Luke 20:1-8 – Be truthful

Jesus came to Jerusalem with two clear signals of His authority: (1) His triumphant entrance on the back of a donkey and the people's adulation and (2) the cleansing of the temple where the money changers were driven out. In Luke 20:1-8 He was teaching and preaching the Gospel in the temple. His opponents, namely, the chief priests, scribes and the leaders of the Sanhedrin, came questioning His authority. It was quite clear that the question asked was not to clarify something they did not understand. They were asking the question to trap Jesus.

It's not really a smart thing to question Jesus, for He had quite amply proven Who He was, and by what authority He did what He did. So the Lord asked them in return, by whose authority John the Baptist baptized the people. It was an opportunity they had spurned. They could have seized this opportunity and come clean. But they won't. This revealed the hardness of their hearts. So they reasoned among themselves.    

John the Baptist was considered a prophet by the people. Many knew and believed that he was sent by God. The opponents knew that they would be checkmated if they should say John came from heaven. They anticipated the next question would be: then why didn't they believe in him? And if they should say he came from men, they were afraid of being stoned. Refusing to answer, they claimed ignorance. Christ could read their intention, so He also told them in that case He would not answer their question concerning His authority.

The Lord only deals with truth because He is the Truth. When we come seeking for truth we will find it in Him. We will always go away having our honest doubts and fears cleared. However, we should never twist scriptures to cover what we already knew to be a flaw. We should never try to wriggle out of the truth. David discovered that, so He wrote in Psalm 51:6, “Behold Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part thou wilt make me know wisdom." The Lord desires truthfulness and abhors deceitfulness. Let's seek to be truthful, sincere and honest.