They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” – Matthew 21:25b-26

Today's Scripture Reading (January 27, 2024): Matthew 21

I recently read that there are no wrong answers, only wrong questions. I am not sure that any of my professor’s would agree (because, if that is true, those who have control of my educational future have some deep explaining to do because they have flunked their students on more than a few exams.) The idea itself, though, is sound, however it is also overstated. There is a sense that if you receive a wrong answer, then one of the things we need to do is check the question. I wrote a New Testament exam a few years ago and I interpreted a question wrong. The answer that I gave (and it was an essay question, so I took me a few pages to give it) made absolutely no sense when it was read with the intention of the question being asked. Luckily, my Professor allowed me a measure of grace and took the blame for what he called a “badly worded question.” He allowed my answer to be graded in light of the question that I thought was being asked, instead of according to the one that he was really asking.

But there are some questions that simply would seem to have no right answer, or at least not an answer that the one asking the question would find acceptable. I have sat through several business meetings where this was exactly the case. The question was asked, and I knew the answer that was being sought, but the desired answer just wasn’t right, and the right answer could simply not be accepted.

And this is exactly the situation in which these religious leaders found themselves. They are trying to trick Jesus into the sin and, in Jerusalem at this time, the crime of blasphemy. The question that they had asked is “by whose authority do you do the things that you do.” The problem is that while Israel is expecting the coming of the Messiah, to claim to be the Messiah was considered to be a criminal act, an act of blasphemy. The authority by which Jesus did everything was that of his Heavenly Father. But in this case, the right answer in the eyes of religious elite was a crime.

So instead of answering, Jesus responds with a question of his own. “Did the authority by which John baptized come from heaven, or did John baptize by the authority of some human agency?” And now the religious elite faced the same problem they had presented to Jesus. They believed that the baptism of John was of human origin, but if they responded truthfully, they would face a riot from an overwhelming majority of the people who believed that John was sent from heaven.

In the end no one’s questions were answered because there were no right answers, or more precisely, acceptable answers to give.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Mark 11

See also Mark 11