Jesus faced conflicts with the religious members such as
Sadducees, Pharisees, Scribes and elders of the Jews. The religious people assumed they were the
holders of God’s authority and who will instruct the Jewish people. However, Jesus seemed to usurp their
authority thus creating conflicts with them.
Conflict with the
chief priests and elders
1. The question of Jesus' authority 21:23-27
2. The parable of the two sons 21:28-32
3. The parable of the wicked tenants (vinedressers) 21:33-46
1. The question of
Jesus’ authority 21:23-27
Question by the chief priests and elders:
“By what authority are
you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
What authority? To preach, heal, cast out demons, cleanse
the temple? The religious people assumed
that Jesus’ power was from the devil that was why He could perform miracles and
heal the sick. They were also angry that
he cleansed the temple of traders and money changers which were their source of
income.
“Who gave you this
authority ?”Who gave you? 3 sources of authority:
God, human and devil. Jesus did not answer them but instead
asked them a question of where John the Baptist got his power. If they answer from God, Jesus will ask them
why they did not believe. If they said
from man, people will stone them as they know John was from God.
The chief priests and elders - were wicked to trap righteous
men - feared men and did things against their conscience.
2. The parable of the
two sons 21:28-32
The use of parable was to reveal as well as to conceal. The meaning was revealed to those who are
from God and conceal to those who did not believe.
(a)1st son, `I will not'; but afterward he repented and
went.
(b) 2nd son, `I go, sir,' but did not go.
(i) Who is doing the will of the father?
(ii) We are not perfect especially in word or speech
(iii) We must repent once we realize we are wrong
(iv) We need to obey
–be doers of the words
(iv) We need not have all the full knowledge – we obey what
we know
3. The parable of the
wicked tenants (vinedressers) 21:33-46
Who are the evil tenants?
35: and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed
another, and stoned another.
39: And they took him (the son) and cast him out of the
vineyard, and killed him.
The tenants were the general population and God had given
the fruitful land to them, but they rejected the giver. The son sent to the tenants was Jesus, and
like we read in the Bible, He was rejected and crucified. Jesus used this parable to talk about
himself.
Who are the evil tenants?
Act 7:52 “Which of
the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who
announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now
betrayed and murdered”
Mat 21:43 Therefore I
tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people
producing its fruits.
Are you producing
fruit?
Application
1.
Always fear God and not men
2.
Be humble to repent
3.
Abide always in the Lord (obey) to bear fruit
No comments:
Post a Comment