Tuesday, March 15 - Matthew 21:23–46 (NIV)

Matthew 21:23-46 

The chief priests question Jesus authority and Jesus retorts by questioning their sincerity.  The tension is palpable.

Shaken, but Still Stirred

The disciples have been with Jesus three years.   They have witnessed the High Priest and Elders approach Jesus to test him.  Jesus was in the temple teaching; the High Priest approached and asks, “By what authority do you do these things?”  Jesus answered with a question. “By what authority did John baptize?” The leaders answered, “We do not know”, because they feared the people who thought John was a prophet. Jesus said, “I will not say by what authority I am doing these things.” The questioners didn’t leave until he told them two parables.  The parables told about people that have received the blessings of God but have rejected them.  The leaders knew Christ was talking about them and wanted to find a way to arrest him.  But they were afraid of the people.

Jesus was not shaken by these people.  Were his followers?    The High Priest and Elders were powerful leaders of the Jews.  If the disciples were shaken the strength of Jesus stirred them to continue. 

Do the events surrounding us today shake us?

Yes, without a doubt!

When you are shaken is there still a stirring within you to tell The Good News?

Jannie Bellows

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23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

29 “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

         “ ‘The stone the builders rejected

         has become the cornerstone;

         the Lord has done this,

         and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” 

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.