Luke 20:1-8 (ESV)
The Authority of Jesus Challenged
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 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Jesus asks them this question in an attempt to actually answer their question. They wanted to know where His authority came from. When He was baptized, God spoke from heaven approving of Him, thus giving Him authority. If they would have answered that John's baptism was from God they would have realized God's voice that day gave Jesus authority. But, since they were rejecting both John the Baptist and Jesus, they could not respond. This is the pattern of the religious. They have lots of tricky questions and lots of “I got you moments.” But, they fail to recognize the basic truth that Jesus is Lord and we are to honor Him as such. They did not want to really know the “authority” Jesus had.
In truth, Jesus had told them many times that He was “from His father, in heaven!”
John 5:17 (ESV)
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
John 5:36 (ESV)
But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
John 8:18 (ESV)
I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”
John 10:37, 38 (ESV)
If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Jesus did not blindfold them about His authority. He was doing the works of His Father and they should believe Him because of that. They did not. So, too, many today. They do not recognize the authority that Jesus had, has and will demonstrate latter to them. The fact that they do not affirm His authority does not diminish it. Like a person who has mentally lost reality and thinks he/she can fly, so too those reject the Lordship of Jesus. You may think that gravity does not exist, but at some point you will finally see it if you attempt to jump off the roof. So, too, Jesus’ authority. Deny it exists all you want. But, at some point you will see it, albeit, too late.
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