20:3,4
Jesus turned the issue back on the religious leaders, and He did so by going for one of their weak spots. Earlier John the Baptist had been around. He had caused some trouble for the religious leaders, but not that much. They could probably have regarded him as a bit of an oddity, but someone who would only be around for a time. In one sense John was only around for a time, his being killed for his bold proclamation of the truth, but he continued to have an influence. They knew that the people also liked John. Note that neither John the Baptist nor Jesus preached “nice” messages, not “seeker-friendly” sermons! Yet the people found something enticing about their preaching. So Jesus asks the religious leaders where John’s authority came from. Note also that Jesus focuses on John’s baptism, and the essence of John’s teaching, and what was represented by his baptism, was repentance. This was the one thing the religious leaders refused to do.
20:5-8
The religious leaders were ultimately weak men, driven by fear. So they could not answer the question. If they said John’s authority came from heaven then the next question would be, why then did they not repent? But if they said John was acting merely on his own authority then the people would stone them, for the people regarded John, rightly, as a prophet.
So the religious leaders refused to answer, claiming they did not know. Jesus likewise refused to answer. Why did He do this? He wanted them to realise the state they were in. There are times for a direct refutation of an argument, there are times just to get the people making the false argument to think about the weakness of their case.
The only truly solid foundation is to build our lives on God’s truth.
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