Finalizing His Authority Series

Introduction:

A. Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts back in the 1950s and one day when he was campaigning for a second term in office, he went looking for votes at a church barbecue.

1. Herter was famished and as he moved through the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving the chicken.

a. She put one piece of chicken on his plate and turned to the next person in line.

2. “Excuse me,” Governor Herter said, “could I please have a second piece of chicken?”

a. “Sorry,” the woman told him. “I’m supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person.”

3. “But I’m starved,” the governor said.

a. “Sorry,” the woman said again. “Only one per customer.”

4. Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around.

a. “Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the governor of this state.”

b. “Do you know who I am?” said the woman. “I’m the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister!”

5. That lady in charge of the chicken knew how to finalize her authority!

B. In today’s section from the Gospel of Mark, we will see Jesus finalizing His authority.

1. Three groups of authorities came to Jesus and tried to challenge Jesus’ credibility and authority.

2. In each of those confrontations, Jesus dealt with the central issue of all time, the basic question of everyone’s life: Who’s in charge?

a. Who has the final authority of life?

b. Who should people be obeying?

c. Whose authority is highest? Human authority or God’s authority?

3. These are the kind of question that must be addressed as a person considers God and Jesus, the Bible and life, and salvation.

4. Most of us here today have concluded that because Jesus is God, His authority is higher than any other person’s authority.

5. Let’s watch Jesus finalize His authority and let’s renew our commitment to follow His lead and submit to His authority as our Servant King.

I. Confrontation #1: A Question about the Authority of Jesus (Mk. 11:27-12:12)

A. Mark wrote: 27 They came again to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came 28 and asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things?” (Mk. 11:27-28)

1. Jesus returned to Jerusalem the day after clearing the temple and again He went directly to the temple courts.

2. Waiting for Him in the temple that day was a powerful group and they had an important question for Him.

a. This imposing group was made up of the chief priests, the scribes (teachers of the law) and the elders – basically, they were the highest rulers of Judaism.

b. I’m sure the look on their faces and their tone of voice was all business.

c. They wanted to know who gave Him authority to do what He had done the day before when He entered the temple and cleared out the merchants and money changers.

3. Jesus knew that this question was designed to trap Him and that no matter how He answered they would likely arrest Him.

a. If He said that His authority is from God, then they would charge Him with blasphemy, because in their mind, God would never give authority to a man to create such a disturbance in the temple.

b. If Jesus claimed some secular authority, then the charge would be insurrection.

c. And if Jesus claimed His own authority, then they would conclude He was a maniac who needed to be locked up before He did any more damage.

B. Jesus saw quite clearly the position they were putting Him in and so He made a strategic move that placed them in a greater dilemma.

1. Exercising His privilege under the rules of rabbinical debate, Jesus offered to answer their question if they first answered His question.

2. Mark wrote: 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; then answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was John’s baptism from heaven or of human origin? Answer me.”

31 They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’”—they were afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought that John was truly a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Mk. 11:29-33)

3. These Jewish leaders were smart and they knew that Jesus had put them in a bind.