Jesus’ Authority Questioned
One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Observations & Reflections
As Jesus begins teaching in the Temple (the most sacred place to the Jews) it was only normal that he would draw the ire of the religious leaders and the scribes, etc. However, it’s hard to know the full context of the issue as Matthew and Luke disagree with Mark about when it happened. Mark says “as he was walking in the temple” but Matthew and Luke state that it happened “as Jesus was teaching the people”. For reasons that will be explained later in the post, it’s safe to assume that no matter where Jesus was when this happened, he would have been surrounded by believers.
Either way, however, it seems irrelevant to the story, as the main point of these events is that Jesus’ authority in Jerusalem might be too good to be true. He isn’t going to walk into the city and take over the Temple without a fight. However, this would have been expected even by the people who were expecting the kingdom of God to “suddenly appear”.
| Matthew 21:23-27 | Mark 11:27-33 | Luke 20:1-8 |
|---|---|---|
| And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. |
And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him,
28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” 31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” |
One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up
2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” |
In this story we get to see just how intelligent Jesus was and also how crafty he would be when dealing with other crafty folks. Jesus knew that he could not answer this question. If he said he had authority from God (which he did) then he could be accused (eventually was) of blasphemy or killed like all the prophets before him. If he said his authority was not from God then the religious leaders could write him off. So Jesus needed to beat them at their own game.
Jesus asks about John for the obvious reason that John is a bit of a celebrity. He was a prophet and the forerunner to the messiah. The religious leader might not have believed it but the people did. This is the reason why the Pharisees would not press the issue and it’s also why we can assume that Jesus was most likely teaching the crowds at the time of the event. If the religious leaders were not brave enough to make a ruling on John then Jesus would not concede the information of his own authority. Jesus knew if they were not brave enough to condemn John then they were not brave enough to condemn Jesus.
But this is not the last Jesus will see of the religious leaders. No doubt, this interaction lit the fuse of an explosive that will soon be detonated.