Matthew 22:41-42: “Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
The Pharisees and Sadducees in the book of Matthew, kept trying to test and trip up Jesus over and over. Jesus’ miracles of healing the blind, casting out demons, etc. didn’t change their intellectual minds and cold hearts. Seeing new wonders were not needed. It says in verses 34-36: “But when the Pharisees had heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” A lawyer was an expert in the law. The Pharisees had classified over 600 laws and often tried to distinguish the more important from, the less important. So this lawyer, who was an “expert in the law” asked Jesus to identify which was the most important law? Jesus answered by quoting Deut. 6:5, “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind” which Jews repeated daily, and Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He quoted from the Old Testament which they would have been familiar with. Jesus was saying that by fulfilling these two commandments, a person keeps all of the other commandments. Instead of worrying about all we should not do, we should concentrate on all we can do to show our love for God and others. Jesus didn’t condemn what the Pharisees taught, but He went right to the root of their heart issue – pride and hypocrisy. They knew the Scriptures but did not live by them.
So then Jesus turns the tables on the religious leaders. He asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” Six different times in Matthew, Jesus introduces this question, “What do you think?” He did that to test someone. These Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and scribes had all put Jesus to the test. Now he was turning the tables on them and used an indirect approach on His enemies. He made it sound like He was asking another theological question. But in reality, it was the most crucial and critical question, a personal issue they would ever face. Jesus responded to each test with wisdom, logic, and Scripture, that verified Him as the Messiah. In the end, the Pharisees and others were amazed and did not dare to continue to trap Jesus and ask Him anymore questions.
It is no different today. We can argue about the political scene of our day, we can debate about differences in denominations and values, but it all boils down to “What do you think about the Christ?” That is the most critical question to be answered.
This Christmas season, it may be easier to speak up more about Jesus, as “He is the reason for the season.” We can cut through all the philosophical and intellectual clichés and get down to the heart issue: “So what do you think about Jesus Christ?”
Listen to Matt Maher’s What A Friend (Official Lyric Video) YouTube.