24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’26 But if we say, ‘From men’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
It is still Tuesday of the last week of Jesus' life, and Jesus is challenged by the chief priests and the elders of the people. They want to know by what authority he has been doing these things. What things are they talking about? Let's review what has happened this last week.
Friday evening--Jesus is anointed by Mary in Bethany.
Sunday--Jesus enters Jerusalem on the back of donkey while the people sing "Hosanna"
Monday--Jesus cleanses the temple, symbolizing that he is denouncing it as unfit
Tuesday--The Chief Priests and Elders ask, "By what authority are you doing THESE THINGS?
These things are specifically the triumphal entry and the cleansing of the temple. These actions were reserved for a king, and yet a carpenter from Nazareth was doing them? The last guy that made a threat against the temple was killed, and that is what happens to Jesus.
Here in this passage, we begin the day of Questioning. The Jewish leaders approach Jesus with the question, "By what authority", and Jesus says he won't answer, but he actually does.
To us westerners, answering a question with another question is equated to trying to side step or avoid the issue. But this is not true in Rabbinic Judaism. Rabbis always resorted in debates to answering questions with another question, which would result in them leading the discussion to the answer. They were not straightforward, but they would ask a question in which the answer was the answer to both the first question asked and the response question asked.
It looks like this: Rabbi 1 asks Rabbi 2 question A. Rabbi 2 responds to Rabbi 1 with question B. The answer to question B is also the answer to question A.
This is exactly what happens here.
The Jewish leaders are trying to trap Jesus by questioning his authority. Jesus sees through their false motives and asks where John's baptism came from, from heaven or from men? This put the Jewish leaders in between a rock and a hard place.
Jesus was John's successor, so wherever John's baptism, or authority, came from, so does Jesus. The Jewish leaders want to prove that Jesus' authority is not from heaven but is from men, his own made up authority. Because of this, they would have to answer this question by saying John's authority also was from men. The problem is that the crowd that is surrounding them believes that John's authority came from heaven. This crowd is also still very upset with the Jewish leaders for getting John arrested and killed by Herod. So if these Jewish leaders say that his baptism, his authority, is from men, they will have a riot on their hands. If they say his authority was from heaven, this means that they, the Jewish leaders, rejected a man whose authority was from God, thus they rejected God. Also, they would be saying that Jesus' authority was also from heaven.
They are in a catch 22 and Jesus knows it. They respond by saying, "We don't know." The truth of the matter is that they do have an answer but they aren't going to tell Jesus it because the situation is too tense. They think Jesus and John's authority came from men, but they know that they can't say that or they will have a riot on their hands. This is also Jesus' response. He says, "then Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things." Because the Jewish leaders didn't tell Jesus their answer, he isn'g going to tell them his answer.
The funny thing is, he ends up telling them his answer throughout the rest of the day. Right after this, Jesus tells three parables, illustrating his authority and the Jewish leaders needing to repent, rejecting Jesus and rebelling against him. After this, they again try to come after Jesus with three more questions, to trap him, but he answers them all perfectly. Finally, the last thing that occurs is that Jesus asks them one last question, which comes full circle by answering where his authority comes from.
This is the day of questioning in summary:
- Question 1-by what authority
- Parable of Sons: You need to Repent
- Parable of Tenants: Because you have Rejected Me
- Parable of Wedding Banquet: Because you have Rebelled Against God
- Question 2-Taxes
- Question 3-Resurrection
- Question 4-the Greatest Commandment
- Question 5-Jesus asks this question that answers where his authority comes from.
This is the last section of Jesus' journey to the cross before he preaches his last sermon, Matthew 23-25.
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