From God or From Man

Introduction

As we continue on through the week of Jesus’s death we now enter into the temple for the third time. The first time Jesus just looked around and not much of anything happens, the second time is a bit more heated as Jesus chases out all of the money changers and people selling things as that was disgracing the temple. This time we see a conflict with the priest and scribes. This conflict revolves around a question that they pose to Jesus. Jesus doesn’t directly answer the question but he does answer it through a few other methods.

This showdown has some bold effects as Jesus through his methods of answering their question is declaring who he is. He is telling them that his power comes from God because he is God, that he is the son of God that they should listen to but rather they will kill, and that he is the cornerstone that they have rejected.

Through this bold showdown here in the temple Jesus reveals so much about himself in the context of what is about to happen to him. As we read this keep that in mind. Let’s go ahead and read this passage now.

Mark 11:27–12:12 ESV

And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.

This passage starts out with a question being posed about where Jesus gets his power and he responds with a question as was common among scribes in this day. They are afraid to answer the question that he ask so they just say that they do not know, because they do not answer Jesus refuses to answer as well. He does offer a parable though and we will look at all the parts of this parable in a moment but in short this parable lets them know that they should listen to Jesus but rather they choose to kill him. The section finishes with Jesus quoting a scripture in a prophetic way saying that he is the cornerstone that they have rejected. All of this goes back to the question that they ask Jesus and that he offers back, they want to know where his power comes from and he ask them if John is from God or from man. If John is from God then Jesus is from God and that is where his power comes from but if John is not a prophet then there is no real power and it is all from man. This is what Jesus stakes his authority on.

Tonight I want to focus on the three answers that Jesus offers in this scene and see how they each give us a deeper understanding than a straight forward answer ever could. These three answers are through a refusal, through a parable, and through a quotation.

Let’s pray then we can start by looking at Jesus’s answer through a refusal.

pray

An answer through a refusal

Mark 11:29 ESV

Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Mark 11:33 ESV

So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Has anyone ever asked a teacher a question to which they responded back with a question? That is basically what is happening here. Through Jesus’s refusal to answer there is still an answer.

A story that this calls to mind is from a pastor that from a very young age taught his kids about the faith by asking them questions to which they would respond with an answer that in they beginning he told them what it was until they knew it at heart. Whenever he asked one of the questions they could give the answer. Over time as they get older one of his kids comes to him and begins to ask his dad questions about getting saved, to each of the boys questions his dad promptly responds with a question that the boy knew the answer to and it answered the boys question too. It did not take to many back and fourths for the boy to see his problem of sin and his need for a savior and to put his faith in Jesus. All his questions were answered by a refusal to answer.

In this passage Jesus’s refusal to answer in essence is an answer. The question is whether he is from Man or from God. Whichever of these is correct is the answer. This truly gets to your beliefs about God. Who do you believe that Jesus is? do you think that he is just another man or do you believe that he is God.

What I believe is testified by the Bible and that is that Jesus is God. We need more people that are willing to stand for that belief instead of shrinking away from it. The scribes and priest shrunk back from it because they were afraid of the people. Don’t be like them.

An answer through a parable

Mark 12:1–9 ESV

And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.

The second answer from Jesus comes by way of this parable. This parable when rightly understood helps us to see exactly what is going on but before we look very deeply into it and it’s parts we should look at the background of this parable from Isaiah 5.

Isaiah 5:1–7 ESV

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

This is a story that the people listening would have been familiar with and it gives us a base understanding by which we can interpret this parable. In this parable the owner of the vineyard if God and the vineyard itself is Israel. God has commissioned the priest to be over the spiritual care of Israel, they are the tenants. As we see in the story the tenants are not not taking care of the vineyard like they should just as the priest are not taking care of Israel as they should. God has sent servants to Israel, they are the prophets, and they prophets have been killed and beaten. Take for example John the Baptist. This brings us to the point that they are at now, God sent his son Jesus. Of all people the priest should respect and listen to Jesus but as we know and as the parable teaches they will kill him.

This parable teaches that Jesus is from God and that the priest are not doing what they are supposed to do. It serves as more than just an answer to their question but also a condemnation of what they are doing. I pray that we are never as spiritually blind as them but so often we are.

An answer through a quotation

Mark 12:10–11 ESV

Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

The last answer that Jesus gave is through a quotation of scripture. He quotes a part of Psalm 118 saying that he is the rejected stone that is the cornerstone. A cornerstone is the most important part of a structure, our modern methods of building are different than they were in this time. The idea behind this is that they had to start a structure on a corner and that first stone (cornerstone) had to be perfect and solid. In other areas of a building you could get away with a less than ideal stone but not the cornerstone. If it was not straight the building would not be straight, if it was not a solid foundation the building would not be solid and most likely fall. Buildings were completely built from this one stone.

Jesus is that stone. He is the perfect foundation. The perfect foundation could only be sent from God, it could only be the Christ. But at last the builders have rejected it just as the tenants in the parable killed the son.

Conclusion

Through this moment of confrontation we see Jesus give three answers to the priest and the scribes yet they did not get any of them. The section closes with them being fearful to do anything because they thought that he might be saying these things against him.

Through his three answers by way of a refusal to answer, a parable, and a quotation of scripture Jesus gave us a far deeper grasp of what is going on at this point in the story and the magnitude of it.

We can also learn from Jesus how we can handle similar conflicts in our own lives.

sometimes we just don’t need to answer because truly they already know the answer or our answer

sometimes when faced with difficulty we can illustrate the issue to make it clear, I think of when David is called out for his sin with Bathsheba. In that story the prophet tells a story and the story makes David outraged and in the end the prophet shows David how he is just like the bad guy in the story.

Lastly when faced with conflict or difficulty what will be the best response most of the time is to answer with scripture within it’s context. A good response with the words of scripture is the best response.

Learn from Jesus, realize the magnitude of what is going on in this story, and deal with conflict like he does. Realize too what he does not do to the scribes and priest, he does not yell at them, he does not belittle them either, in the same way we should not do those things.

Jesus is here to be our firm foundation, Jesus is here to provide rescue from the bad tenants, Jesus is here to provide salvation. This is truth that we should rest in and know and be glad for. If you do not have a relationship with him though that is not what you should do, you should turn to him in fear just like the builders that rejected the perfect cornerstone should have, just like the tenants should have accepted the son, just like the priest should have Jesus.