Theophylact Bulgarian. Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 21:23. And when He came to the temple and taught, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him and said: By what authority do you do this? and who gave you such power? Matthew 21:24. Jesus answered and said to them: I will also ask you one thing; if you tell Me this, then I will also tell you by what authority I do it;
Matthew 21:25. where did the baptism of John come from: from heaven or from men? But they reasoned among themselves: if we say: from heaven, then He will say to us: why did you not believe him?
Matthew 21:26. And if we say: from men, we are afraid of the people, for everyone reveres John as a prophet.
Matthew 21:27. And they answered Jesus: We do not know. He also said to them: Neither will I tell you by what authority I do this.
The teachers of the law, envious of His power, with which He expelled the merchants from the temple, approach Him with the following question: Who are You, that you expel the merchants from the temple? Did you do it on the authority of the priest? But you have no priestly rank. Or are you acting like a king? But you are not a king. Yes, even if you were a king, then you would not have been able to do this: even the kings in the temple do not have the power to dispose of. So asked the Lord His enemies with the following purpose: if He says: 'I do this by My power,' they can slander Him as a rebel who arrogates to himself power; if He says: “so I walk according to the authority that God has given me, ”they will turn away from Him the people who glorified Him as God - they will reveal to the people that He is not God and acts like a slave, by virtue of the power of God. How does Christ, Wisdom Itself, answer them? He “catches the wise in their deceit” (1 Cor. 3:19). He similarly asks them about John, so that if they say: “John's preaching was from heaven,” they could be caught in the fight against God, as if they did not accept it, and if they say: “from men,” then they would be exposed to danger from the people, so how all revered John as a prophet. By this the Lord teaches that one should not answer questions with malicious intent. He Himself did not give an answer to the insidious question of the Jews, although he would not have found it difficult to answer. Here we learn from the example of Christ, which should not even boast. Although the Lord could have said by what authority He acts in this way, yet He did not say, so that it would not seem that He was glorifying Himself.
