Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Today on Pray the Word we have come to Tuesday of Holy Week where we remember Matthew

21 verses 23 through 27 and when he

Jesus entered the temple the chief priests and the elders of the people came

up to him as he was teaching and said by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?

Jesus answered them I also will ask you one question if you tell me the answer then I will tell you by what

authority I do these things. The baptism of John from where did it come from heaven or

from man? They discussed it among themselves saying if we say from heaven or from man? And they discussed it among themselves,

saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us,

then why did you not believe him?

But if we say for man, we're afraid of the crowd,

for they all hold that John was a prophet.

So they answered Jesus, we do not know. And he said to them,

neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

So this picture, if you had seen Jesus walk into the temple

and start driving out those who were buying and selling there,

then you would probably wonder,

like, who does this guy think he is? By what authority is he doing these things?

So these questions posed by the chief priests and elders, like, it makes sense.

But as Jesus follow-up question reveals this was not like some innocent inquiry the Jewish leaders had been threatened for a long time by Jesus' ministry and rightly so he'd been

pointing out their sin, their hypocrisy, his signs and wonders were evidence that his power was far greater than theirs.

And in contrast to their many times false teaching,

...