By what authority…?—Luke 20:1-8

Today's passage can be read here: Luke 20:1-8

When it comes to sources of information, it is always important to check their authority. And although the Greek term in this passage translated "authority" (ἐξουσίᾳ) has nothing to do with the Greek word for "author", I have always thought the connection between the two terms in English is enlightening. When we evaluate a statement, we often wish to know "Who is its author? Who wrote this? Where does it come from?" We tend to be rightfully skeptical of unsigned articles in newspapers or magazines. And although journalists feel they need to conceal the identity of confidential sources, this practice always makes be extremely skeptical of their statements. I want to know how this person knows what he claims to know.

In a sense, therefore, the question that Jesus' critics put to him in the Jerusalem temple was a legitimate one. He was teaching in the temple courtyard and "proclaiming the good news". Now, the Greek term εὐαγγέλιον which we translate "gospel" or "good news" in its post-Resurrection usage refers to the news that Jesus successfully triumphed over sin and death in his resurrection from the dead and now offers forgiveness of sins and eternal life to anyone who will put their trust in him. But we have to understand that, although even before the Cross, Jesus was interested in leading individual sinners into a new relationship with God through forgiveness and wholeness, he was also presenting the chosen people of God, Israel, with an opportunity to accept him as their promised Messiah. When he proclaimed that the "kingdom of God" had arrived and was open for admission, he was declaring that the kingdom promised in the Old Testament (the Jewish scriptures) was now ready to be revealed. When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he wept that they had failed to recognize the time of God's visiting them. There was a "window of opportunity" open that would soon close. It is a good bet that this was the "good news" that Jesus was proclaiming in the temple courtyard, as he was teaching on that day. And it was precisely this message to which his critics now objected so strongly. They wanted to know by whose authority he was "doing these things" (meaning teaching what he was in the temple courtyard).

Jesus' authority was manifold. In the Gospel of John he often spoke publicly of the kinds of authority he possessed. His principal authority was the word of God, which was already manifest in the prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament. "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life" (John 5:39-40), he said. But he also appealed to the miracles his Father enabled him to do. It was not just that he could do supernatural tricks, but that the specific kinds of miracles he performed were precisely those predicted that the Messiah would do at the time that God's kingdom would be inaugurated. This is what he meant, when he answered the question of John the Baptizer brought by his disciples. He said:

"Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me" (Luke 7:21-23).

It wasn't just miracles that were his credentials: it was this specific group of miracles, combined with the good news of God's kingdom proclaimed to the poor , all of which were promised in various parts of the Old Testament prophecies (for a sampling see Isa 35:5; 61:1). As Elijah and Elisha were used by God to bring dead people to live, so the Messiah would also raise the dead—which of course Jesus had just done for Lazarus, and which was now hot news in Jerusalem.

Jesus had answered such questions about his authority before. But there comes a time when stubborn critics ask repeatedly the question that has been often answered. And when that happens, the teacher takes a different tack in answering. So Jesus doesn't just trot out all the legitimate answers he had given them before. Instead, he used one of his favorite tactics in teaching: he asked them a question! "Tell me, by what authority did John the Baptizer perform that baptism? Did God tell him to do it? Or was it his own idea?" This is what the critics would call a "trick question". Any answer available to them would be damaging to them. But it was not an unfair question. Their predicament was all in their own making. By refusing to acknowledge John's role as the forerunner, announcing Jesus as the Messiah, they put themselves in this trap. For the people at large admired John as a true prophet and a martyr for his faith, even if they did not fully follow him in his belief that Jesus was the Messiah. These critics could not say John's message was his own invention lest they be denounced by the people at large. Yet to acknowledge John meant believing what he taught, which was the the Kingdom of God was at hand in the person of the Messiah Jesus!

The only option open to them they thought, was to profess ignorance: "We do not know". How tragic! How much better if they had changed their minds at this point and confessed their error. But they were too proud for that. By professing ignorance, they failed to fulfill the condition on which Jesus promised to answer their question. Yet his answer was actually in the very question he posed to them. Jesus knew it, and they knew it. For you see, Jesus' authority was the same as John's. Both came from God and possessed God's authority. By rejecting first John and now Jesus these religious leaders were spitting in God's eye! An extremely dangerous thing to do, especially for men who claimed to be representing that God.

Today there are people who claim to be simply and honestly "pursuing the truth" who deny the truthfulness and authority of the Bible. These people follow in the train of the critics of Jesus portrayed here. God gave us minds and intends us to use them. But he also gave us his own Word in the Bible. We cannot honor him by rejected either one. Right-thinking persons seek always to use their God-given minds to understand, interpret and teach God's revealed Word in the Bible.