Rules! Everywhere in life we find rules. Rules help create order in the middle of chaos. Rules protect everyone, but are especially important for those who don’t have the ability to speak for themselves.
As we have seen in recent headlines, when the rules are ignored, mayhem follows. When everyday citizens don’t obey the rules, or when those in power don’t obey the rules, anarchy results. Trust goes out the window. If we can’t trust our fellow citizens, we are in big trouble.
Anarchy is not an answer to the ills of injustice.
There are rules for civilized debate. They may vary from culture to culture, but they are there. Usually each side has the opportunity to state their case, be questioned, provide answers, and in turn question the other side, and get their answers. This cycle continues until one party or the other withdraws by not engaging according to the rules.
This is just what happens in the text. The religious leaders stop the process by not answering Jesus’ question. You might say, why didn’t Jesus answer their question? But part of what Jesus’ does in answering their question with a question is to clarity their question. Jesus’ question back to them has clarified their initial question. He has defined their range of acceptable answers. They have excluded answering in a way that acknowledges the LORD’s work in the world apart from the carefully prescribed lanes they have defined, the lanes over which they claim control.
Since Jesus’ demonstrates the LORD’s authority in His life and ministry, they are incapable of hearing and acknowledging the truth in relationship to Jesus. They have prescribed an acceptable answer for Jesus that excludes the LORD’s authority. They won’t acknowledge His authority with John, so they won’t with Jesus either.
So Jesus withdraws from the debate, just as they have withdrawn from the debate. Sometimes this is the best thing to do when someone won’t acknowledge the truth. You can point out the facts of enlarging polar ice caps, lack of tropical storms, 19 years of non-rising temperatures to a global warming devotee, and the facts mean nothing.
You can even point out the absolute fraud of the rewriting of the basic data of climate temperature by UK, USA & Australian scientists to support their theory, to show that the theory is bunk, but they just can’t hear the truth. Non-global warming is not an option to them, just like Jesus’ authority being the LORD’s authority is not an option to these religious leaders. Once someone’s mind is this committed to a course of action and belief, it can be very hard to change them, even with facts.
The Arnold Journey 