Kingdom Authority

Mark 11:27-33

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, and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. 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.”

How dare you? This is really the question in the hearts of the religious elites of Jesus day. They couldn’t really object on a legal basis to his actions. Jesus was completely within the letter of the law when it came to cleansing the temple and teaching the people to place the focus of their lives on God and not on the religious rules of the the elites. His was a return to the fundamentals of the Jewish faith and law. It cut through the extraneous obligations that had been built around the law to “enable” adherence to the law. So it is that they challenge and question Jesus’ authority to do and teach as he did.

Jesus is master of the situation, his response is so insightful it cuts right to the hearts of his antagonists motives. When he asks them about the baptism of John he is essentially asking them the same question regarding John. Where did John’s authority come from? In their answer “we do not know” they deliberately refuse to answer the question. And so Jesus, too, refuses to answer their question. They are wilfully living in unbelief. They don’t want to answer Jesus’ question because it will expose their hypocrisy and hatred of him. It will also expose their wrong motives and exploitative behaviours to the people. It would have set them free to be so exposed, because it would have allowed them to see and be seen through the lens of truth. However, they chose to remain in the bondage of their lies and deceit. Shame, fear, greed, power and corruption had taken their toll in their lives.

How often do we question Jesus’ authority over our lives? When we refuse to forgive, when we continue in unbelief and when we refuse to love others as we love ourselves we reject Jesus’ authority over our lives. These are just a few examples, as we submit to Jesus’ authority and live according to his commands we will experience true freedom and the release from bondage that the rejection of Christ leads us into.