Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and was walking in the temple when his enemies saw him and wasted no time to verbally attack him. On that day they wanted to know, as if they really cared, by what authority he did all the things he performed. The group that came to see him consisted of chief priests, scribes, and elders. Normally these people would not be in such great camaraderie. The chief priests considered themselves higher than everyone else. The scribes did not believe in the resurrection and there was no reason to associate with anyone because they supposedly knew everything about Scripture. The casual reader of the Bible might not realize how divided the structure of Jewish society was. Each group, each person, was vying for superiority over the others while at the same time claiming they had a direct line to God.
How blind the people of our text must have been! The very question they asked was recognition Jesus performed miracles, taught in-depth lessons in the temple, and delivered people from Satan’s grip. It was not their desire to know the answer to their divisive question. It was their intention to appear in a place of superiority over Jesus. Remember that one of their greatest fears was to lose their jobs should people be converted and follow him.
We might ask why Jesus left heaven to be so mistreated and killed. An incident I heard might help us understand. A man went to his pastor to make arrangements for pre-marital counseling. In the conversation the man raved about the beauty of his fiancé. Yet, when she came with the man for their first appointment, the pastor was struck by not beauty but how ugly she was. Then as their meeting progressed, the pastor understood the man’s decision to marry because of his deep love for her. Jesus does not love us for anything positive that could be said about us. He sees us through his love and that love prompted him to die on the cross.
After humiliating his enemies, Jesus periodically spoke in parables. Even so, his enemies from various groups considered themselves superior so much so that they badgered him with ridiculous questions and examples hoping to back him into a corner. He shared a parable about man who owned a vineyard. The workers would not cooperate at harvest time by returning the profit to the owner as they should. Instead, they killed the son. There is no question that he was indirectly speaking about them.
During a private time with Jesus the disciples asked him three questions after he talked about the future. They asked, “when shall these things be.” Then they asked, “what shall be a sign of your coming?” Finally, they asked, “what shall be the end of the world?” To answer them Jesus referred back to Daniel in his 70th weeks of years. He warned of pending persecution and false prophets. He spoke of a time in which a great evil leader would invade the holy place. Many took the warnings of Jesus to heart. When Gen. Titus invaded Jerusalem in 70 A.D., they escaped with their lives. Intermixed in these answers was the promise of hope just like there is hope for us today. Even though the world rejects Jesus, even though the world seeks a leader that will tickle their ears and charm them but eventually make war with them, there is hope. There is always hope no matter the problem, no matter the issue. There is hope because there is Jesus.
Christian Writer 