Stealing Christ's Inheritance

Jesus continues His exposure of the priests and scribes. He has cleansed the Temple, casting out a major money-making scheme. He has shown them to be prevaricators, lying about John the Baptist. He has demonstrated that they are facades of religion, inwardly rebellious against God. He not exposes their real motives behind all. They would not admit to John being a prophet because their own view of authority would not let them. Here, Jesus shows that they will not listen to Him, either, for a similar reason. They are like all of the Old Testament kings and people who hated and persecuted the prophets. Their motive is the same: usurp from God's Son the authority which He possesses. Lost men are not objective. They are not neutral. They live in a state of rebellion like that of Satan himself, grinding their teeth at God's authority and conniving ways to grab it for themselves.