Monday Devotional: "By What Authority?" (Mark 11:27-33)
Rising tension in Jerusalem
Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” 29Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” 31They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” —they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things” (Mark 11:27-33).
If you’ve heard the Good News of Jesus, you can accept him or reject him. Many reject him, and for many reasons. Most often it is that we want something more than we want Jesus. We want money, sex, power, fame, prestige, or some other transient distraction. In other words, as Augustine taught, we love the wrong things, and we love in the wrong way. Thus we devise reasons to reject Jesus. Whether we can see it or not, however, Jesus is the Son of God, and he wields divine authority.
In this passage, Jesus has returned to the temple, and the authorities are surely on the lookout for the man who had so recently caused a disturbance there. The chief priests, scribes, and elders approach Jesus with a question about the authority by which he does “these things.” Together these three groups made up the seventy-member Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin (see Mark L. Strauss, Mark, Zondervan, 2014). Later Jesus will stand trial before this same group (see 14:53). His actions in the temple have put him squarely in their crosshairs.
Exactly what they mean by “these things” isn’t clear, but in light of the fact that only the day before he had driven out those who were selling and buying in the temple and overturned the tables of the moneychangers, these events are likely in view. To have attacked the temple system in this way was indeed an audacious claim to authority, but such claims are nothing new to Jesus, who heals the sick, casts out demons, forgives sins, claims to be Lord of the Sabbath, and stills the wind and the sea. Jesus has demonstrated his authority on numerous occasions during his public ministry. The temple officials just haven’t been nearby as witnesses.
Social scientists call this type of exchange a “challenge-riposte” interaction. Such verbal jousting is common in honor-shame cultures, particularly among men. In such exchanges, one party loses honor while another gains it. The point of the priests, scribes, and elders who question Jesus is not really to ascertain information about the source of his authority. It is to entrap and embarrass him. If he answers that his authority is from God, they might accuse him of blasphemy. If he says that he wields only human authority, he will lose credibility among his followers. It’s a lose-lose situation for Jesus.
Nevertheless, he demonstrates his wisdom by turning the question back on the questioners. He asks them whether John’s baptism came from heaven or was of human origin. Now they are the ones on the horns of a dilemma. If they admit John’s authority is from heaven, they’ll have to explain why they didn’t believe him about Jesus. If they say John’s authority is of human origin, they risk angering the many people who regard John as a prophet. The best they can do is answer, “We do not know.” Their attempt to entrap Jesus has ended in their public embarrassment. Jesus thus gains more honor and his opponents endure shame.
Because they will not admit the source of John’s authority, Jesus responds, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” The English monk and scholar Bede (7th-8th cen.) comments,
It is as if Jesus had said, “I will not tell you what I know, since you will not confess what you know.” In this way knowledge is hidden from those who wrongly seek it principally for two reasons: first, when the one who seeks it does not have sufficient capacity to understand what he is seeking for, and second, when through contempt for the truth one is unworthy of having the subject of his inquiry explained to him…. So these critics were most justly set aback. They retreated in disgrace (Oden and Hall, Mark, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture).
In other words, those questioning Jesus were both incapable of understanding the truth and unworthy of receiving it. In this sense, they are like the scribes who attribute Jesus’ power and authority to Beelzebul (3:22). They are unable to distinguish the work of God from the work of the devil. In fact, their perception is so skewed that they will end up condemning him and calling for his death (14:64). Jesus’ death on the cross draws near.
Prayer: God, sharpen my spiritual senses. Show me all the ways Jesus has authority in my life. When I am stubborn, teach me humility. When my thoughts are misguided, renew my mind.
Questions:
How do you think people reacted when they saw Jesus return to the temple after he had driven out the vendors and turned over the tables of the moneychangers?
Do you think Jesus’ opponents could not perceive his authority, or is it more likely that they did perceive it but willingly rejected it?
What does Jesus’ authority mean for your day-to-day life?