OUR FATHER DECLARED THAT JESUS WAS HIS SON IN WHOM HE WAS WELL PLEASED

In Matthew chapter 21 verses 23 - 27, we see the Lord Jesus, having returned to Jerusalem from Bethany, at the temple teaching. The religious leaders challenged Him by demanding to know by what authority He was doing miracles and teaching in the temple.

23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

24 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.”

And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The Lord , knowing that their challenge was not a sincere request for clarification but rather a trap, countered them by asking them to declare whether they believed that the baptism of John was valid.

To answer this question, the religious leaders would have been forced to reveal their hypocricy related to how they treated John the baptist.

If they said John the baptist was  a valid prophet of God, they would then be asked by the people why they did not accept his teaching and why they let John be executed by king Herod for preaching righteousness.

On the other hand, if they said John was not a valid prophet, they would anger the people of the city who believed that John was a true prophet of God and they had gone out to the wilderness to hear him speak. Openly denying that John was a prophet would expose the fact that the religious leaders were not on the same page as the people of the city.

Pressed in this connundrum, the religious leaders tried to evade the question by simply saying that they didnˋt know whether Johnˋs baptism was valid or not. Jesus then told them that because they would not reveal their stance on this spiritual matter, He was not obligated to show them His spiritual credentials.

Amen.

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