What Think Ye of Christ?

Matthew 22:41-42 – “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ?”

This is the most important question that every man will ever face.  What think ye of Christ?  These Pharisees had to face the eternal Christ in person and answer this question.  And the answer that one gives determines his eternal destiny.  It was clear that these Pharisees were not willing to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah – they were too steeped in religion.  They were depending on the law for salvation, and Christ often declared the inadequacy of the law to effect salvation.  In this passage, He proceeds to pronounce woes on the Pharisees. 

He begins in chapter 23 by declaring what they were doing that was deficient.  He tells the multitude in verses 2 and 3 that the scribes and Pharisees were in a legitimate place of authority and they should do whatever they said.  But then He warns to do as they say but not as they do, because they are hypocrites.  He then pronounces woe on the scribes and Pharisees in eight different verses.  Most of the verses begin, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” and proceeds to condemn them for blocking the path of salvation – for mistreating the widows – for vain, repetitious prayers – for making proselytes two-fold children of hell – for being blind leading the blind – for emphasizing the tithe over judgment, mercy and faith – for straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel – for cleaning the outside but being full of filth on the inside – for being white sepulchres but being full of corruption – for making pretty the tombs of the prophets that their fathers killed.  He was condemning them for being all about appearance and not being real – he was condemning them for their hypocrisy.  He completed the discourse with verse 33, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

For a contrasting study, let’s look at John 9.  This is the story of Christ healing the man that was blind from birth.  He used the healing to teach the disciples a lesson about His purpose for being here.  But then when questioned by the Pharisees about who had healed him, the man that was healed displayed a progression of belief.  This same progression is true in any who accept Christ as Saviour – a growing of one’s perception of Christ. 

If we first consider verse 11, they asked him who healed him.  “He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus.”  To him at the beginning, Christ was merely “A Man” – that’s all.  He was no more than another man – He didn’t recognize Him yet as anyone special – just “a man.”  Then when they continued to press him because the healing had occurred on the sabbath, in verse 17 he responds, “He is a prophet.”  No longer just a man in his sight, but now a bit more special – now “a prophet.”  But the Pharisees were not yet willing to let it rest.  They were determined to find something against Christ, so they continued to press the man.  In verse 33 he responded, “If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.”  So no longer is He just “a man” or “a prophet,” but now he perceives Him as “a man of God” – he’s beginning to see Him in an extra-special light.  And then finally, Christ asked the man if he believed in Him as the Son of God.  To this the man responded in verse 38, “Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.”  What a wonderful conclusion to the man’s progression of belief – from “a man” to “a prophet” to “a man of God” to “Lord.”  And any man, woman, boy, or girl who would know Christ must see Him in much the same progression.  Christ used this occasion to make another dig at the Pharisees, rebuking them for their continual, hypocritical blindness.

Quote – “Oh, may God help all of us to glorify the Father, by thinking well of his only-begotten Son.” – D. L. Moody

"Lord, Thank you for teaching us of the reality of a loving Saviour. Help us to see you daily as you really are - Help us to see you and worship you as Lord. Amen."