Matthew 21:23-22:46

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On Tuesday of Holy Week we find Jesus again in the temple courts, this time not to cleanse the temple but rather to allow himself to be questioned by the religious leaders.  And they had a lot of questions.  But their questions are not legitimate… rather they come across more like, “What came first the chicken or the egg?” or “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise?”  What the religious leaders are trying to do is prove that Jesus is a fraud, so they ask him about his authority and they ask him if it is right to pay taxes and they ask him a trick question about the resurrection and about whose son is the Christ.

But what is interesting is when this happens.  It happens between the time when the lamb was supposed to be chosen and when it was supposed to be killed.  In that time the people of Israel needed to make sure that their lamb was spotless because God called for them to have a spotless lamb.  This questioning then comes across (whether they knew it or not), as a means of testing that Jesus really was a spotless lamb and therefore worthy of being sacrificed and being our substitute. 

At the end of Matthew 22, we find an answer: “No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions (vs 46).”  He was spotless.  He was perfect.  And therefore his sacrifice was also perfect.  Thanks be to God.

Are there any legitimate questions that you have regarding Jesus as you think about him being your spotless lamb?