“And hearing this, they marveled, and leaving Him, they went away … And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching … And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.”
- Matthew 22:22,33,46 -
“What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He?” What a question. The most important of all questions! “What do you think of Christ? Whose Son is He?” When it comes to opinions about Jesus, the world has many. In fact, around A.D. 100, the Jews wrote how “Jesus practiced magic and led Israel astray.” Then, a few hundred years later, Julian the Apostate rose to the Roman throne. This ancient adversary of Christ wrote blasphemies like how “Jesus has now been celebrated about 300 years, having done nothing in His lifetime worthy of fame, unless anyone thinks it a very great work to heal lame and blind people and exercise demoniacs in the villages of Bethsaida and Bethany.” What a statement. What utter blindness to Christ!
Some take a negative view of Jesus. Jewish leaders in His day said Christ worked by the power of hell itself. Since then, the world has been either condescending, generous, patronizing, or complimentary to Christ. Some of the great philosophers have seen Jesus as the best of men. Rousseau said: “When Plato describes his imaginary righteous man loaded with all the punishments of guilt, yet meriting the highest rewards of virtue, he describes exactly the character of Jesus Christ.” Even Ralph Waldo Emerson, an agnostic, said: “Jesus is the most perfect of all the men that have yet appeared on the earth.” What’s fascinating is why non-Christians heap praise on Jesus when they reject His deity. But we find our answer when we examine Jesus’ words.
If God were a man, we would expect His words to be the greatest ever spoken. Even those who opposed Christ said: “Never a man spoke like this Man” (John 7:46). Jesus forever left His opponents dumbfounded by how He answered objections. This wasn’t just limited to the Pharisees. Every soul who heard Christ speak was rocked by His profound wisdom. Most of us turn to John’s Gospel to examine the words of Christ, but don’t overlook Matthew 22. At this point in His Passion Week, Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem to cries of “Hosanna!” only to cleanse the temple, condemning the corrupt Jewish system with damning parables.
With this epic confrontation in full swing and in public view, Matthew says that ‘when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a prophet’ (21:45-46). With His detractors on the back-foot, Christ uses startling words to repel three traps intended to indict Him for rebellion against Rome.
The Pharisees and the Herodians ditch their differences and band together, slithering up to Jesus with flattering lips, saying: “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. Therefore, tell us, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a tax to Caesar, or not?” (Matt. 22:16-17). Their trap (or so they think) is laid, and now Jesus answers.
What is Jesus’ response? Does He miraculously multiply money in the temple coffers or pull off the ultimate disappearing coin trick? No. Our calm, collected Christ spots their wicked scheme a mile off and, studying a Roman coin, He asked: ‘“Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:20-21). With a simple yet profound turn of phrase, Christ shows that we, as image-bearers of God, ought to give all of ourselves to Him. His opponents react with stunned silence. His words have floored them and they scurry away, tails tucked between legs.
Next come the Sadducees, a politically connected Jewish sect that denied the existence of angels and the afterlife. They ask Jesus what they believe is a dastardly question, but, like any kung fu master, Christ uses their momentum to enhance His counter-attack. After rambling on about a woman who married seven brothers, each of whom died, the Sadducees likely smirk, stroke their beards, and ask: “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her” (Matt. 22:28). Jesus doesn’t skip a beat before verbally flipping them to the ground: “You are mistaken, not understanding 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” (22:29-30). What a knockout blow! To use their own spiritual lack against them.
Not only does Christ show astonishing grit, but He rebukes the Sadducees’ wrongheaded theology in a single sentence. He declares both angels and heaven to be very much real, therefore their sect isn’t worth its salt. Our Lord goes on: “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘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” (Matt. 22:31-32). This is a mic drop moment and the astonished crowd knows it. Sadducees only trusted in the inspiration of the Pentateuch, so Christ uses their theology against them, quoting Gods’ words to Moses (Ex. 3:15). Thus Jesus proves that their grasp of Scripture is weak at best, and misguided at worst.
Chewing their nails, the Pharisees and Sadducees plan a Hail Mary pass and send a legal scholar to test Jesus. No prizes if you guess the outcome, but we need to pull in Mark’s Gospel for the full picture. The scribe asks Jesus the foremost commandment. Christ gives this one-two punch: love God, and love your neighbor. Matthew skips the scribe’s reaction, but Mark gives a fascinating insight. The legal expert and ally of the Jewish elite is so stunned by Christ’s brilliance that he blurts out: “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no one else besides Him; and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifice” (Mark 12:32-33).
How does our Lord reply. Does He puff out His chest or high-five the apostles? Heaven forbid! Jesus does what we should expect. He directs His love at one of the lost sheep of Israel, encouraging the scribe, saying: “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34). Even if the midst of verbal battle, Christ still has time to seek a soul on the edge of the kingdom. We can only wonder if we will meet this scribe in heaven. Then, after all these failed assaults, Jesus throws down His superior gauntlet, asking the crowd: “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” (Matt. 22:42).
Here it is. The most important question anyone can ask or answer. Christ’s opponents keep it short and sweet, but Jesus won’t stifle His genius: ‘They said to Him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord’ … Therefore, if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”’ (Matt. 22:42-45). The Pharisees aren’t wrong. But as always, by calling the Messiah David’s son, they show their theology is tragically narrow and Scripturally ignorant.
This is why Jesus often asked them: “Have you not read? Have you not read?” The words were right there in Psalm 110. Yet without the illumination of the same Spirit that Jesus says inspired David’s writing, the religious elite are blind to the clear wonder of God’s revelation. The redemptive plan of heaven was staring them in the face, yet even when Jesus held their hand and walked them through it, Israel’s blind guides were incapable of seeing who He really was.
After all this verbal drama, how does Matthew 22 end? With fear and silent rejection: ‘And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question’ (Matt. 22:46). Is this tragic? Absolutely. But all this took place to fulfill what Jesus had said for months: ‘That He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day’ (16:21).
Jesus’ rejection was just one part of the Christ’s sufferings. The religious elite - the elders and chief priests and scribes - were long ago doomed to dismiss their Savior. But remember, the temple crowd heard Jesus’ words and beheld His genius. They may have cried for His blood just days later, but they also fell on Peter’s merciful preaching at Pentecost. They finally saw the necessity of Jesus’ rejection, repented, believed, and were baptized into Christ. So fall on that same mercy even now, and run to Christ while His arms are yet wide open.
Comments