Authority of Jesus (Luke 20)

Scripture Reading: Luke 20:1-8 ESV

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.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Unpacking Scripture:

So, we learn that right before Luke 20, Jesus cleanses the Church in chapter 19. This was where Jesus started flipping the tables of the money-changers and seats of those who sold pigeons. Then he says in Luke 19:45, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers,” a quote from Isaiah 56. All while doing this, the chief priest and the scribes are watching and planning to destroy Jesus.

So, in chapter 20, a few days later, Jesus returns to the place that he just made a big scene and starts preaching the gospel to the people at the temple. First of all, what is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that the Messiah has returned to redeem His people. This is important because everyone was very cautious about anyone claiming that they were the Messiah because this person would also be their new King. So, If there was going to be a group of people that could identify this new King, it would be the pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests who devoted their entire lives studying the scriptures. They had huge political power at this time and Jesus was actually disrupting and challenging that authority and they did not like that at all.

So as Jesus is preaching the good news, they come up to him and ask in verse 2, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” What they were really asking him was, who do you think you are and do you know who we are? Do you know what kind of power and influence that we have over these people? Do you know that there is no other authority higher than us besides God. Obviously, Jesus knows their intentions and reason for asking, so he goes ahead and ask them a question.

“Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” This was a very good question, because at this time John was considered a prophet by many and if they were going to say that Jesus’ baptism was not from heaven, then they would have to discredit John and his ministry and they would have to face criticism and even possible death by John’s followers. If they did say that it was from heaven then they would have to admit that Jesus was actually the Messiah. So instead of answering the question, they just pleaded ignorance and said they didn’t know.

Jesus was not trying to dodge the question, but his purpose in asking the question was to say or make a statement that you guys are so ignorant. If you guys know so much about scripture, have so much influence, and power, then you guys should know who I am by know but you guys don’t. So I am not wasting my breath on you guys at all. Since they couldn’t answer his question, they couldn’t remove him, so they just sat there listening.

So today, I do want to spend some time addressing this very question that was being asked to Jesus in regards to his authority.