Wise Defense – Matthew 21:23-27

It was a successful TV detective drama on a couple of networks in the 70’s and 80’s. Columbo was the bumbling police detective who seemed confused most of the time but who was really putting all the clues together and inevitably showing the flaws in the real killer’s story. He solved every case. He often asked his opponents questions to get them to expose their guilt.

Jesus did the same thing.

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. (Matthew 21:23-27 ESV)

Jesus has done most of his ministry outside of Jerusalem, so when he comes to the holy city and cleanses the temple, performs miracles and teaches in the temple, as Messiah should do, the chief priests and elders feel the need to challenge him.  But their hearts are not pure.  Jesus’ brilliant parry of their thrust, his deflection of their jab, merely demonstrates that they are not seeking the truth but seeking instead to challenge him and make him stop.

Why didn’t the chief priests and elders receive John?  They knew the populace did and would hold them guilty for not acknowledging John as a prophet, so they were pretending they accepted John’s ministry but they had not repented in light of the coming kingdom.  They had kept up appearances when they should have believed.  This is the mark of a gutless religion, of a religion of convenience, of a desire for influence above a desire for truth.

We will be faced with people just like this. And they often will, like the chief priests and elder did Jesus, seek to put us on the defensive. They’ll ask us to (unfairly) prove something we believe when they cannot do the same about what they believe. Or they’ll give us the burden of proof on something we have stated without making clear what they believe or owning any burden of proof for their tenets. May I commend to you the brilliant book by Greg Koukl on facing these situations and defending Christianity? It’s called Tactics: A game-plan for discussing your Chrisitian convictions, and it is so helpful.

We can be wise like Jesus in our interactions with unbelievers. Let’s seek his wisdom and learn how to defend our faith.