Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event, the authority of Jesus. Challenge leaders challenge Jesus authority.
This is found in three of the gospels. Matthew, chapter 21, 23, 27. Mark, chapter 1127 33, and Luke, chapter 21 through eight. Follow along with us as we read in Matthew, chapter 21, beginning in verse 23.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: And when Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?
And Jesus answered them.
I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
The baptism of John, from where did it come?
From heaven or from man?
[00:01:39] Speaker A: And they discussed it among themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us, then why did you not believe him? But if we say from man, we are afraid of the crowd. For they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, we do not know. And he said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
So this group that comes and challenges Jesus authority, it's the chief priest and the elders, they already have a plot to kill Jesus.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: Yeah. They already cut the deal with Judas, gave him the money.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So they're looking for opportunities, they're looking for ways. And I don't think this was an idle conversation or a conversation for knowledge. I don't think they were really looking for, hey, what authority? Give us more information, help us understand. I think it was them trying to catch Jesus in a trapdead, you know, what authority do you have? Who's giving you this authority? They say that Jesus authority came from Satan, and Jesus claims his authority came from God.
And so they wanted Jesus to say, my authority came from God so then they could say, blasphemy. You hear this in the very temple he's blaspheming and get people riled up and go and have a case for crucifying him.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Yeah. They expected Jesus to call God his father and automatically he's the son of God. And that is a concept in the Old Testament that means God himself. And in John chapter eight, at the end of the chapter, we have exactly this conversation when as the result of Jesus saying he's the son of God, he took stones and wanted to kill him. So I agree with you that they were looking exactly for a reason to kill him.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: So Jesus answers a question with a question.
And I have, you know, the teachers when I was growing up, who would do that? Answer questions with questions? They just frustrate you. It's like, no, I just want the answer.
But he turns it around, and he says, okay, I'll answer your question if you answer my question.
And he asked this seemingly benign question about the baptism of John.
From where did it come from?
[00:04:16] Speaker B: What was the authority behind it, behind his ministry?
[00:04:21] Speaker A: And then the religious leaders realize they're not willing to say what they think, because they know what the crowd thinks. You know, this kind of gets back to our last event. Where are we following the crowd? Are we doing what the crowd is doing or doing what we think the crowd wants? And here it seems that the Pharisees are aware and not willing to stand on their beliefs.
So they're able, you know, they're willing to just not answer the question and not get an answer from Jesus, rather than to say that we did not believe in John.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Another question that this passage might raise is the fact that Jesus Christ did not give them a very clear answer.
Was Jesus denying another piece of evidence for them having faith in him?
[00:05:25] Speaker A: That's a good question.
I don't think he was, because I think throughout their interaction with Jesus, there was more than enough information for them to build their faith on Jesus.
They've followed. They've seen the miracles, they studied the scriptures, they knew the prophecies, everything was there, that if they wanted, they could lean into the faith and believe in Jesus.
And so at this point, they had rejected.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: So they had abundance of evidence.
They had time to act on that evidence, and they denied it. They rejected it until they reached a point when they were deaf to new evidence because they cut the deal with Judas. They really decided among themselves, right. How to kill Jesus Christ. So there is a point in life when evidence for faith would be a waste, to share evidence when people have set their minds.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think this is a conversation we can go down. The collective, you know, this is the collective leaders, they've made this choice together, and it ultimately leads to them crucifying Jesus on the cross. So at this point, had each individual leader there present committed the unpardonable sin? Had they grieved the Holy Spirit?
Is there no salvation for any of these leaders?
[00:07:13] Speaker B: I think this is a conversation with the leaders of the nation.
Jesus Christ collectively doesn't give them new evidence, because they are not looking for that. But at the same time, from the following events, especially in the book of acts, we understand that one of them was Joseph of Arimathea, another one was Nicodemus. And both of them have turned around individually after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, others later on the day of Pentecost and the following days, when the revival starting in Jerusalem in the. The christian church was growing very fast. They have received Jesus Christ as lord and savior, as the messiah from the Old prophesied in the Old Testament. So I see that the time of grace is being open for individuals, but it was closed for this collective group of leaders, for the nation of Israel, as representatives of goddess.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: And when we go back to our previous Bible readings, we did one on prophecy, where we looked at the prophecy of the nation of Israel. And God had set up the nation of Israel to be a witness, an example for others to come around the world and to see God. And they had not fulfilled that. And so they went into babylonian captivity, and God said, I'm going to give you 490 years to follow the covenant, to follow the rules that we agreed on. And now we're coming down to the end of that.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: That was a time of grace.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Yeah, this time of grace, and we're coming down to the end of that. And they haven't done that. And so these special relationship is about to end collectively, but it's not individually.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yes. I'm going to link this to one of our future episodes. In Matthew 24, when Jesus Christ told the leaders of the nation, your house will be desolate.
It was the house of Judah, the house of Israel, in the sense of God's representatives. And this is why we can say that they crossed a line when they decided to reject Jesus Christ, and even more, to kill him.
But at the same time, God, in his grace, is loving the world so much that everyone individually who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: We have this opportunity open for us, and we are able to receive forgiveness, receive eternal life. We're able to take part in the gift that Jesus gave, just like those leaders back then. But there are choices that we need to make, and we need to make them daily.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Yes, I like this idea. I was thinking exactly about the same idea, that there is a gradual, progressive journey towards establishing faith or toward rejecting God.
The connection I see between John the Baptist and Jesus Christ is that those who rejected John the Baptist were most likely to reject Jesus Christ.
Those who accepted the work of John the Baptist, who prepared a way for Jesus, were more likely to accept Jesus Christ.
The light increases gradually, and if you make a good decision today, it's easier to make a good decision tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
It's like developing a habit of listening, of paying attention, of reasoning, of committing your life to serving God, to align your day to day living with the will of God.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: So, as we're reading this, we've been asking these questions through the years as we come to scripture.
How does this speak to us today? What is God telling us? What can we learn from this?
What can we take from this today? What can we learn from this and take away from this passage?
[00:12:04] Speaker B: For me is God is speaking to us in many ways, using different channels of communication.
And his message comes to us incrementally, gradually.
And we have to learn to pay attention from the beginning, to have a clear heart, to see the will of God, and to be convinced that it's coming from the Lord. And if we receive John the Baptist, it would be easier to receive Jesus Christ. So if I live by the light that was revealed to me today, I mean, the spiritual light from the word of God, it will be more likely that I will receive additional light that will reveal to me tomorrow. Because the path of righteousness is like the light of the day, increasing from being small in the morning all the way to the midday. This is a verse from the book of proverbs.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: Yeah. And my thought went directly along those lines, that if we are looking for new light, but we have yet to accept light, we already have, we shouldn't expect to receive it. You know, the Pharisees here, they come to Jesus. They're wanting new authority. You know, answer this question, give us this information. And Jesus goes back and says, well, what about this?
And it's information they should already have. They should already know. They should already take a stand on it, but they're not able to. And so Jesus says, well, I'm not going to give you new information. The same thing. He works in our lives. Sometimes we get caught up on something. God is wanting to reveal something to us. He's wanting us to take a step towards him, to surrender something in our lives. And we say, no, we're not ready. We're not willing to. We don't want to. Whatever reason, we reject God, but we don't reject him fully. We're still wanting to grow closer. So we're like, what about over here, God? What about this? Show me. Show me your way. Here and here. Yet he's still waiting for us to. To surrender that original thing, to give it to him, to move on, because that's where he's brought us in our relationship.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: As an illustration to what you just said, I met an old pastor who used to be a pastor of very small countryside churches, visiting them by rotation.
And once he went to a church and said, do you remember my sermon last time? And nobody was able to remember. And he said, no problem. I will preach it the same the following time when he visited the same church. He has to remember my sermon last time. And no, oh, I'm going to preach the same sermon until you're going to learn it.
The idea is that if we do not receive the message and especially do not embrace it, do not incorporate it in our lives, there is a very little reason for God to reveal more light, more truth, something that is more elevated if we then do the basics. In fact, Jesus told us through a parable that if we are faithful in little things, he will put us in charge of more significant ones.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Let's pray.
Father God, maybe there's something in our lives right now that we know we need to surrender to you.
And for whatever reason, we've stalled on it.
And I pray that you will help us to put it in your hands, give you the control to surrender it to you. God, give us the desire to give it up, that we may desire you more than everything else.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
