A note from Pastor regarding his sermon:

By the time we reach the 21st chapter of Matthew, the week of Christ’s passion has begun. Jesus has entered Jerusalem, welcomed by crowds and shouts of joy. He has driven the money-changers from the temple. He has begun teaching in the temple grounds. And he is confronted by the chief priests and the elders – men who have long guided the people of Israel in their religious practices, who enjoy worldly authority and the obedience of those who want to remain in good standing in the Jewish world.

Some of these men feel threatened by what Jesus is doing and teaching, and they have become jealous of the power they have enjoyed for some time. And so our Gospel reading for this week describes one confrontation between the chief priests and Jesus. The chief priests demand to know what authority Jesus claims that would entitle Him to challenge their time-honored traditions and practices. But as we will see, their confrontation is made in bad faith, and they have no defense against the truth that Jesus has come to declare over and above the traditions they would prefer to continue.