FEARING THE BEAST WITHIN

Jesus often quoted scripture. As I have written before, the New Testament is not the scripture when Jesus spoke because it remained unwritten and certainly unpublished. The Old Testament is ‘scripture’ in the sense that it is the written Word of God.

Jesus, as the Word (John 1:1-14), spoke those words to the prophets and patriarchs by divine inspiration (2 Tim 3:16).,

Jesus healed the blind (Mat 21:14) and the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that Jesus did, but were much displeased (Mat 21:15).

Neither the chief priests nor the scribes could heal anybody. Jesus, they surely felt, stole their glory. That remains a problem to this age, to the extent that in 2005 the Stolen Valor Act was enacted in the United States.

Think about their thinking: We do all the work, but this Man gets the glory! Just as scripture says, their thoughts were not the Thoughts of God (Isa 55:8).

The chief priests and Pharisees, at least one of them asked Jesus, “Hear you what these say?” They were saying, “Hosanna to the son of David” (Mat 21:15) — Oh, save us, son of David.

Why were they angered? David was king, not a priest. King Saul, long ago, assumed the role of priest and did the things that the chief priest Samuel was to do. Saul stole Samuel’s valor, and “The Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel” (1 Sam 15:35).

Jesus was doing their jobs! That goes deeper than it first appears. The job of the scribes was writing copies of the scripture. Perhaps there was jealousy because they only copied it, but Jesus wrote it! Jesus was stealing their valor.

As for the chief priests, they enforced the 613 Laws, but Jesus wrote them as the Word in the Old Testament.

Think how their feelings were hurt when Jesus asked, “Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise?’” referring to God.

The scribes had written that perhaps hundreds of times, and most certainly the chief priests had read that as many times.

Now think on how smart we feel when we quote scripture. The point that Jesus was making was that writing about the Word of God and even reading it is not soterial.

That is likely a new word for you; soterial means ‘relating to salvation’ (Merriam-Webster 2023).

In fact, that hits me squarely in the face; I read the scripture and write a commentary nearly every day, but that does not make me a Christian nor will it save me. It makes me feel righteous but does not make me righteous. Merely reading and writing scripture can be merely placebos unless those precepts are lived.

I do all the hard work, ala the priests and scribes, but that brings me no glory. If I get any glory for what I do, that is valor stolen from Jesus.

Jesus was effectively asking them, Do you not practice what you read and write? To be honest that applies to me as well. Often, I find myself doing the very things that I write that should not be done. Each time, the only solution is to turn to Jesus and give Him the glory that He deserves. The scribes and priests would not do that, but the little children did!

Jesus quoted what both parties should have known by heart, and perhaps they did — “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise?”

Again, what were the children saying? “O save us, son of David.” They gave credit to Jesus as both King and High Priest. David was not; he could not save. However, the children saw that Jesus was the legitimate King of the Jews, which He was, and was also God Himself.

Why would that bother the scribes and Chief Priests. Since Jonathan Hyrcanus was both king and chief priest not too many years before, that the chief priests aspired to the Davidic Throne. Those children did not see the chief priests as kings, and the latter were sore about it. They surely desired the esteem that Jesus was getting. It was them who struggled to save the Jews against the adversaries, and here was Jesus who they saw as the ‘Adversary.’

Jesus had been caught doing wonderful things before, and along came the Pharisees who accused Jesus: “This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Mat 12:24).

The children were calling Jesus Savior and King. The religious leaders claimed Jesus to be the Devil. They believed that they could cast out Devils; they could not, so the two chief priests had Jesus crucified not too long after. Jesus was steeling their glory. How so?

Royalty have ‘Houses,’ using the name of their leader. The chief priest at the time of the crucifixion was Caiaphas. He was the fifth chief priest in the ‘House of Annas” who was there with Caiaphas to put Jesus in his place. Caiaphas was royalty in a sense — he was of the House of Annas, and they were there to defend their aspirations. Jesus was outperforming them, and the multitude loved Jesus as much as they despised the chief priests who enslaved them with the Law.

Jesus called them out — You know scripture, but you fail to live scripture. He seemed to belittle them, but it was the truth. They, however, were not humbled, but were very agitated, so much so that those two men would soon have Him killed.

Jesus quoted scripture. That was His defense against His accusers. Without a written account of the gospels, Jesus quoted a Psalm from the Old Testament: 

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your Name in all the Earth! who has set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have you ordained strength because of your enemies, that you might still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; What is man, that you are mindful of him? and the son of man, that you visit Him? (Psalm 8:1-4)

 Jesus knew that they knew all that song. They had read it over and over and even sung it in the synagogue. Jesus was good at projecting His Thoughts. He merely quoted one verse that would bring to mind the rest of the story. That is what songs do? Just start singing a tune and then stop; those who listen will grasp the whole song if they know it well.

He said one short passage, but what would they think? He claims to be our Lord and that His Name is excellent. He claims to be the Creator of the heavens and the Earth, just as the song says. And to further antagonize them, Who are they to come visit Him?

Jesus never attacked them. He let them judge themselves by filling in the blanks to the Psalm. They were nothing compared to Him, but here they were questioning His Lordship that he had just displayed by doing things that only God could do!

Jesus said so much by saying very little. He did not claim the be the Lord God. However, they must have feared that He was God, or perhaps just a king. They had no reason to fear Jesus; they should fear nothing more than fear itself. They should not have feared Jesus who had done so many wonderful things but fear themselves who had done so many awful things.