Matthew 21: 23-27: “By what authority do you do these things — who authorized you to teach and preach?” In response, Jesus said: “I will also ask you one question; then answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.”
In making his answer to their question conditional upon their answer to his, Jesus asserted his authority at the start. If any other man had done this, the religious leaders would have cut him off with — “Answer our question first!” Their mute acceptance displayed the strength of his authority and the weakness of their own.
“The baptism of John — was it from heaven or from men?” The effect of this question was that they began to do what they had wanted Jesus to do — wrestle with the consequences of an answer that was pathetically inadequate. “They reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, from heaven, he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, from men —’ (They feared the people, for all reckoned that John had been a prophet.)
So they answered: “We do not know.”
What an admission! Caught between “a rock and a hard place”! Faced with a confession of their disobedience to the truth on one hand, and the anger of the people on the other, they pleaded ignorance and in doing so, disqualified themselves.
Are you between “a rock and a hard place” — unwilling to accept the truth yet refusing to deny it? If so, you are in a similar place. A refusal to either accept or reject Jesus Christ will disqualify you from commenting on any spiritual matter. How long will you let the question go unanswered?
Jesus is God’s last word to humanity (Hebrews 1:1). He won every war of words by either exposing the folly of the questions his opponents asked, or by asking questions that none of them could or would answer.
“No man ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46) “And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22) Pleading ignorance, the chief priests and scribes said, “We don’t know.” Oh, they knew alright, but their refusal to state their view condemned them to silence. “And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
They were unworthy of an answer to their question as to Christ’s authority. It was bad enough that they had rejected John the Baptist’s message, but to say that God did not send him would bring the anger of the people down on their heads. This first ‘question and answer’ encounter — or more correctly, question and non-answer encounter — established Christ’s authority over the religious leaders, whose spiritual and moral impotence had displayed their lack of any real authority.
They had thought to undermine Jesus by questioning his authority, but their shameful failure to answer the Lord’s counter question forced them to confess their ignorance in front of the people. They had nothing to say that mattered.
Who, the people would have wondered, would be foolish enough to try to trap this man Jesus with another trick question? Some did but came off second best, to say the least..