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Author: Stephen Weller
741 words, 4 minutes read time

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

Scripture: Mark 11:27; Luke 19:47-48, 20:1-2

With the previous lesson we covered the first event recorded for Tuesday. With this lesson we begin another section in which the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things; who gave you this authority?”

^{Mk 11:27} And they came again to Jerusalem ^{Lk 19:47} and he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

Back in gev156, when we covered John 11:45 – 54, the Jewish religious leadership met to discuss what should be done to stop Jesus from doing the wonderful things he was doing that drew people to him. After some discussion it was decided in John 11:53 to look for an opportunity to kill Jesus. Here in the temple on this Tuesday morning the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were looking for that opportunity, by first arresting him, but they could not find anything to charge him with. Even if they could there was nothing they could do because of the resistance they would experience from the people who were hanging onto his words.

^{Lk 20:1} 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.”

When trying to determine a single timeline narrative of the gospels, there are events recorded without a time reference that make it difficult to know where in the timeline it should be placed. In Luke 19:47 it is noted that Jesus was teaching daily in the temple and then just two verses later in Luke 20:1 it is noted that on one of those days his authority was challenged. The one developing the timeline is left to decide that the event we are covering occurred Tuesday morning. Assuming that it did, that would be when those in authority came to Jesus and said, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”

This question was most likely prompted by the temple cleansing Jesus did Monday morning. They want to know what right he had to drive out the commerce that was taking place there for the assumed benefit of the people and for their own financial gain. They were overlooking the fact that the courtyard was to be a place for the Gentiles to come and pray and worship God, and instead wanted to know why he felt he had the right to overrule them by removing what they had allowed to take place there.

“These things” might also be a reference to his teaching and healing in the temple and even through his ministry, because he was not an official priestly authority or a scribal authority, according to his questioners’ sectarian standards. By challenging Jesus, they hoped he might say something they might use against him as they sought a way to destroy him. Having walked with Jesus through similar challenges, we can expect Jesus to respond with a question they can’t answer which allows Jesus not to have to answer theirs. We will hear that question in the next lesson.

Conclusion

We have walked with Jesus through these lessons for over two years, and as we have, we have seen the authority and power of Jesus displayed through a sinless life of service to those in need. At the same time, we have seen the Jewish religious leadership turn aside from God and become worthless in serving the people God gave to them to serve. They have become leaders who deceive the people, whose mouths are full of curses and bitterness against Jesus and seek to shed his blood. In the paths they walk are found ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known. Clearly there is no fear of God before their eyes. In Jesus, God stands before them and they have the audacity to challenge his authority.