To review, Jesus dealt with accusations by asking questions to challenge their thinking and open their heart to Him as their Messiah. To do that, they had to unlearn their old thoughts and explore a new way of thinking. We can learn that asking a question in enemy territory is an effective way to communicate. …
In Matthew 26, Judas and the Jewish leaders were on one side of the conflict and the disciples on the other. While Jesus laid down his own life so that no one took it from Him, there were a few times in which Jesus kept silent before His accusers. They came at the very end…
Sometimes the best way to deal with accusations is to leave. Staying and arguing will only make matters worse as each side would try to prove they are right. Leaving does show that He had tried to convince them. But, now that it is over, there is not much more that He could say or…
Jesus used the Scriptures as the base for his beliefs and values. When accused falsely, He would often quote the scriptures, or he would ask, “have you not read in the Scriptures…” Jesus repeatedly used Scriptures throughout His encounters with the Jewish leaders trying to help them see that their zeal was misdirected. The most…
Jesus had done all he could to warn the Jewish leaders. He commissioned the apostles to the Jews, first. He attempted to win them to the kingdom of heaven. At times, Jesus dealt harshly with their accusations because of the gravity of the accusations. For example, when the Pharisees accused Jesus of using the power…
Matthew 12:25 The Pharisees’ rejection of Jesus was evident when Jesus healed a demon-possessed blind and mute man. They could not attribute the healing to the power of God and were annoyed at the amazement people showed saying “Could this be the Son of David” (Matt. 12:23). So determined and blinded by their own prejudice…
Often, Jesus would compare things to clarify the facts. He skillfully used short statements that conveyed generally accepted truths. Often, these were cast in the context of the Jewish leaders knowledgeable of the Law and Jewish tradition. Many of these short analogies were in the form of parables. The wisdom of this approach was in…
We are looking at examples of Jesus using questions to answer questions in the context of His enemies trying to find fault in him. He was blasphemous and a law-breaker (violating the Sabbath law). The next example taken from Matthew is when Jesus was accused of using demonic power to cast out demons (Matt. 12:22-ff). …
Most of us expect an answer and preferably a short answer to questions that we ask them. We often deem questions given in response to our questions as being a wise guy or smart alec. Yet, the choice of using questions in response to questions is based on the perceived motivation of the question. Jesus…