I was born in 1958. Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s was a time of significant change. The generation born after World War II rapidly rejected earlier generations’ social mores. A slogan from that era said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30.”
The focus wasn’t on what was right and what benefited society. It was on the individual: What do I want, and how can I get it? This was the “ME” generation. The rallying cry was, “I’ve got to be me.” To find out who I am, I must experiment with all kinds of behaviors, regardless of whether they are illegal or immoral. I must experience things for myself.
Another aspect of this era was the large-scale assault on authority. A bumper sticker said, “Question Authority.” That meant rejecting authority, civil, social, and religious. Nothing was sacred; nothing was off-limits for rebellion.
While this generation’s attitudes and actions were very much “in your face,” they weren’t new. They showed a problem that began with our first parents in the Garden of Eden. Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, every human has been born with the desire to go their way and to decide who will chart their path in life.
Questions about authority were evident in Jesus’s time, too. Our text for this study is Mark 11:27 to 33. Here, Jesus is confronted by the religious leaders concerning His authority. His actions challenged and disrupted their system of authority, and they didn’t take that lightly.
So, listen carefully as I read the Scripture and discuss “The Question of Authority.” Here are the Holy Spirit-inspired words of Mark 11:27 to 33.
Jesus provides several essential ANSWERS to questions of authority in His interaction with the Jewish religious leaders.
The First ANSWER (to the question of authority) is,
The Foundation of Authority
Our text opens with Jesus and the disciples walking in the Temple when the religious leaders confront them. Luke’s Gospel describes the confrontation as abrupt. I imagine Jesus teaching the disciples as they walked and the elders suddenly appearing and blocking their path.
They had a question they wanted Jesus to answer. “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?” This was two questions, not one. They saw themselves as those with the authority to interpret the Law of Moses. Their peers, along with some corruption and political machinations, had chosen them to serve as the religious leaders of the Jews. This is their “official” inquiry.
We need to know that a universally understood principle was firmly established in Judaism: all authoritative teaching required previous authorization. In other words, your authority rested on your Teacher’s authority or a Sanhedrin decree.
Now you can understand why they asked Him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who is it that gave you this authority?” The word authority, as used here, means executive authority. It contains the idea of both right, that is, authorization to make the decisions, and might, the ability to enforce those decisions. We could simplify their question: “Who are you, and who do you represent?”
To be fair, the questions were legitimate. Even today, religious leaders, pastors, and teachers must be concerned about outsiders who teach those under their spiritual care. Many voices today claim to speak with authority, yet those same voices are unaccountable to others. That is a dangerous position for the teacher and the student.
So, let’s explore these two questions. First, “What is the basis or nature of your authority?” In other words, where does your authority come from? It is a good question. If someone asked you this question, how would you answer? Maybe you’re thinking you don’t have any authority. However, if you are a Christ-follower, you have authority based on Jesus’ commissioning of disciples in Matthew 28:18.
Ultimately, all authority rests in God. Listen to what God says about Himself in Isaiah 45:5. “I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the sun’s rising to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.”
The Creator has absolute authority over what He creates. In John 3:35, Jesus said, “The Father loves the Son and has given ALL things into His hand.” In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said, “ALL authority is given to me in heaven and on earth.”
Further, in John 10:30, Jesus said, “I and my Father are One.” In that incident, the Jews picked up stones to stone Him because they understood He was stating equality with God. However, this statement also reveals that Jesus’ authority is always exercised in perfect agreement with the will of His Father. As the Son, His role is subordinate to the Father.
Jesus demonstrated His authority in various ways. He claimed the right to forgive sin. In Mark 2:10, He told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Because the leaders rejected His authority, they accused Him of speaking blasphemies. They said, “Only God can forgive sins.” That was a true statement, but they failed to follow it to its logical conclusion – Jesus was God. Jesus told the man to pick up his mat and go home to prove His authority to forgive sins.
Jesus also exercised His authority in granting eternal salvation. After His anointing in the home of Simon the Pharisee, Jesus said to the woman who anointed Him, “Your faith has saved you. Go into peace.” In John 1:12, we read, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right [authority] to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
Finally, Jesus has full authority over life and death, including His earthly life. In John 10:17 and 18, He said, “Therefore My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may retake it. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down by Myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to retake it. This command I have received from My Father.”
Jesus never requested permission from the Jewish leaders for His teaching and healing ministry. This infuriated them because it indicated Jesus’ disdain for their teaching and actions. If you think disdain is too harsh of a word, read Matthew 23, a whole chapter of scathing rebuke on them for their hypocrisy!
The foundation of Jesus’ authority, of all authority, is God the Father. This leads us to the answer to the second question.
The Next ANSWER (to the question of authority) is,
The Delegation of Authority
Their second question was, “Who gave You this authority to do these things?” Jesus could have legitimately ignored their question. He had already given them extraordinary proof of his Divine mission that could not be exceeded. It would have been in vain to expect the elders to change their minds about Him in any profession he made or any miracle He performed.
The elders did get one thing right. They knew authority must be given or delegated. No human being has ultimate authority. The only ones who don’t accept this fact are dictators and tyrants. Eventually, they will discover how wrong they are when they face the Supreme Judge!
Jesus understood the delegation of authority. I quoted Matthew 28:18 earlier. “All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Even though Jesus was God, He recognized that His authority as the Son of God was delegated. He said it was given to Him.
So, in response to the question by the elders, Jesus said, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—was it from heaven or men? Answer Me.” Maybe you think Jesus was evasive; He didn’t want to answer the question. However, this was a standard method of rabbinic teaching. Rabbis would use this method to help students grapple with the issue more deeply. And from this interaction, we know it was an effective teaching tool.
To rephrase Jesus’ question to the elders, we could say, “Where did John get His authority, from heaven or men?” Jesus’ reference to John’s baptism encompassed John’s whole ministry, not just the baptism of the repentant. Notice, too, that Jesus demanded an answer. Only Mark includes this demand. Jesus’ counter-question implies that he stands not under but over the Sanhedrin. It demonstrates the authority about which he is questioned.
Picture these men, who had stepped forward to confront Jesus, now going off to the side, huddling together to figure out how to answer Jesus’ question. Their quick conference soon revealed that they were on the horns of a dilemma. If they admitted that John’s ministry was from heaven, they knew Jesus would respond by saying, “Why didn’t you believe him?” If they accepted John’s ministry as authentic, they were forced to acknowledge Jesus’ ministry as the same. John had personally sanctioned Jesus’ ministry by baptizing Him.
If they said John’s ministry was from men, they would get in trouble with the crowds. Luke says they feared the crowd would stone them, which was the penalty for false prophets. The people were convinced that John was a prophet speaking with Divine authority. The grammar indicates the people had a settled persuasion about the authenticity of John’s ministry. The elders and Herod feared John even though he was dead. His martyrdom had deepened his power over the people, and disrespect towards his memory might raise a storm.
Jesus here takes the wise in their cunning. He knew John was held in high esteem among the people, and He saw that if they gave any answer at all, they must convict themselves. The elders also saw this when they began to ponder His question.
So, they took the easy way out; they said, “We do not know.” That leads us to our final answer to the question of authority.
The Final ANSWER (to the question of authority) is,
The Determination of Authority
“We do not know.” Now, wait a minute! These men are the religious authorities. They’re responsible for evaluating the claims of anyone who professes to be a prophet; that’s why they approached Jesus in the first place. They’re the gatekeepers of the religion. But they knew if they acknowledged the Divine origins of John’s ministry, they’d have to accept those exact Divine origins of Jesus’ ministry, too. They weren’t prepared to do that.
They said, ” We do not know.” They should have said, “We will not tell, for we will not have this man for the Messiah.” If we acknowledge John as his forerunner, we must receive Jesus as the Christ.
Their dishonest reply was an attempt to escape the trap they had fallen into by challenging Jesus’ authority. Their self-imposed ignorance and refusal to take a stand about the Baptist, who was the Forerunner of Christ, absolved Jesus from a categorical reply. However, as we will see, Jesus has no notion of letting them “off the hook.” The opening verses of chapter 12 are aimed squarely at them.
In response to their evasive answer, Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” Because the religious leaders were unwilling to acknowledge the authority of John’s ministry, Jesus refused to answer their attempt to determine the source of His authority. They who engage against the truth are abandoned to the spirit of falsity. According to its different interests, Pharisaical pride either pretends to know everything or affects to know nothing.
What does all this mean for you and me? How is this interaction between Jesus and the religious leaders relevant today? “By what authority do You do these things?” It is the supreme question every unbeliever faces. You may be in that position today. You may not yet have submitted your will to Christ. You have not yet bent the knee. You have not yet fallen on your face before Him and embraced Him as your Savior and Lord because you doubt His authority.
You are thinking, “Who is Jesus to tell me what to do?” By what authority does He command me to repent of my sins and come to Him? He does that by the authority given to Him by God Himself. God is the foundation of ALL authority, a fact you cannot change but can ignore to your peril.
The Father, the foundation of all authority, has delegated all authority to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike the religious leaders criticizing Him, other human beings didn’t establish His authority. His demand that they answer His question is an expression of His authority.
The elders’ refusal to decide on Jesus’ authority cut them off from the only source of salvation. Until you acknowledge Jesus’ authority, He is not obligated to hear or answer your questions either. For you, just like for these men in our text, the proof, the evidence – it’s all there. You can accept or reject it but can’t legitimately deny it. You cannot escape it, either. You will answer the question now or when you stand before the Judge of all the Earth.
The question Pilate raised when confronting the Jewish crowd at Jesus’ trial is still valid today. “What shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?” It is a question YOU must answer!
