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Questioning Jesus
Five Questions for a King “No one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question” (Matthew 22:46, NASB). 1 Dan Wesol Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. The crowds that gathered for the celebration of the Passover in Jerusalem greeted Jesus with great joy as God’s anointed king and shouted: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38). Out of jealousy, some of the Pharisees in the crowd asked Jesus to rebuke his disciples (Luke 19:39) because they felt, “the world has gone after him” (John 12:19). Jesus refused their request, answering, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). Jesus, with the authority as of God’s anointed king, then cleansed the temple, citing the words of the prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, “It is written, ‘my house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robber’s den” (Matthew 21:13, Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11). Do You Hear What These Children Are Saying? After Jesus cleansed the temple, the leaders did not thank him or to listen to him. But the blind and lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. This caused those in the temple to shout for joy, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Hosanna means “save, we pray.” It was not only a shout of praise, but also a cry to Jesus to bring salvation to all Israel. They looked for Messiah to cast off the Roman yoke and to restore Israel as a light to the nations. The people were not praising the chief priests, scribes or Pharisees, or asking them to save their people. They asked the man who spoke gracious words from the Holy Scriptures with the eloquence of a king; the man who courageously cast out everyone doing worldly business from the temple; the man who performed miracles of healing. This man had the power to save the nation. The chief priests and scribes felt that it was wrong for Jesus to receive such words of praise. Instead of recognizing Jesus as their king and asking what they could do to assist him, Israel’s leaders questioned Jesus in order to discredit him before the people. Their first question was, “Do you hear what these children are saying” (Matthew 21:16)? They wanted him to rebuke the people for giving him such praise. Rather than stop the people from expressing their joy at the miracles of healing, Jesus responded with his own question, “have you never read [in Psalms 8:2], ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself ’ ” (Matthew 21:16)? The blind received their sight and the legs of the lame were filled with strength. The lame leaped for joy and shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David,” tears of joy streaming from their eyes. So many new prospects to serve God, family and people were now open to them. Opportunities of service which were but a dream minutes before were now a vivid reality and within their reach. However, instead of praising God and rejoicing with those that were no longer blind and lame, the chief priests and scribes were angered by the people’s words of praise for Jesus. By What Authority? The next day Jesus rose early and taught the people in the temple. The chief priests, scribes and elders had the duty and authority under the Law to teach the people the Law of God. They wanted to know where Jesus received the authority to teach and heal the people. Their second question was, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do these things” (Mark 11:28)? They did not question that the people were healed by Jesus. That evidence was literally staring them in the face. They did not question the righteousness of his actions in casting out from the temple the money changers and those buying and selling. These business transactions should never have been taking place in the temple. The minds of the Jewish leaders should have been opened by the wonders accomplished before them and by the change in the temple to a calmer, more reverent and meditative place for prayer. Instead, the chief priests and Pharisees questioned Jesus’ authority to do these things in an effort to lower the high esteem with which the people held him. Though Jesus spoke the truth as a prophet of God and with the authority of a king, the Jewish leaders only saw a rabble-rousing, thirty-three year-old carpenter from Nazareth who was a threat to their authority. They did not recognize him as the nation’s deliverer foretold by God’s holy proph-ets. This fulfilled the words of Isaiah, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed” (Isaiah 53:1, KJV, Romans 10:16)? Jesus countered with a question of his own, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ‘Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me’” (Mark 11:29-30). Jesus’ question was designed not to confound the Jewish leaders, but to help them answer their own question. To the blind and lame who had been healed and the rest of the people that saw these miracles, the answer was obvious: Jesus’ authority came from heaven, just as John’s baptism did. But that was not the answer the chief priests and scribes sought. “They began reasoning among themselves, saying If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘From men’? — they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. Answering Jesus, they said, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things’” (Mark 11:31-33). Rather than answering truthfully what they believed, the Jewish leaders lied and said they did not know. If they answered that John’s baptism was not from heaven, they feared how the people would respond. If they had answered that John’s baptism was from heaven, then they also had their answer regarding Jesus’ authority because John proclaimed Jesus to be, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). Is it Lawful? The next day, the Pharisees sent their disciples along with the Herodians to entrap Jesus with a controversial question. The Herodians were the political party in favor of retaining Rome’s dominion over Israel because Rome kept the Herodian dynasty in power. They favored Roman taxation while the Pharisees did not. These opposing parties joined forces to end Jesus’ influence and popularity. Their third question to Jesus, was “Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not” (Matthew 22:17)? They reasoned: if Jesus said it was lawful to pay the poll-tax to Caesar, then he would receive condemnation from the people. Taxes were burdensome because the tax collectors added their own collection fee onto to the payment. If Jesus said it was not according to the Mosaic Law to pay taxes to Caesar, then the Herodians would accuse him before the Roman governor for sedition to Roman law. This devious plan revealed the dark and hard condition of their hearts (Zechariah 7:9- 12, Luke 16:15). The Pharisees sent their young disciples who would ask Jesus the question, feigning to be righteous in an effort to catch Jesus off guard. They were not treating Jesus as one of their countrymen, but as their enemy (Leviticus 19:15-17). The disciples pretended to respect Jesus as an authorized teacher of the Law. “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for you are not partial to any” (Matthew 22:16). They then sprung the trap, “Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not” (Matthew 22:17)? The people listening must have thought that these individuals honestly desired Jesus’ judgment on this matter. Jesus, however, perceived their hypocrisy and asked them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at” (Mark 12:15). That was not the answer the disciples of the Pharisees expected. There was no hesitation in Jesus’ response, nor fear that he was trapped by their question. Instead, Jesus clearly recognized their feigned words of praise and their attempt to ensnare him. They were probably flustered when Jesus asked for a denarius, the wage of a day laborer and the census coin used to pay the poll tax. When they brought one to him, Jesus then asked, “‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ And they said to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’” (Mark 12:13-17). What a wise answer! When the Pharisees’ disciples heard his answer, they were rendered speechless. Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, easily avoided falling into their trap. Jesus became even more respected by the people because of his ability to separate the things due to God from the things due the earthly Roman government. The Herodians could find no sedition in Jesus’ commending the people to pay back to Caesar his denarius. Jesus not only foiled the Pharisees’ plot to condemn him, but used the question as a teaching opportunity to all those listening. The people should be sure to give to God those things that are God’s. They were reminded of their privileges and obligations under the Law and the importance of keeping their vows. Their daily lives should be reflecting the holy God of Israel. Instead of staying to listen and learn more of this heavenly wisdom from the lips of Jesus, the Pharisees’ disciples left him. Whose Wife Will She Be? Later that day, another sect of Israel’s leaders, the Sadducees (or Zadokites; who ruled the temple) came to Jesus and asked him a fourth question in order to ensnare him and diminish his influence with the people (Matthew 22:23-28). The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, angels, or spirits. Their question was intended to disprove the resurrection. They said, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘if a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother’” (Deuteronomy 25:5-6, Matthew 22:24). This feature of the law was designed to prevent a brother’s name from being lost in the genealogy of the tribes of Israel. Using that point of the law as a basis for their question, the Sadducees provided a hypothetical case in which there were “seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died” (Matthew 22:25-27). All seven brothers had been married to the same woman. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven would she be? To the Sadducees, this enigma proved the foolishness of a resurrection since the Law forbade more than one man to be married to the same woman at the same time (Leviticus 20:21, Deuteronomy 22:22). Once again, Jesus answered the seemingly difficult question without hesitation. He explained that they were mistaken and did not understand the Scriptures, nor the power of God. “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). The institution of marriage will not continue in the earth in the resurrection, so the woman would not be the wife of any one of the seven men. Undoubtedly, the Sadducees did not consider this possibility. To help them understand the resurrection of the dead, Jesus asked them, “have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:31-32). When the crowds heard Jesus’ explanation and the scriptural evidence he used for the resurrection, they were astonished. Although Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead when God spoke to Moses, by referring to them in the present tense, God indicated that they were not to be left in their graves forever (Acts 2:29). They would live again. The instrumentality by which they would live again would be Christ’s death and resurrection. “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). What Commandment is the Foremost? When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. They may have been glad that Jesus had refuted the Sadducees. However, they were still dismayed that more and more people gathering in Jerusalem for the upcoming Passover held Jesus in such high esteem. One of the Pharisees was a lawyer and a scribe, according to Mark 12:28-37. He asked Jesus a fifth and final question to test him; a question on which the Jewish rabbis were divided. “What commandment is the foremost of all” (Mark 12:28)? Without hesitation Jesus answered, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Jesus quoted directly from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 stating that every human being’s first responsibility is to their creator, the one, true, eternal and living God. There is no other (Isaiah 45:5,6). God is loving and just, allowing the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust, so He is more than worthy of our love. But Jesus did not stop there. He adds a second commandment, from Leviticus 19:18, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Each of us must love one another in order to be in harmony with God (1 John 3:11). “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40). When the lawyer heard Jesus’ summation of the Law, he concurred. Here was an individual that had ears to hear, and therefore recognized and appreciated the heavenly wisdom Jesus relayed in his answer. Each one’s love and obedience to God and the application of God’s love to their neighbor covered all the other aspects of the law, “much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” because “to obey is better than sacrifice” (Mark 12:33; 1 Samuel 15:22). When Jesus saw that the lawyer had answered sensibly, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34). This sincere individual could appreciate the good news of the kingdom of God and become a disciple of Christ. Knowing that it would bring contempt from his fellow Pharisees, the scribe nevertheless affirmed the truth spoken by Jesus. Every time the Jewish leaders had tried to stump Jesus with a difficult question, he had answered them from the Scriptures, teaching a lesson they could not refute. After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. Seeing the Pharisees gathered together, Jesus asked them a question designed to enlighten them about Christ — the anointed, prophesied Messiah. This inquiry was based on the issue that was behind all of the questions posed by the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees. Was Jesus the Messiah? The priests, scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees all sought to prove by their questioning that Jesus was not the Messiah and not the authorized king of Israel. Instead, Jesus’ healing work and his answers to their questions proved that he was the Messiah. Now Jesus brought the issue to the forefront saying, “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He” (Matthew 22:42)? They said, “The son of David.” Jesus then asked, “Then how does David in the Spirit call him ‘Lord,’ saying, The LORD said to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand, until I put your enemies beneath your feet’” (Matthew 22:43,44, Psalms 110:1)? Mark’s account captures the essential point of his question, “in what sense is he his son” (Mark 12:37)? Matthew’s account says, “No one was able to answer him a word” (Matthew 22:46). They did not understand how the Messiah could be both David’s son and Lord (master), both root and branch. How could both be true? The Messiah was to be born of the royal line of David to fulfill the scriptures (2 Samuel 7:16- 17, Isaiah 9:6-7, Jeremiah 33:14-17). Only in this sense is he David’s son, for the Messiah was to be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), of the holy spirit, born under the Law (Galatians 4: 4-5) so that he could give his perfect human life a corresponding price for Adam and his race and begin the process of delivering his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21-23, 1 Timothy 2:5-6). The Messiah would then be raised from the dead to the divine nature — glory, honor and immortality. After his glorification, the Messiah “is David’s Lord in that David will receive through him, not only resurrection from the dead, but also the blessings of participation in the Messianic Kingdom. The father of Messiah in the flesh will thus become the son of the Messiah of glory, whose earthly life is to be the restitution price for the whole world, including David. Thus it is written, “ ‘Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes [rulers] in all the earth (Psalm 45:16)’” (Reprints, page 4687).
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