Facing Criticism

Saturday, May 30th, 2026

7:35 am

Good morning! Today I am in Matthew 21:23-27, Mark 11:27-33, and Luke 20:1-8. Jesus goes back to Jerusalem, and goes in the Temple to preach. While He is in there, the leading priests and elders came up to Jesus and demanded He tells them who gave Him the authority to do all the things He has done? Jesus told them He would answer their questions if they would first answer His. He asked them who gave John the Baptist his authority, did it come from heaven or was it merely human? The priests and elders talked among themselves and said that if they said John's authority came from heaven, then He would ask them why they didn't believe him. But if they said it was merely human, than the people would mob them. So they told Jesus that they didn't know. Jesus told them that He won't tell them where His authority came from.

The leading priests and elders were trying to trap Jesus into saying His authority came from God, stating openly that He was the Son of God, then they could arrest Him for blasphemy. But Jesus countered their question with a question about John the Baptist. These men would not stand up for John. They were afraid to answer the question because of how the crowd would react, because they didn't believe John and the crowd did. The crowd thought John was a prophet. But the leading priests were irritated by John, just as they were irritated with Jesus. These leading priests and elders just wanted to trap Him, they weren't going to listen to anything He had to say, because they hadn't listened yet. So Jesus told them He wasn't going to answer them. Jesus taught and spoke the truth, which threatened everything the Pharisees and religious leaders had done. What Jesus taught called out their sin, so they wanted to stop Him.

The same criticism He faced with these men, is the same criticism that we will face from nonbelievers. If someone truly does not want to believe, they will come up with any excuse they can as to why not, and they will not listen to what you have to say. In instances like this, it is hard not to be discouraged and give up on trying to spread the Good News. But like Jesus, we can't allow critics to stop us from doing what God has called us to do. Jesus tells us in Mark 6:11, "If any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate." Jesus said this to His disciples as He was sending them out to the different towns to share the Good News with everyone. This message is still for us today. Not everyone is going to accept Jesus' message. And we can't force anyone to choose Him. But we can't allow them to stop us. Because that is exactly what the enemy wants to do. To discourage us from sharing God's love. But instead of being discouraged, do like Jesus said and shake the dust from your feet, and move on. It doesn't mean that you have to stop caring about them, but there is no use and arguing with them. Share God's love the best way you can, pray for them, but don't argue or hate them. Let them do what they are going to do. You can't worry or stress over it because you can't control them, it is out of your control. Give them to God, and carry on. God has the rest. God can help ease your mind in the matter, and give you the strength to step away, if it is needed. God can give you peace and rest in the matter, but you have to allow Him time and space to do so. Allowing Him to help you refocus on Him and not the situation you may be dealing with. Allow Him to give you peace today.