Matthew 马太福音 21:23-32 — The Ways of the Unrepentant 不信之人的作风

To the Jewish leaders, there was nothing more humiliating than the cleansing of Temple. In the beginning the Pharisees and scribes were powerless to stop Jesus. But slowly as they recovered from the shock, they started to turn on the offensive.

对犹太宗教领袖而言,没什么比耶稣洁净圣殿这事来得更羞辱了。起初,法利赛人与文士无能阻止耶稣,但当他们逐渐从震惊中恢复过来后,他们便开始进攻了。

 

  1. Rejection of Jesus’ authority 拒绝耶稣的权柄 (21:23-27)

In Israel, a rabbi would first be ordained by the Sanhedrin before he was given the corresponding authority for his role. Jesus did not have such an ordination, and hence He was questioned on His authority to teach and preach. Interestingly, they never questioned His power and ability to perform miracles. However, no amount of evidence would bring them to accept Him as Messiah. Their only objective was to find excuses so that they would have grounds to put Him to death.

在以色列,拉比必须先由公会任命,才有权柄履行相应的责任。耶稣并无此类的仪式,所以被质疑祂教导与传道的权柄从何而来。有趣的是,他们从不质疑耶稣行神迹的权柄与大能。然而,就算有再多的凭据,他们都不会接受耶稣为弥赛亚;他们唯一的目的是要寻找借口将祂置于死地。

 

  1. Rejection of God’s will 拒绝神的旨意 (21:28-32)

The parable of the two sons implied that it is immeasurably better for one to refuse initially but repent and obey later, than to hypocritically say yes but did not obey. Jesus’ point was that the claim to religion does not qualify a person to enter the kingdom. On other hand if a person, who committed a gross sin but later repented from it, he will be forgiven and allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven. The Lord said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you.” No rebuke could have cut them deeper or infuriated them more, because in their eyes, tax-gatherers and harlots were the scum of society perhaps even worse than Gentiles. Yet they will be allowed to enter heaven but the Pharisees and scribes are refused to the door of heaven.

两个儿子的比喻意味着起初不愿但后来悔改顺服的,比虚假说是但不顺服的人好得很。耶稣话中的重点是:宣称有宗教的人不一定就能进天国。反之,若一人犯下重罪却后来悔改,他会得饶恕,并得容许进入神的国。主对他们说:“我实在告诉你们:税吏和娼妓倒比你们先进神的国。”没有任何斥责比这更能激怒他们了,因为在他们眼里,税吏和娼妓是社会的败类,甚至或许连外邦人都不如。可是,他们得进天国,而法利赛人和文士却会被拒绝在外。

 

 

Praying the Scripture 用经文祷告

 

  1. Where does Jesus’ authority come from? From heaven or from man? How do you know?

耶稣的权柄从何而来?是从天上来的,还是从人间来的呢?你是怎么知道的?

 

  1. The Jews were preoccupied with the peer pressure that they are not thinking clearly (Matt. 21:25-26). What about you? Are you being influenced by our society such that you are not thinking clearly about Jesus?

犹太人被同侪压力影响了,以致脑子不不清晰(21:25-26)。你呢?你是否被我们的社会影响了,以致你无法正确思考耶稣?

 

  1. There are many of us who give religious correct answers in church yet in our daily lives we did not obey Jesus’ command – can we call ourselves Christians?

我们许多人能在教会里给予正确的宗教答案,却在每日生活中不遵从神的诫命——我们是否能称自己为基督徒?