No More Questions

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22)

Imagine a press conference where the reporters run out of questions. Unimaginable!  But a similar thing happened in this passage: the Pharisees, like a bunch of vultures picking for some meat, give up trying. They could find no dirt on Jesus. They were not trying to get to the truth, but trying to tear Jesus to shreds; they were unsuccessful. With each interview, they only ended up looking bad or stupid.  With the Pharisees the ultimate question was always one of authority: "What gives you the right to...?" Having answered their question here, Jesus did what He does so well: ask a question back.  They took the bait. This, of course, lead to another question, which they were unable to answer, which really made them look stupid, or worse yet, unworthy of trust. What if they knew the answer, but were untilling to tell it, withholding important information from the people?  If they knew something more about Who the Messiah would be, and did not let God's people know, they were guilty of obstruction of justice, withholding information people had a right to know. Jesus had the answer, but they would not receive it. That's why they stopped asking questions.