Jesus had silenced the chief priest and the Pharisees, and now He put them to the test:

Matthew 21:28-32, “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. 29He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. 30And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. 31Whether 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. 32For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”

Jesus uses a parable to pose a question in verses 28 through 31. A father had two sons, and he called on them to help with the work of the farm. It was expected of sons in those days to contribute to the work of the family farm. The first son outright refuses to help, an act of insubordination toward his father. Later, this son felt guilty, and he repented and went into the field to work. The second son agrees to his father’s request, but he is not sincere and does not go into the field to work. His was not an open rebellion as the first son, but it was disobedience, and unlike the first son, he had no change of heart. The question Jesus poses to the religious leaders is, which of the two sons did the fathers will? In v.32, the religious leaders gave the correct answer, and now the trap is set. The first son did the will of the father. It was not the son who showed a willingness to obey the father but did nothing; it was the one who first  rebelled but later repented for his actions and did the father’s will. Obedience to the father is the point being made in the parable. Then Jesus compares the action of the first son to the publicans and harlots. They showed open rebellion in their lives to the Lord, but in the end, they were willing to repent and respond to the message of Jesus and John in repentance. The comparison was, the son, like the religious leaders, showed superficial obedience to the father but then rebelled against him and refused to repent. Those who were leading rebellious lives were the ones who repented and came to Jesus and became a part of the kingdom, while the hypocritical religious leaders would not.

Everyone begins at the same place as sinners in rebellion towards God. “For all have sinned and came short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 (KJV). What matters is not how we start but how we wind up. We begin as sinners without any hope of redemption, but we are forgiven and become part of God’s the Heavenly Kingdom through faith in Christ. However, the religious leaders trusted in their righteousness with no hope of ever being part of the kingdom. In verse 32, as Jesus points out, they refused to acknowledge the divine authority of John as they also did His authority. Although outwardly, like the second son, they appeared to be righteous, but they did not desire to serve the Heavenly Father in their hearts.

Once again, Jesus passes the test by showing that His authority cannot be challenged by false religious leaders who He exposed for their wrong motives and attitude of self-righteousness. However, these men become more determined to kill Jesus, which they finally will accomplish very soon.

When believers stand firm on the teaching of God’s Word, it does not always make them popular. Instead, it can harm them, and often believers are put to death across the worldwide because of their stand for Christ.

It is reassuring to know that the Word we give out in the form of our testimony to others is not in vain but will not return void; some will come to Jesus in repentance and receive Him as Savior. The statistics bear out that about one out of every eleven we witness to will come to Jesus for salvation. What an encouragement this is to obey the commission given us by Jesus to go into all the world with the gospel. Our personal world is the space around us, including family, friends, co-workers, and people we meet every day. Each of us, who believes, has the opportunity to bring a soul into the kingdom of heaven by the power and authority given us by the Lord. Please don’t fail to use the power and authority given you in His service while you now have that opportunity.