The King's Authority (Matthew 21:23-46)

The King’s Authority

Matthew 21:23-46

Sunday, November 16, 2025 — Land O’ Lakes Bible Church

Introduction

Please take your Bible and turn with me to Matthew 21:23-46. Matthew 21:23-46. If you need a Bible there is a Red Bible there in your seat and our passage is on page #982 in that Bible. 

When you hear the word authority, what comes to your mind? Is it a term that you embrace or recoil at? Is authority something you think is earned or passed out? Is authority something you recognize or reject? These are just some of the various responses to how we respond to that of authority. 

Even main stream cable television show recently picked up on some of these responses to authority. In a show that my wife, Darcy, and I were recently watching, there was an episode on authority or rather a community that did not recognize the authority of a group of law enforcement officers in their town. 

Authority that should have meant something was thrown out the window because they rejected it. And with such rejection, came serious consequences. 

In our passage this morning we find a similar situation. The authority of Jesus is being questioned following his entering the temple and initiative to overturn some tables and pour out some coins. And now that he has left and come back again, the question has arisen on whose authority is Jesus doing these things by? And as a result there are massive consequences in such questioning and the ultimate rejection of his authority. 

This questioning of Jesus’ authority comes as tensions between the religious leaders and Jesus is mounting more and more. Tensions that will only continue to escalate until these same leaders hand Jesus over to Rome to do their dirty work in putting Jesus to death on a bloody cross on Friday of this same week. 

A tension driven by this questioning and skepticism of Jesus and by what authority he acts. Let us then hear the word of the LORD from Matthew 21:23-46…

Main Idea: God the Father has given all authority to His Beloved Son, Jesus. But woe to all who fail to repent and reject this authority. 

1. A Question of Authority

2. A Parable about Obedience

3. A Parable about Rejection

1. A Question of Authority (Matthew 21:23-27)

Let’s start by looking again at this question of authority from V.23…

The chief priests and the elders of the people are two of the groups that make up the Sanhedrin, the leaders within Israel and who would be over the temple. And they are rightly curious by what authority that Jesus has come in to do the things he has been doing. 

For Jesus the day before had come in seemingly like a bull in a china shop overturning tables and casting out coins all over the place. He came in to what they perceived to be their house and began rearranging it. He has now come in again and seemingly began to attract a crowd and be teaching them. 

And so, their question to a degree seems to be a right question. For he is not a chief priest or elder of the people. He is not even that of a scribe, and only informally has been called rabbi, but no official capacity in that role. 

And so they want to know by what authority is he doing these things as a seemingly nobody from Nazareth of Galilee? For remember the words of Nathanael in John 1:46, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

But catch the tone of their questions. By what authority? Who gave you this authority? Their very questioning is not out of genuine curiosity, it is accusatory. They already had made their minds up regarding this matter before ever hearing Jesus’ answer. 

Jesus seeing this and knowing this, decides to flip their question upside down by asking them one question himself. A question that seems to evade answering the question of the chief priests and the elders of the people. But the reality is, it is not an evasion of the question, it is a clear declaration of where the authority of Jesus comes from. Look there now at V.24-27…

In Jesus’ question and the outcome of it, the question of authority is still the focus. A focus that is not something new in the Gospel according to Matthew. In fact, hear these helpful words from Douglas Sean O’Donnell in his Preaching the Word commentary on Matthew [1],

“This theme of authority I take to be part one of the three-part harmony of Matthew’s melodic lone: all authority, all nations, all allegiance. Jesus has been given all authority over all the nations and thus demands total allegiance from everyone.”

Just consider how this theme of authority has tracked throughout this gospel account so far. 

At the close of the Sermon on the Mount in , we read: .Matthew 7:28-29And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes 

Open seeing Jesus heal a paralytic there in we read: Matthew 9:8When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Indirectly, Jesus’ authority over the winds and the sea in is marveled at.Matthew 8:23-27 

Authority continues to be the focus throughout the entirety of this gospel account culminating in Jesus telling his disciples all authority has been given to him there in the Great Commission at the close of this gospel account. 

But again, this authority is being questioned. And Jesus has flipped the question upside down by not telling of who gave him his authority, but turning back to that of John the Baptist and what authority his baptism came from! From heaven, that is from God. Or from earth, of man’s own doing. 

A question that exposes the false pretenses of these chief priests and elders of the people. For they there in V.25b-27a debate among themselves on how to answer, refusing in the end to answer the question out of fear of what will happen if they answer wrongly. Not because they fear Jesus, but they fear the crowd. A point stated there in V.26 and repeated down in V.46. 

These religious leaders fell into the trap of leading out of popularity rather than conviction. Their responses were influenced by the crowds and shifting with them, much like any and every politician you have ever known. 

Beloved, such a trap is tempting for us all. And yet, if we are to hold fast to the faith once for all handed down, we must not be influenced by leaders who are blown around by every wind and wave of doctrine to appease the crowds. We need leaders who are convictional, unwilling to shift their stances apart from the convicting work of the Scriptures themselves. Leaders who will then make godly decisions even when unpopular with the crowds. 

That’s one lesson that we need to learn from this matter. But there is a second. And that is that in asking these leaders about John the Baptist and his baptism, he is telling them to search John as one who was authorized by God for this work and hear what he had to say about Jesus. 

For back in Matthew 3:11-12, John the Baptist said this of Jesus: 

Matthew 3:11–12 ESV

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Or then there is John’s gospel account where John the Baptist says more about Jesus. In John 1:29-30 he says:

John 1:29–30 ESV

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’

John the Baptist was one sent from God by the authority of God to prepare the way. And Jesus is pointing to this, because for these leaders, and really all of us, if we fail to hear these authoritative words about who Jesus is, from the frontrunner, we will miss by what authority Jesus does these things. And we will even miss how we are to rightly respond to such authority. 

For John’s ministry, followed by Jesus’ is a call to repent and believe. A call to believe that Jesus is God’s promised one who has come to bring about the salvation of his people!  A call that is further laid out in the coming three parables. We will look at two of these today in our next two points, and then we will look at the third, Lord willing next week. 

That’s point #1, A Question of Authority.  

2. A Parable about Obedience (Matthew 21:28-32)

This first parable picks up on what the religious leaders failed to answer, the authority of John the Baptist. Let’s first re-read the parable, V.28-32…

This parable is a solid jab to the jaw of Jesus’ opponents. Not literally of course, but in this conflicting issue of authority. In the parable, we have a Father and two sons. The Father here is meant to be understood as God the Father. A Father who has called his two sons to go out into the field and work. The first son answers foolishly at first and refuses, but later does what he foolishly refused to do. The second son, boasts of willing to obey the Father, yet in the end does not do as he said and proving to be disobedient. 

A parable that is clearly explained for us in tying the tax collectors and the prostitutes to the first who at first refused, and then changed their minds. For this is precisely what was taking place with both of these groups. Tax collectors knowingly extorted those whom they collected taxes from. They wronged the poor, they failed to love their neighbors as they sold them out to Rome. They had openly rejected God and his word. 

Likewise with the prostitutes. They had rejected God’s design and purpose for sex. And instead they had perverted it in their lifestyle of sexual immorality. 

Two groups of well known sinners who had publicly disgraceful sins and lived clearly counter to the ways of the LORD. 

Yet, as this first group at first refused to obey God, they were cut to the heart in hearing the preaching of John the Baptist. In his call to repent and be baptized. And upon hearing these things, they changed their minds. They repented and believed. They who had first then rejected God, came to obey the will of the Father by their changing of their minds, by their repentance. 

The second son though, was a picture of these religious leaders. For they boasted of their special place with God and of their obedience. And yet, as they heard the call of God to repent and believe, they refused to do what they were called to. They failed even upon seeing others repent and believe to turn and do the same. Proving that they were those who failed to do the will of the Father, of God Almighty. 

Two things we should take away from this first parable. First, the grace of God for sinners in the work of repentance. 

The groups used here in this parable is meant to show us the extremes of the spectrum and the shocking awe of who repents and proves to actually obey God. 

It matters not how how poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore you be in the vile of your sin and filth at first. The church is full of those who were as vile as you. And yet, the grace of God is extended through the word of the gospel inviting the worst of sinners to repent and believe in Jesus! To turn from their sins and come to place their allegiance under the authority of Jesus! 

Tax collectors who repent and believe, they get into God’s’ kingdom. Prostitutes who repent and believe, they get into God’s kingdom. And the same holds true for the religious elite, legalistic, Pharisaical type who has grown up in dead religion, if they repent and believe, the kingdom is theirs. 

That’s the beauty of the gospel of Jesus! Salvation comes to all who will repent and believe by the grace of God! Let us never forget such grace!

But then there is the flip side of this same coin. And that is the second thing we need to take away from this first parable. The need to show our faith through our obedience. This is similar to our time in James from 2 years ago. James 2:18, 

James 2:18 ESV

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Jesus cares nothing for a faith that is all talk, but no follow through. Faith is called to action. He has said this earlier in his ministry back in Matthew 7:21:

Matthew 7:21 ESV

21 “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.

Beloved, make sure your faith isn’t in word only, but an active and living faith. A faith that is working itself out in you because of your union with Christ! True faith will be evident in and through you. Any faith that is mere words though, its no saving faith. 

That’s point #2, A parable about Obedience. 

3. A Parable about Rejection (Matthew 21:33-46)

If that was not enough of a jab, Jesus comes back with another blow to these religious leaders with a second parable. Look again at this parable with me there in V.33-41…

This second parable is a picture of the Redemptive History of Israel with God being represented by the pastor of this house with the vineyard. 

The tenants then are meant to be understood as Israel, something that even these religious leaders pick up on down in V.45 as they perceive this to be about them. And then the various messengers along the way are God’s prophets that he has sent over and over again to Israel along the way. 

Even that of the land and the vineyard being rented out to these tenants is a picture of God’s gracious deliverance and provision to Israel. For he had delivered them out of the land of Egypt from their slavery. He gave them his law and lead them into the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 

And yet, despite all of this goodness by the LORD, Israel had continued to reject the prophets, just as these tenants rejected these messengers sent from the Master of the House. They refused to listen to them, beat them, and even killed some of the prophets along the way. 

And finally, this son who is sent is that of Christ. The very one who has already three times foretold of his coming death at the hands of such wicked men. Jesus is the one who will be handed over in betrayal and put to death by these religious leaders. 

But it is telling that when Jesus asks there in V.40 what will the owner do to these tenants, that these religious leaders speak of their own judgment that awaits, that they will be put out and to a miserable death. 

For they are the very ones who are rejecting Jesus, the son of God sent into the world to rescue it from the bondage of sin, along as from the wages of sin which is death. 

But Jesus is not yet done with this second parable. V.42…

Jesus here quotes from Psalm 118, our Scripture Reading from earlier in the service. On Sunday, the streets were filled with shouts of Hosanna in the highest as Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Even after the commotion of Jesus flipping over tables, the same shouts filled the temple from children upon the healing of the blind and lame. A prayer echoed from Psalm 118. 

Yet now, on the third day of the week, on Tuesday, another reference is made from that very Psalm regarding this stone that has been rejected and that will become the cornerstone.

A prediction made about what is to come, and yet despite their rejection of Jesus, despite their delivering him over to death on a cross, he will come into this prominent position of the cornerstone. 

Now, if Darcy’s uncle were here, we probably could get a much thorough explanation of this, as I am no brick layer. However, I will do my best. The cornerstone is an important piece in a building. For you have the foundation, which is very crucial to be solid. But after the foundation, this cornerstone is the piece combining the foundation to the rest of the building, it is on this cornerstone that everything will be joined together to hold up the entire thing. 

This rejection of Jesus has come and will continue to come. Yet, even in Jesus’ rejection, it is the work of the LORD and a marvelous thing! 

For in this cornerstone, will come either salvation or a crushing blow. Look there to V.43-44…  

This crushing picks up on the language from the book of Daniel in Daniel 2:44 which says, 

Daniel 2:44 ESV

44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,

A theme also mentioned in Isaiah from Isaiah 8:14-15 which reads:

Isaiah 8:14–15 ESV

14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

These who stumble and are crushed by this rock, this cornerstone then are those who reject Jesus as the Son sent by God the Father. In their rejection, they will find themselves crushed. 

Much is at stake in what we do with this Jesus. To borrow from David Helm,

“There will be earth-shattering consequences for anyone who rejects Jesus.”

So what about you friends who sit here and have not yet repented and believed in Jesus? Will you continue to reject him? I wish you would see if now God’s grace and patience with you. How that he has pursued a people relentlessly and patiently. For it was not just one messenger the Father has sent, but many, including his own Son! 

And even now, you are hearing this word of grace proclaimed by God’s patience with you. Repent and believe today!

But do not presume on God’s grace. For God is a God of patience, but he is also just! And in his justice, he will crush those who reject his Authoritative King, King Jesus. He will allow you to have periods of success in building your own kingdom, but in his timing, his justice will roll down as that kingdom is brought down, leaving you crushed with it in your unbelief. Instead repent and trust in Jesus! 

Conclusion

How we respond to Jesus in accepting him or rejecting him has massive consequences. To repent and believe in Jesus leads to salvation and life. A repentance and belief that is made visible as we are continually being conformed to Christ. But a rejection of Jesus and a refusal to take up our cross and follow him will result in the crushing blow of God’s just judgment. 

Let’s pray…

Endnotes

[1] Douglas Sean O’Donnell. Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth; Preaching the Word Series. (Wheaton, IL, Crossway, 2013) 613.