The Authority of Jesus

In 1995 Timothy McVeigh planted and detonated a bomb in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The bomb killed 168 people, 19 of them children. It was the deadliest act of terrorism in America prior to the September 11th attacks in 2001. He was indicted on 160 state offenses and 11 federal offenses, and found guilty of all of them, and sentenced to death.

Before his execution, he felt no remorse, had reasons for why he did it, and would have done it all over again. Minutes before his death by lethal injection, he was asked to speak his last words. He chose William Ernest Henley’s poem, “Invictus” meaning “unconquerable.”

Out of the night that covers me, // Black as the Pit from pole to pole, // I thank whatever gods may be // For my unconquerable soul. // In the fell clutch of circumstance // I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance // My head is bloody, but unbowed. // Beyond this place of wrath and tears // Looms but the Horror of the shade, // And yet the menace of the years // Finds and shall find me unafraid. // It matters not how strait the gate, // How charged with punishments the scroll // I am the master of my fate: // I am the captain of my soul.

The poem is essentially a declaration of independence from God, a claim to be unconquerable, even before the coming darkness of death, a claim to be unafraid of judgment - and, as the final line makes clear - that strength is found in claiming to be the master of your own fate; the captain of your own soul.

I am a little embarrassed to say that when I first read this poem as a teenager, I loved it. It did not occur to me how anti-Christ it is. But I think the reason it struck a chord within me was because what I wanted most, at that time in my life, was to be strong, able, fearless, confident. And as a naive teenager I thought I could be those things - unconquerable.

Is it desirable to be unconquerable? A natural answer for us is “yes.” To be conquered is to be subdued, perhaps abused, perhaps enslaved, perhaps exploited. To be conquered means that someone else gets to assert their authority over us. Who wants that?

This, church, is why Jesus is such a jarring figure. He is a conqueror. He claims authority. If you think of Mark 8:34, you might remember Jesus saying, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Jesus made statements like this. Essentially, his demand is full, complete, devotion. His demand is that you love him more than you love your own life.

In our text this morning, we get a closer look at one who comes with authority to conquer the souls of men. There is no neutrality before him - you must either bow the knee in submission to his authority, or take up arms against him. And my prayer is that God would help us to see that embracing Jesus by faith includes humble submission to his authority.

Mark 11:27-33. I think the best way to teach this is to simply work through it, considering each verse. I’ll divide it up like this: The Confrontation (vs 27-28), the Comeback (29-30), the Compromise (31-32), and the Condemnation (33).

#1 The Confrontation. “They came again to Jerusalem.” It’s Tuesday morning of the Passover Week. On Sunday, Jesus came into Jerusalem on the colt, symbolizing that he is the true Son of David. Monday, he cursed the fig tree, shut down the temple. Now it’s Tuesday morning, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots and he took the opportunity to teach on faith, prayer, and forgiveness. They’ve just heard this teaching, and they enter the city again.

“And as he was walking in the temple.” The parallel accounts include that he was teaching. The temple had massive courtyards, think a few football fields put together. He’s there walking through the temple courts, through the colonnades. This was the way of rabbis.

Luke says he was preaching the gospel. He would have been preaching about God’s holiness, about man’s sinfulness, about man’s inability to make himself right with God through religious ritual, about the dangers of self-righteousness and hypocrisy. He would have been teaching them that God saves sinners by grace, and grace alone. To everyone there with a sacrificial lamb, he would have taught them that the wages of sin is death, and that all men deserve to die for their sin, but that God had promised to provide atonement for sinners who trust in him. He would have been calling people to acknowledge their own sinfulness and repent. And the crowds would have been utterly captivated.

And that’s when the Jewish authorities confront him. “The chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him.” This is an official delegation of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a group of 70 men, led by the high priest, and composed of chief priests, scribes, and elders who governed Jewish life under Roman rule.

The chief priests were former high priests. During the 1st century, Herod actually appointed high priests, and typically they profited big time off the temple activity.

The scribes were the scholars. These were the ones who were in charge of knowing and preserving and passing on the Torah. They were not only familiar with the Old Testament, but they were experts of traditions and interpretations of the rabbis. These people were seen as the intellectual powerhouses, the ones who held the true understanding of the law.

The elders were laymen. To be an elder in Jerusalem would have been even more significant. They were also usually wealthy and powerful men.

The Sanhedrin was essentially the Jewish government at this time. In other words, this is a delegation of the highest ranking religious figures in Israel who have come to take on Jesus. They did not just happen to bump into Jesus at the temple. No, look at the words: it says they “came to him.” You can imagine a group of nicely dressed, stately men, the scholars, the leaders, the big wigs, walking with purpose and intention to face off with Jesus. I’m sure hundreds of people pause in silence to watch this interchange.

Verse 28: “and they said to him, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” That word “authority” is the key word of this section. In Greek is exousia, and it refers to the freedom to choose, the right to act, the one who decides. Who has the total ability to choose, to complete freedom to act without anyone being able to stop him?

Take a look at the words, “these things.” What is he speaking of? Contextually, it’s referring to his undoing of the temple system. Just the previous day he had shut it all down, and now they want to shut him down. That’s what they’re doing: this is another attempt to discredit Jesus. This is the next chapter of their smear campaign. If they can vilify Jesus, they can win. And what better way to do that than by demonstrating to the crowds that he actually has no authority?

Basically, who do you think you are? Where are your credentials? They ask him about his authority because they don’t believe he has any and they want to expose that.

# 2 The Comeback. Verses 29-30: “Jesus said to them, ‘I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.” Jesus is not unwilling to answer their question. He will tell them what authority he has if they answer one question. “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man. Answer me.”

A few things to point out about Jesus’ comeback. First, he responds with a question. Church, I know this isn’t the main point of the text, but I think we can learn something from Jesus’ wisdom here. Questions are incredible tools to teach. “Where are you?” God asks Adam and Eve after they've sinned. “Where is Abel, your brother?” God asks Cain. “Who has made man’s mouth?” God asks Moses when he’s afraid to speak for him. Or, famously, God’s reply to Job, “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?” “Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” Or, what God asks Jonah: “Is it good for you to be angry?”

If you want to be an effective teacher, learn to ask questions that help people discover the truth. Aren’t the best counselors the ones with all the right questions? Haven’t some of the most transformative moments been piercing questions? Do you think asking better questions could help you be a better parent, or a better friend? Can you tell I’m using this rhetorical device right now? And isn’t it true that you can’t help but be engaged?

Now that’s not the point. Notice also, by the way, Jesus’ aggression here. There’s almost an aggression here. Jesus asks an imperitival question twice: “Answer me…Answer me!” “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man. Answer me.”

The Baptism of John refers to John the Baptist’s entire ministry. Remember John the Baptist? Go back and reread Mark 1 to refresh yourself. After God was silent for 400 years, John was a prophet sent from God, calling people to repentance, and announcing the coming of the Messiah. He was immensely popular, until he started calling out the sins of the Roman leaders, which led to him being beheaded. Jesus is asking, “Was John’s ministry from God, or was it just another manmade, revolutionary who was popular for a moment and then nothing?”

His question here is a doozy. Have you ever played chess with someone who actually knows how to play chess? And you make what you think is a pretty impressive move? And then it’s: bam checkmate? Jesus is a grandmaster here. He’s playing ten moves ahead of these guys.

He’s about to expose their inconsistency, their hypocrisy, and most importantly, their unbelief. Let’s keep moving:

# 3 The Compromise. V 31-32: “And they discussed it with one another.” Everyone is watching, and Jesus’ bold comeback makes them reel. No one knows how to respond, especially with the listening ears of the people. So they retreat into a little huddle and begin a discussion.

The dilemma: “If we say ‘From heaven,” that is, if we agree that John the Baptist’s ministry is from God and therefore legitimate - “he will say, ‘When then did you not believe him?”

The point here is that John’s ministry was all about Jesus. John preached Jesus’ message of repentance. John announced Jesus’ coming. John correctly identified Jesus’ person and work: “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John was all about Jesus. In other words, believing John means believing Jesus. It’s a logical necessity. So if they believe John but don’t believe Jesus, they’re inconsistent.

So option A: we agree that John was from God. The problem is that if we do that, then we have to believe Jesus. We don’t want to do that, so we reject Option A.

Option B: verse 32: “But shall we say, ‘From man’?” they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.” Option B is you say that John’s ministry was not divine, it was manmade, and therefore illegitimate and irrelevant. But here’s the problem with Option B: the people will reject us! In Luke’s account, they think the people will stone them if they say John’s Baptism was from man.

Option A: John is legit but then we condemn ourselves. We’re inconsistent for rejecting Jesus.

Option B: John is not legit but then we’re in danger of being rejected - or killed - by the people.

So look at their response in verse 33: “So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.” Ha. The cowards. Option A stinks: then they have to admit Jesus is legit. Option B stinks: then they upset everyone. They go for Option C: they choose to tell a lie.

“We don’t know.” They thought they knew. But they were unwilling to state what they actually believed because they were afraid of the people. Consider that.

I want you to notice what they’re not asking. Have you noticed it? Do you see the glaring omission in their discussion?

Here’s the big, glaring problem with their little discussion: they’re not asking whether or not John’s ministry was actually from God. They are not asking if John was actually a prophet of the true God. Their concern is not whether God has actually spoken. What’s their concern? They’re concerned about how people perceive them. They’re not concerned about the truth.

Our grasp of the truth is always put in jeopardy by a desire to be popular.

If you’re not a Christian, and you’re here this morning, I want to ask you to consider something. Perhaps you’re not a Christian because you find it to be too narrow. Or perhaps you’re not a Christian because you’ve known some Christians who are hypocrites. Or perhaps you don’t like Christianity because you don’t like some of the morals it teaches.

But have you considered that those concerns are not the main issue? The main issue is not whether you think it’s narrow, or whether some Christians have been hypocrites, or whether you agree with its morality, or whether it’s popular. The main question is this: is it true?

These religious leaders were unable to ask that question, they were so controlled by fear of what others might think. I wonder if you’re controlled by that fear? Are you afraid of what people might think of you if you suddenly became a Bible-believing, Jesus-loving, God-fearing, church-going person? Is that holding you back?

Non-Christian - I respect you, and I am glad you’re here, and I assume you intend to be an honest person. Don’t you think that the biggest question is this: is it true? What if Jesus was, as he said he was, the Son of God? What if he actually died, and then rose from the dead - as those closest to him firmly believed, and millions after them as well? What if God has revealed himself to us through the Scriptures? What if it’s all true?

I am confident that the honest inquirer, if you read the gospel of Mark fairly, you will find it to be historical. And you will find Jesus to be real. And you will see that it’s all true.

But don’t be like these religious leaders. Concerned more about the perception of the people instead of a genuine search for truth.

This question exposes them. They strut through the temple like peacocks, wearing their holy garments, flaunting their high positions; they are recognized by all as the most righteous people, the most educated, the most respected, and they’re going to set things straight with this rabble-rouser Jesus. But they don’t care about truth, they’re not concerned about God’s glory, they’re not truly concerned about the people. They sniveling politicians, cowards, trying to keep up a certain reputation before the people rather than stand up for anything they believe. They don’t believe anything. They have no spine. They stand for nothing, live for nothing, and will die for nothing - except themselves, their own pockets, and their own power.

And Jesus exposes their cowardice, their fear of man, their wicked hearts.

Christians, we should be warned by these religious leaders. It is entirely possible to be respected as a scholar, as a holy person, to be one who supposedly knows God, his will, his ways. One who is honored and admired, and is far from God. Church, I believe that there will be many preachers of the Christian gospel in hell, who as they told others about God, they did so solely for the purpose of human praise and approval, not God’s glory.

Friends, just because someone seems religious; just because someone has leadership in a religious institution, just because they’re highly educated and widely recognized - does not mean they’re motivated by a search for truth. It does not mean they’re honest. I have read many scholars whose day job is to study the Bible - a Bible that they do not believe.

So, the leaders compromise. They don’t want to concede that Jesus has the authority to do what he did. They don’t want to say out loud that John is illegitimate. So they tell a lie.

And now Jesus’ response: # 4 The Condemnation: “And Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

All of Jesus’ teaching is redemptive. That is, when Jesus teaches, it is to help people know God’s plan of redemption. That is to say, silence from Jesus is a form of judgment.

So when Jesus says, “I will not tell you by what authority I do these things” he is enacting a sort of condemnation. Jesus had preached the truth for three years. He performed public miracles for three years. These leaders had everything they needed to know about Jesus, but they were still rejecting him. The light had come into the darkness, but the darkness hated the light. And now, for these leaders in the Sanhedrin, they had plenty of opportunity to respond to the light - but they rejected it, and now Jesus is rejecting them.

The Scriptures teach that when God’s revelation is continually and repeatedly rejected, when God’s message is heard but ignored, listened to but never applied, understood but never practiced - eventually God stops casting pearls before swine - and it’s time for judgment.

This is a warning. If you’re not a Christian, I don’t know if this is the last time you’ll hear the good news. Maybe, if you reject it this morning, you will not have another chance to receive it.

You see, in this text, it’s implicit, but it’s there: Jesus is claiming to have heaven’s authority. Just as John’s ministry was from heaven, so is Jesus.

He gets his authority because he is God incarnate. He is the Son of God, who is fully and truly divine. “All things have been handed to me by my father” (Matt. 11:27). Later, after the resurrection, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” According to John 17:2, Jesus has all authority over all flesh.

Can you see who Jesus truly is? Can’t you see what he is claiming? Jesus is implying here that he does have authority. He has authority over the temple. He has authority over the church. He has authority over your life. He has authority to save or to condemn your eternal soul.

There is no part of you, not even the deepest, darkest corners of your heart, where you are allowed to say to Jesus, “Do Not Enter.”

Are there areas of your life that you are unwilling to recognize Jesus’ authority?

Are you trying to keep your work life separate from your spiritual life? Are you trying to keep Jesus out of your finances? Are you trying to keep Jesus out of your marriage? Are you trying to preserve for yourself “Me-Time,” where no one, not even Jesus, can interrupt you?

Non-Christian, Jesus has all authority. And there are two options. You can follow Timothy McVeigh, and make that poem “Invictus” the theme of your life: “It matters not how strait the gate, // How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, // I am the captain of my soul.” You will find that road to end in death, judgment, and hell.

But there is another way. A much lesser poet reworked Henley’s famous poem. Instead of calling it “Invictus” which means “unconquerable” she titled it “Conquered.” It reads like this:

Out of the light that dazzles me, // Bright as the sun from pole to pole,

I thank the God I know to be, // For Christ - the Conqueror of my soul.

Since His the sway of circumstance, // I would not wince nor cry aloud.

Under the rule which men call chance, // My head, with joy, is humbly bowed.

Beyond this place of sin and tears, // That Life with Him and His the Aid,

That, spite the menace of the years, // Keeps, and will keep me unafraid.

I have no fear though straight the gate: // He cleared from punishment the scroll.

Christ is the Master of my fate! // Christ is the Captain of my soul!

The better way is to humble yourself before the omnipotent Christ. To be conquered by him. To be conquered by Christ is not to be conquered by a tyrant!

Rather, it is to be conquered by the one who loves us most in all the universe, it is to be swept up into his perfect love and care, it is to submit to everlasting love and mercy, it is to place ourselves under his omnipotent kindness.

Consider how well God loves us! He sent his Son Jesus, who though God himself, laid his life down to make atonement for our sins, and he was raised from the dead, and he is alive right now, and he is eager to forgive everyone who comes to him in repentance and faith. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and the authority to save your soul if you would only look to him for mercy.