A Question of Authority

Setting and Overview
After Jesus had cleansed the temple and performed healings, the opposition of the religious authorities against him has grown, and so there is little surprise that when he is back in the temple courts teaching, that the authorities would look for an opportunity to challenge him. As we have seen consistently in the Gospels, though, such opposition also provides opportunities for extended teaching by Jesus, and here it leads to pointed condemnation by Jesus to the authorities for their rejection of him.

Exposition
The religious officials wielded their authority heavily, especially against any who would challenge or threaten their power. Since the chief priest represented the highest recognized official human religious authority, it was expected that he could use that to silence anyone he chose, unless they were able to claim prophetic authority. When Jesus teaches in the temple courts, they challenge him with the question of the basis of his authority, expecting to be able to either trump any human authority he would claim or refute any claim that he would make to being a prophet. Jesus uses this as an opportunity to reveal their hypocrisy and warn of the consequences of their rejection of him. He does this first by posing a question to them of the authority of John’s baptism. This was a relevant question since John had pointed to Jesus, and thus if John had heavenly authority it would validate Jesus’. That however put the authorities in a tough spot because they had rejected John’s call to repentance but also didn’t want to publicly denounce John because of his popularity. When they reply that they don’t know, Jesus then refuses to answer their question either.
Jesus isn’t done with them, however. He next poses two parables to them, with the first about two sons who are sent by their father to work in the vineyard. The first son initially and rudely refuses but later obeys. The second politely proclaims that he will but never goes. In response to Jesus’ question, the authorities acknowledge that it is the first son, despite his initial disobedience, who ultimately does the will of the father. Jesus then identifies them with the second son. While they outwardly claimed obedience, they had failed to actually obey God and had rejected John’s call to repentance. In contrast, tax collectors and prostitutes who had very publicly initially rejected God’s law, had then heeded John’s call to repentance, and thus they showed that they belonged to the Kingdom, despite their earlier sinfulness.
Jesus then poses another parable. This one is also about a vineyard and using imagery from Isaiah 5:1-7, describes a fruitful vineyard that the landowner has high expectations for. When he leases it to tenant farmers and then sends his servants back to collect his portion of the harvest, the farmers beat, kill, and stone them. When he eventually sends his son to them as well, the farmers even more shockingly kill the son, in the hopes of getting the vineyard for themselves. Jesus poses a question again of how the landowner will respond, and the authorities rightly acknowledge that will carry out justice against the farmers and give the land to others. Jesus again then applies it to them, this time by quoting Psalm 118:22-23, which will later be applied to Jesus in Acts 4:11 and I Peter 2:7-8. By failing to produce the fruit that comes from repentance (Matthew 3:8-10) and which would have identified them as belonging to the kingdom, the kingdom will be taken away from the Jewish authorities and given to those who will ultimately produce the fruit that God expects. The authorities are unsurprisingly furious at this, but for now political expediency prevents them from arresting Jesus in the open and sets the stage for the betrayal a few nights later.

Examination and Application
While producing fruit does not qualify us to enter the kingdom, it is nonetheless evidence of those who have been transferred into it (Colossians 1:13.) That fruit includes living obedient lives (Matthew 5:20, Galatians 5:22-24, I Thessalonians 2:11), loving each other (John 13:34), being unified (John 17:23), and carrying out the work of the ministry (Colossians 1:10, Matthew 28:19-20.) We strive to live all of these out not to bring glory to ourselves, but rather because that fruitfulness in us is a demonstration of God’s kindness in us (Ephesians 2:17) and ultimately gives glory to God (Matthew 5:16.)