Defeating the Subtleties of the Scribes and Priests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bible Verses~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luke 20:1 And on one of the days, as He was teaching the people
in the temple and announcing the good news, the chief priests
and the scribes with the elders came upon Him, (2) And spoke,
saying to Him, Tell us by what authority you do these things,
or who is the one who gave you this authority? (3) And He
answered and said to them, I also will ask you one thing, and
you tell Me: (4) The baptism of John, was it from heaven or
from men? (5) And they reasoned together among themselves,
saying, If we say, From heaven, He will say, Why did you not
believe him? (6) But if we say, From men, all the people will
stone us to death, for they are persuaded that John was a
prophet. (7) And they answered that they did not know where it
was from. (8) And Jesus said to them, Neither do I tell you by
what authority I do these things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Words of Ministry~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 20:1 we see that as the Lord was teaching in the temple and
preaching the good news, the chief priests, scribes, and the
elders came to Him. The priests were the serving ones in the
temple, the scribes were those with a thorough knowledge in the
Mosaic law, and the elders were administrators among the Jewish
people. These three categories of people were the outstanding
leaders in the Jewish community. They came prepared to carry
out a thorough examination of the Lord as the Passover Lamb.
The chief priests, scribes, and elders said to the Lord, "Tell
us by what authority you are doing these things. or who is the
one who gave you this authority?" (20:2). They thought that
they could catch the Lord by asking Him about the source of His
authority. As the One who was being examined, the God- man was
frank, genuine, wise, and dignified. But those who were
questioning Him were base, subtle, insidious, and dishonest.
They did not come either with a proper attitude or in a proper
spirit.
In answering the question raised by the chief priests, scribes,
and elders, the Man-Savior was wise. When asked who gave Him
authority, He did not say, "My Father gave Me this authority."
To answer the question in such a way would not be wrong, but it
would be lacking in wisdom. In His wisdom the Lord said to
them, "I also will ask you one thing, and you tell Me: the
baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men?" (vv. 3-4).
This question put them into a dilemma, and they debated among
themselves about it... (vv. 5-6). Eventually, not having the
wisdom to handle the situation, they could do nothing except
lie by answering, "We do not know where it was from" (v. 7).
Knowing that they were lying, the Lord said to them, "Neither
do I tell you by what authority I do these things" (v. 8). This
indicates that the Lord knew the Jewish leaders would not tell
Him what they knew. Hence, neither would He tell them what they
asked. They lied in saying, "We do not know." But the Lord
spoke the truth wisely to them, exposing their lie and avoiding
their question.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(c) 2007 Living Stream Ministry. Bible verses are taken from
the Recovery Version of the Bible (RcV) and Words of Ministry,
from Witness Lee, Life-study of Luke, pp. 390-391. Both are
published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. (Repeat
4/1/02)
Please visit us at www.emanna.com
Comments to: comment@emanna.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe ultimate.philippine.travel.blog@blogger.com from the mailing list, simply click on the link below:
http://mail.emanna.com/smpro/s.pl?r=1&l=2&e=ultimate.philippine.travel.blog=:blogger.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email: ultimate.philippine.travel.blog@blogger.com
ID: 14858
Time Completed: 11:09 PM
Language: English
List: 2.list
Email type: plain
Message Date: 10/16/2007
