Saving Face (Pride)

When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?” “I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?” They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn’t believe John. But if we say it was merely human, we’ll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet.” So they finally replied, “We don’t know.” And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things. [Matthew 21.23-27]

We do realize Jesus did in fact answer the leading priests' question, right?

The answer to Jesus' question back to the leading priests was the answer to their own question to Jesus. But they didn't see it.

However, in answering the question about John the Baptist, much is revealed about the leading priests. The main thing about the priests, and the most damning, was that they had become so political in their devotion to God that it served to blind them to the very God they claimed to serve. Their calculations about their answer to the question about John the Baptist reveals all that needs to be known about these leading priests. They were hard-hearted and manipulative. They were unbelieving and insecure in their positions. They were unwilling to repent (because that was the entire message of John the Baptist).

Are we unwilling to swallow our pride and repent? Or will we hold out that we are innocent? Or, worse yet, will we refuse to answer altogether just to save face?

May God help us to ditch our pride and simply repent.

Father, I do repent of all my unbelief and unyielding ways. I want to follow You.