Matthew 21:23-46
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Matthew 21:23-46 (Christ’s Authority)
Matthew 21:23-46 (Christ’s Authority)
Intro:
So we left off in the first half of Matthew chapter 21 with Christ coming into Jerusalem, and lodging in Bethany,
We closed with Christ giving the parable of “the barren Fig tree” and we saw how Christ came up to the tree because He was hungered and the tree was full of leaves, but there was no fruit produced so He cursed the tree.
What we saw there was the first “teaser” for the parable of the fig tree that we will see in Matthew chapter 24, and how the Barren Fig tree was a direct reflection of the Jews, and how they were portraying themselves as children of God, but not producing good works,
So to start off the second half of Matthew 21,
Jesus’s Authority Challenged (Mark 11:27-33, Luke 20:1-8)
The first section we are going to see here in Matthew chapter 21 starting at 23 is Jesus’s authority is challenged, we see this cross referenced with Mark chapter 11 and Luke chapter 20,
We are going to see how the Jewish leaders demand the source of Jesus’ authority, but He doesn’t answer them. He answers through action not through words.
Matthew chapter 21 starting at verse 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?
So remember in the first half of this chapter, Christ was flipping the tables in the temple and condemning what the religious leaders were doing in the temple by them turning it into a flea market rather than a place to worship.
Now, Christ is teaching in the temple and the chief priests are even further upset, questioning who gave Jesus the authority to do so,
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.
Christ answers their question with a question saying “if you can answer me my question, in return I will tell you who gives me authority”
The irony in this, is that rabbis through tradition typically would answer questions by asking another one,
Some people take that as a stereotype, but the truth of rabbis answering questions with questions is based on what's called “Talmudic Discourse” which is a dialect that is debate driven based and characterized by multi-layer questioning,
If you like learning psychology it is a pretty neat study,
But the irony in this, is that Christ is “playing ball in their court” so to speak
He is dishing their own traditional dialect back to them.
So let’s see Christs question,
The 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?
Christ’s question is, was His baptism from John a sign from God, or smoke and mirrors from man?
So the chief priests spoke among themselves, because they had the answer already,
The beauty in what Christ is doing here, is how he isn’t simply contradiction the chief priests, he is simply putting light among them. the multitudes know John the baptist as the prophetic forerunner from Christ,
Take a look at verse 26,
But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.
the priests knew the multitudes had taken John as the forerunner for Christ.
Now look at verse 27
And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
Christ corners the priests into no way denying who gives Him His authority, but yet the chief priests don’t want to answer out of their own self pride,
They know that if they tell Christ that his baptism by John was from heaven, then Christ is from heaven,
but if they say that it is from men, then the multitudes will turn against them,
Rather than speak the truth, the answer is right in front of them, they would rather lie about prophecy, and the only reason they don’t want to lie about prophecy is because they fear the multitudes will turn from the priests,
So they deny to even answer Christ so he tells them “Okay, then I wont tell you who gives me my authority”
The chief priests are so caught up in contradicting Christ, that they are completely missing the truth that Christ even lays out and corners them into no way denying.
So Christ does what He always does, He turns this into an educational moment,
This next section we see,
The Parable of the Two Sons
This will be the first of 3 parables from Jesus condemning the Jew’s rejection of Him.
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.
He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
So the first son in this parable denies the fathers commandment to work in the vineyard, then corrects himself and goes to work,
This first son is representing sinners, those who disobey God’s commandments
But remember, this son repents from his disobedience to his father,
And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
So the second son tells his father that he will go work for sure but didn’t
So one son denies commandment then repents, and the other accepts commandment yet doesn’t act.
before we go any further I want this to marinate a little,
If you could characterize yourself do you think you would be more compared to the first son of this parable or the second?
Whether 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.
Christ asks the chief priests are followed the commandments, and with their own mouth confess that the 1 son did
the one who sinned against his father, but the repented and corrected his actions,
Christ compares the 1st son to publicans and harlots here,
the tax collectors and prostitutes, and further tells the priests that the prostitutes and tax collectors would enter into the kingdom of God before them through the sinners repentance and change of heart.
He compares the priests to the 2nd son, the one who said he would follow the commandment of his father yet didn’t .
Which is exactly what he explains with the last verse in this section,
For 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.
What Christ is teaching them, through repentance, sin can be overlooked and forgiven,
We’ve talked about it before, when it comes to growing your relationship with Christ, it takes a lot of self reflection, not of the good we do, but a reflection of where we fall short of the commandments of God in order to learn from it, repent, and strive to not commit that sin again,
That is why Christ uses the publicans and the harlots here, they never claimed to be perfect, but once they saw the truth, they realized, “hey we were in the wrong” and repented from their wicked ways,
Where as the chief priests, “claimed” to be working for God and God’s people, but were focused more so of making money in the temples.
They were so blinded by their status, they never learned from there shortcomings of God.
So the 2nd parable here, is the
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants(Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-18)
This parable we see referenced again in Mark chapter 12, and Luke chapter 20
We are going to see how Jesus sort of teaches this parable with very similar imagery from Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard in Isaiah chapter 5 verses 1-7
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
So to help explain the foundation of this parable,
The householder or the “owner” of the land planted a vineyard and got it setup for use, and had other men work it,
It isn’t as popular as a practice now, but what Christ is using here is what we would know today as sharecropping. Which in our time now it isn’t so much sharecropping as it is leasing farmland,
But the way sharecropping typically worked back in this time, and so on was that the landowner would provide the land, dwellings for the workers to live, and all the equipment needed to maintain and work the farm,
They would do this so the farmers would have necessities for life in exchange for the work, and the landowners would get a percentage of the crop,
It is basically an I'll scratch your back you scratch mine sort of agreement.
But that is the foundation of this parable we are seeing here in verse 33,
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
Just to further clarify, “husbandmen” means “land-worker, or farmer”
So when the crop was ready for harvest, the land owner sent his servants to the land workers to collect his percentage of the crop.
And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
So the farmers who were sharecropping with the landowner, took the land owners servants who were there to retrieve his share of the crop, and beat one, killed one, and stoned the other,
The farmers aren't holding up their end of the deal right?
Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
So yet again, the land owner lived away, sent more servants, and the same thing were done to them as the first sent.
All these servants were trying to do was collect the landowners percentage of the crop. which is rightfully his by providing everything needed for the farmers.
But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
So the landowner now is sending his son unto the farmers to collect his share, and he says “for they will reverence my son”
well what does reverance mean here?
To respect, it is Greek word G1788 in the strongs
So the landowner says “ I'll send my son because they will respect him”
But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
So the total opposite of what was intended from the landowner is what took place,
The farmers or “husbandmen” want to kill the son to put an end to his inheritance from the landowner his father?
Naturally you can see how the dots are connecting and where Christ is leading with this parable, remember He is speaking to the chief priests of the temple who are denying Him.
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
The farmers killed the landowners son out of self greed and to try and destroy the inheritance from his father.
When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
Christ is asking the priests now,
When the landowner of the vineyard comes back to the farm, the landowner who’s sharecroppers killed his son, and servants,
What will he do to the farmers?
Pretty obvious right? take a look at the response from the priests.
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Pretty good common sense answer here from the priests right? Christ isn’t trying to trick them,
Their response is the landowner will destroy the wicked farmers, and sharecrop with other farmers who would properly give him his percentage of the crop.
Take a look at Christ’s response to them in this next verse,
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Christ is the living word right? These priests KNOW the word of God, Christ is giving them a rhetorical question, “did ye never read in the scriptures”?
And what He is quoting is in Psalm 118 22-23
The stone which the builders refused
Is become the head stone of the corner.
This is the Lord’s doing;
It is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the scripture from the old testament that Christ is quoting that He knows the Chief priests know, again, their is a difference between knowledge and wisdom, just because the priests know the scripture doesn’t mean they understand it and apply it
But I want us to keep reading here in Psalms 118
This is the day which the Lord hath made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
So reading through verses 22-24 here in Psalm 118, what this is saying is “the stone which the builders refuse, is become the head cornerstone”
meaning the stone that was once rejected by the builder, has now become the most important stone in the structure,
I believe James had the chief cornerstone in one of his lessons, who is the chief cornerstone, or the stone that holds the foundation together strongly?
Jesus Christ right?
Prophecy is being fulfilled right before the chief priests eyes and although they know what the scripture says, they are blinded by it,
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Remember, in the first half of this chapter, we saw Christ give us the lesson of the Barren Fig tree, The tree that was full of leaves but bear no fruit so He cursed it and it withered,
This statement from Christ is corresponded back to that,
that word nation here In this verse is Greek word 1484 in the Strongs meaning “a foreign tribe, gentile, heathen, nation, or people”
We have looked at this verse before, but take a look at what Paul writes in Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
This is Paul speaking to the early churches in Galatia who were made up of primarily gentiles or “non-Jewish” people.
and that is what Christ is speaking of here to the chief priests, the inheritance of the Kingdom of God isn’t about who you are, it is about your belief in Christ and the fruit produced by your works,
And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet
The priests and the Pharisee’s were highly upset with Jesus?
Why?
Because He was the living the word of God, teaching the truth to others, and that truth was making them; the “keepers of the word” and the “leaders of the temple”, to look bad.
They cared more so about themselves rather than the truth. So much that the only reason they didn’t lay hands on Christ then and their was because they feared the image of themselves among the multitudes because they knew the multitudes saw Christ for who he truly was, The Messiah.
Conclusion:
To wrap up Chapter 21 here in Matthew,
We see Christ’s authority being challenged by the chief priests, and Him responding with Parables that align with the old testament which the chief priests and the Pharisees would know,
We see the parable of the 2 sons, one disobeyed his father but repented and followed the command, and the other answered to his fathers command but never acted on it,
To the Parable of the wicked tenants, and how it was a parable based on sharecroppers and how it aligned with what was happening and what would come,
The part that really stood out to me here in this chapter,
was the fact that how many times to we try to put ourselves in the position of the good one when studying the Bible, It’s easy to read through a chapter and self reflect onto the “good” side of the lesson,
We talked about it some at Wednesday night bible study, but
Last week we went on vacation and before we went, Jasmin bought me some shirts to wear that had different bible verses to specifically wear while we were on vacation to try and witness to people,
We go to Universal Studios in Orlando, and those of you who have been there know that theme parks like that are like central “hubs” for diversity, any gender, ethnicity, religion, Etc can be found at places like that,
And one of the shirts, on the back in big letters says “tap my shoulder for prayer”
The day I wore it, we woke up, got ready to go and I was excited, getting to advertise God in a diverse place like that,
All throughout the day we had people of all different denominations stopping us and talking to us, acknowledging Christ as King, all that good stuff, It was awesome seeing the Love of God throughout a place like that,
But anyway, we got home later and as I was studying through this chapter and reading about the Parable of the Two Son, it hit me,
Throughout that whole day, we didn’t stop and pray with the first person who stopped us to speak about Jesus.
Was it a way to witness to others? Yes, but in my heart I knew I had fallen short,
And reading through this parable of the two sons, I realized that I had played the role of the 2nd son rather than the 1st,
I wanted to work for God and reflect Him onto others, and in all reality I was focused more on what I was doing rather than letting Christ work through me and reflect onto those others,
I was claiming to be an ambassador of God to those people, but never once stopped and prayed with them TO God. I wasn’t focused on reflecting God onto others but more so reflecting myself onto them,
And I brought it up to Jasmin later when we got home and she told me “well ,next time we go, wear that shirt again do better”
So through repentance, and prayer, if God gives me another chance to perform the work I felt like He called me to do that day, I should make FOR SURE not to make the same mistake again and remember to not “look the part” but ACT upon it, and through God’s grace and forgiveness I know I'm forgiven for that,
But I say all that to say this,
We are getting close to the sacrifice of Christ,
The more we read through these chapters, it is easy to compare yourself to the disciples, and to the multitudes that are honoring and following Christ for the Messiah,
But when we self reflect in order to grow closer to God, don’t forget to pay attention to the ones who were against Him as well, like the Pharisees and the chief priests here,
If not, you may be more closely relatable to them than you think, Just like I released I was while we were on vacation,
But anyway, the beginning of chapter 22 is going to cover Christ’s 3rd parable I spoke of earlier, were gonna save that for our next lesson
I just want us to remember that only One was perfect, and that was Jesus Christ, God WITH us,
any and every chief priest, Pharisee, pastor, preacher, bishop, whoever,
We will fall short everyday, that is why repentance is so important, Don’t be like the 2nd son in Christs parable, be like the 1st
We are forgiven through God’s grace, but we have to repent unto God and learn from those mistakes.
Matthew 21:23-46 (Christ’s Authority)
Matthew 21:23-46 (Christ’s Authority)
