By Who's Authority
Why is it that we think we can question Jesus authority and also His apointed authority as well?
When I think about the years that have gone by in my 57 years here on earth I am baffled.
To think about the way we treat authority today. When I was a child I was taught to obey all authority, weather I agreed or not with them.
WHEN we think of the extraordinary things Jesus had been doing, we cannot be surprised that the Jewish authorities asked him what right he had to do them. At the moment, Jesus was not prepared to give them the direct answer that his authority came from the fact that he was the Son of God. To do so would have been to precipitate the end. There were actions still to be done and teaching still to be given. It sometimes takes more courage to bide one’s time and to await the necessary moment than it does to throw oneself on the enemy and invite the end. For Jesus, everything had to be done in God’s time; and the time for the final crisis had not yet come.
The opponents inquire of Jesus’ authority (ἐξουσία) and at the same time sharpen their question: Who has “given” Jesus his power? They themselves have authority, especially over the temple,33 and thus believe that they are justified in asking this question. “Do you do these things?” (ταῦτα ποιεῖς) can scarcely refer primarily to Jesus’ teaching. One is thinking rather of what Jesus has done in the temple, especially driving out the sellers and changers and healing (21:12*, 14*).35 The readers already know what the true answer to the leaders’ question is. They know that “everything” has been given Jesus “from my Father” (11:27*; cf. 28:18*). Thus for them the leaders’ question is presumptuous.
Thus Jesus’ counterquestion cannot simply be answered theoretically. Its point is that it raises the issue of the life of the opponents. They are immediately aware that Jesus is focusing attention on their disobedience. While they know the right answer to Jesus’ question, they cannot say it without exposing themselves. They also cannot give the wrong answer, “from men,” because they fear the crowd40 that regards John as a prophet. Thus the leaders play for time and become ensnared in dissembling. They are no better than Herod the Tetrarch (cf. 14:5*).
The father, on whose farm the two sons obviously live, sends them to work in the vineyard. However, one of the sons does not go; he simply disobeys, rudely and bluntly, without even offering an excuse. Then he reconsiders and goes to the vineyard after all. By contrast, the other son responds initially with complete devotion. He addresses his father as “Lord,” a designation more appropriate coming from a slave than from a son, and he promises obedience.45 His words are empty, however, for he does not go to the vineyard. Jesus’ concluding question asking which of the two has done the father’s will is so suggestive that only one answer is possible. It can only be the son who actually did something. Thus the answer of the Jewish leaders is “the first one.” In a “paradigmatic legal decision” they pronounce judgment on themselves.
