Jesus Answers a Question with a Question
“And when He was come into the temple, the chief priests and 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? 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.” Matthew 21:23-24
Since Jesus is the Master at everything, He was also certainly the Master at answering a question with a question to make the one or ones asking to think about what they were asking. Have you ever had a question to ask someone, but then stopped to think about it and decided not to ask because you figured out what the answer would likely be, or you didn’t want to start an argument? I don’t think the religious leaders, who were trying desperately to find something of which to accuse Jesus to make Him look like a fraud, ever stopped to consider what they were asking. One would think after several times of being made to look like they weren’t all that smart, one would think they would have given up. However, they were determined to destroy Him. They did eventually crucify Him, but only because God allowed them to do so.
On this occasion, Jesus and His disciples went into the temple, and Jesus began to teach. The chief priests and elders were there, and they very rudely interrupted Him as He taught, demanding to know by what authority and whose authority that He was doing the things that He was doing, that is, clearing the temple of the moneychangers, teaching, and healing. They were incensed that this Man from Galilee would have the boldness to stand in “their” temple and teach what they perceived as contrary to the law that they revered. They believed that only they had the authority to speak in God’s house, and they also believed that they were the only ones who could authorize anyone other than themselves to stand before the congregation. Jesus didn’t need their permission to speak in His Father’s house.
Jesus could have responded in different ways to their question. He could have remained silent, but that could have made the leaders and the people believe that He didn’t have an answer. He could have said that His authority came from God, but that would have stirred up the leaders even more. Thus, by answering their question with His own question, He threw the ball back in their court. He knew that if He answered them directly, they would have turned His answer around to suit their own purposes. We have all had our words taken out of context or misconstrued to our embarrassment or disadvantage. Jesus always knew how to provoke an antagonist to look deep within his own thoughts and motives.
Jesus asked them if John the Baptist was sent by God or were his efforts at baptizing folks his own idea? Uh-oh. How in the world were they going to answer? I can picture them huddled together like the offensive team at a football game, however, the football team already knows which play they are going to make via the quarterback. These religious leaders faced a dilemma. I would venture to guess that some of them wished they hadn’t asked. They reasoned among themselves: If they answered that John was sent by God, then they would be “called on the carpet” for not believing that Jesus was sent by God. That would make them look like hypocrites. How could they believe that John, who had not done any miracles, be from God and yet believe that Jesus, who had healed the sick, cast out demons, opened the eyes of the blind, and fed thousands of people with just a handful of food, had not come from God?
On the other hand, they were also concerned for their own safety. Many of the people regarded, and rightly so, John as a prophet. If the religious leaders said that he was not from God, but merely a man posing as someone greater than they deemed him to be, as they did Jesus, they feared what the people might do to them. The crowd could turn into an angry mob, creating chaos, and then they would have to answer to the higher ups in the temple and to the Roman authorities. Neither answer would suffice. Therefore, they attempted to avoid controversy and possible chaos by plainly stating, “We cannot tell,”–the easy way out, or so they thought. They risked being seen as ignorant rather than admit their guilt.
When it comes to acknowledging Christ as Lord, no one will be able to claim ignorance. Romans 1:19-20 makes it clear that every person will have no excuse for not acknowledging the Creator of the universe, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is one question that everyone will have to answer eventually, “What did you do with Jesus Christ?” Unlike the religious leaders that day in Jerusalem, no one will be able to dodge that question.