I have worked with people in my past and present who will tell you anything, especially if it pleases you, just to be heard and trusted as one “in the know.” They give out misinformation in response readily without truthfully knowing the answer—and they do so with such confidence, you are fooled into thinking that what they say is right. It is frustrating, when humans skillfully create (lie) answers, responding with words off the top of their heads in order to sound important. These people are hard to rely on when forming a plan of action or completing a mission. We cannot depend on their information to be valid. When they are working against you for self-preservation, it’s even more dangerous. It would be so much better if they would just tell me they don’t know. I can deal with that.
Jesus knows the people well who ask for his “credentials”—“by whose authority do you teach”? As a former teacher who had to wear a tag around my neck always that signified the authority to teach, employed by the company who hired me, I get it. But this is Jesus! Jesus, with the wisdom of His Father, handles the authority question brilliantly, “turning the tables” on their goal to discredit the Son of God.
Notice how wise they were to say, “We don’t know.” That response is probably the smartest and most accurate response they could have given, because they didn’t know. They had forgotten God and how He works. They didn’t know God’s will and plan. These pride filled leaders with man-made power didn’t know Jesus was the Son of God. They didn’t know that the Messiah they have read about from the words of the prophets was standing right in front of them! They also didn’t know that they would play a role in His sacrifice for their sins and the sins of the world. They just didn’t know. They refused to know.
That’s why Jesus follows up this “meeting of the minds” with two stories to reveal just how much they do not know…
Matthew 21, The Message
True Authority
23 Then he was back in the Temple, teaching. The high priests and leaders of the people came up and demanded, “Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to teach here?”
24-25 Jesus responded, “First let me ask you a question. You answer my question and I’ll answer yours. About the baptism of John—who authorized it: heaven or humans?”
25-27 They were on the spot and knew it. They pulled back into a huddle and whispered, “If we say ‘heaven,’ he’ll ask us why we didn’t believe him; if we say ‘humans,’ we’re up against it with the people because they all hold John up as a prophet.” They decided to concede that round to Jesus. “We don’t know,” they answered.
Jesus said, “Then neither will I answer your question.
The Story of Two Sons
28 “Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’
29 “The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went.
30 “The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went.
31-32 “Which of the two sons did what the father asked?”
They said, “The first.”
Jesus said, “Yes, and I tell you that crooks and whores are going to precede you into God’s kingdom. John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe him.
The Story of the Greedy Farmhands
33-34 “Here’s another story. Listen closely. There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.
35-37 “The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. The owner tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. The owner was at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. ‘Surely,’ he thought, ‘they will respect my son.’
38-39 “But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands in greed. ‘This is the heir! Let’s kill him and have it all for ourselves.’ They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him.
40 “Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip, what do you think he will do to the farmhands?”
41 “He’ll kill them—a rotten bunch, and good riddance,” they answered. “Then he’ll assign the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it’s time.”
42-44 Jesus said, “Right—and you can read it for yourselves in your Bibles:
The stone the masons threw out
is now the cornerstone.
This is God’s work;
we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it!
“This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed.”
45-46 When the religious leaders heard this story, they knew it was aimed at them. They wanted to arrest Jesus and put him in jail, but, intimidated by public opinion, they held back. Most people held him to be a prophet of God.
WHAT DO LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Ah, the religious leaders know now these stories were about them. But this knowing did not change their minds. Sigh.
Be “in the know”! Believe that Jesus is truly God’s Son. Believe that Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin and raised by a carpenter as the Son of Man. Know that Jesus grew in stature and wisdom as Son of Man and Son of God in this devoted Jewish family where He loved and served his family and community until it was time to complete the mission God sent Him to do. Jesus knew His Father God. They talked without ceasing. Jesus always did or said what His Father told him to say and do. Know that Jesus was without sin.
Because of being Son of God who is love, Jesus expressed this love to the world. People were drawn not only to His wisdom in teaching that was unlike they had ever heard; but they were enthralled by His love extended to all kinds of people who God had created. Who is this? What kind of love is this? Where did He come from? How does He do what He does?
Probably the best “knowing” response comes from a now sighted man whom Jesus healed with just one touch but then berated by these same religious leaders who wanted to kill the Son of God—who they did not know:
“Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25)
Know Jesus. Know that He loves you enough to die for you so that you will have a home forever with Him. Know that Jesus left a Helper to guide us on our journey in this life now. Why? Because of God and God is Love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Believe and be saved for life with the One who is the Way, Truth, and Life! Then live in the unforced rhythm of His grace here and now. Get to know Jesus by reading what He says in God’s Word to us. “I want to know Christ”, says Paul, “yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 4:10-11)
We do not know all there is to know—yet! But the more we know about Jesus, the more we want to know! “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14
The gift of a new life with Jesus that leads to eternal life is ready to be opened and enjoyed right now! Know and believe. Grow and receive help in the journey to know Jesus more and more each day. The more we know, the more we can be like Him.
Lord,
Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole. Thank you for cleansing my heart and making me right with God. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins as I forgive others who merely offend me because they do not know. Thank you for renewing my mind as I study Your Word. Thank you for restoring the joy of your salvation continually at work within me. You are Life. You are Hope. You are the peace I seek. Thank you for your love that is at the foundation of who you are.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Our Father everlasting
The all creating One
God Almighty
Through Your Holy Spirit
Conceiving Christ the Son
Jesus our Savior
I believe in God our Father
I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit
Our God is three in one
I believe in the resurrection
That we will rise again
For I believe in the Name of Jesus…
This I Believe, by Hillsong
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 