Luke 20: 1 – 8
Say’s Who?
Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him 2 and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?” 3 But He answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me: 4 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?” 5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Before we dive into our study today we need to take a look at the Gospels of Matthew and Mark who also record this confrontation between our Great and Holy God and the religious leaders.
Mark 11: 27-33, “27 Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. 28 And they said to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?” 29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.” 31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From men’”—they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. 33 So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Matthew 21:23-27, “23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” 24 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Someone might be thinking, ‘what a waste of time’, or ‘boring’. I think, in reading all three versions of the Gospels, one word – Wow!.
Just stop and think about these points. For one thing, if you go through all the Gospels you will not find them list the same event or speech by our Master and Lord Jesus Christ, almost word for word. You know if you have been going over the Gospels with us this fact. So, to have all three in almost perfect harmony to me is amazing.
Remember, that Matthew was the first to put down on paper some 20 years after our King and Ruler Jesus Christ was back in Heaven sitting at the right hand of the Father. Then about 5 years later Mark put Peter’s version down in writing. Then approximately ten years after Mark’s the disciple of Paul, Luke came back to Jerusalem and interview eye witnesses.
You might comment that Mark just copied the same words from Matthew and so did Luke. If that be so, then I would ask the question – ‘Why?’ Why didn’t they do the same with the other incidents of our Lord? I say that our Precious Holy Spirit wanted this event to be solidified in its presentation with no wiggle room for other interpretations. Can you see my point? To me it is like a baseball game and the religious leaders are up to bat. You would think that they would realize that they cannot hit any of the pitches our Blessed Holy Creator throws at them. Every attempt they tried to hit against our Master wound up being a strike against them. They forgot you only get three strikes and then you are out. Go back to the dugout embarrassed that you cannot succeed.
Mark has made abundantly clear the stir that our Lord Jesus has caused since approaching Jerusalem. He has been demanding that all notice His arrival, and He is doing so as One with the right to proclaim Himself and to exercise His authority. He is making quite clear that He has come from God as God’s Chosen One, with a view to setting right what was displeasing to God. It was therefore inevitable that the religious leaders would challenge Him. Indeed they could hardly have allowed these events to pass without comment. So at this point the whole Sanhedrin comes to challenge Him.
Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him 2 and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?”
We must see this as at least a semi-official approach from the Sanhedrin, the Jewish governing body, and probably as an official deputation, for the Chief Priests, representing the priesthood and the Temple, the Scribes representing both Sadducees and Pharisees, and the Elders, as important lay people representing the people generally, were constituent parts of the Sanhedrin and were responsible for overseeing Jewish affairs.
They had clearly been waiting for Him and they came to Him as He was walking in the Temple. He was there to pray and to teach. He did not try to hide Himself. His challenge was now open. But they came there deliberately in order to show Him up before all the people, for they knew that it was necessary to get the support of the people for what they wanted to do to Him. And their first aim was to demonstrate to the crowds that he had no authority.
Their question seemed reasonable. It was their responsibility to check the credentials of any who claimed religious authority and they were also responsible for public order, especially in the Temple, and He had undoubtedly caused some disarray. But they had had plenty of opportunity for questioning Him and weighing Him up before, and they could first have spoken with Him in private. The way our Holy Master Lord Jesus dealt with them demonstrated that He saw their challenge now as hostile, not neutral.
The approach was high handed and officious. ‘By what authority -- who gave you this authority?’ Their first hope was that He would have no answer and be caught unprepared. Then the people would see He was a charlatan. Alternately they were hoping to make Him declare Himself, and say something ‘foolish’, and whatever He said they would use against Him. They would accuse Him of self-exaltation, or worse, of being a Messianic claimant and a rebel. Was He claiming to be a prophet? Was He the Messiah? Was He the coming Elijah? And if He was not claiming to be anyone important how could He claim to have God’s personal authority?
3 But He answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me: 4 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?”
Our Great God Jesus knew what they were up to and His reply was subtle. All knew that He had been associated with John the Baptist. Thus if John, who had acknowledged Him, was from God, He was from God. And His question deflected the emphasis from His own claims to the claims of another, to one of whose credentials the crowds had no doubt and who had proved it by martyrdom. But if they declared John and his work to be from God (‘heaven’ was a euphemism for God), they would be validating His own claims, and He could go on to point out what John had said about Him. And if they did not they would be discredited before the crowds. The very question was an indirect demand for recognition that He was sent from God.
They were surrounded by people who had been baptized by John, who would not be pleased to have their cherished baptism called in question, and it would remind many that Jesus and His disciples had baptized alongside them.
5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
The deputation knew what the crowds believed about this, and they did not know how to answer. So they began discussing the matter among themselves. The reasoning was probably muttered and whispered. They dared not even think of the consequences of not acknowledging John as a prophet before all these people. It would infuriate them. Yet they could not admit that John was sent from God, for that would mean that they had to believe what he had said about our Lord Jesus, and would lay themselves open to the question as to why they had not believed in him. But to deny that he was ---, they dared not even think of it because of the temper of the people. For the people were in an excitable state because of the feast and their confidence in the fact that John was a prophet was unquestioned. As they pondered the question they could see that the crowd were already won to our Lord Jesus’ side.
7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
It was they who had been caught in the trap, and their reply demonstrated that they were admitting that they did not feel able to make a spiritual judgment in such matters. Of what use for our Lord Jesus to answer their question, then, if they were unable to make a judgment about the matter of authority? How angry they must have been. They had been made to look utterly foolish. They had come with a great show of authority in front of the crowd, who had always looked to them for religious guidance in the past, and now had had to admit that they could not tell whether someone was from God, even when it was such an obvious case to the crowd as John the Baptist. And they knew that by implication our Lord Jesus’ authority had been vindicated in front of the crowd. All knew that He and John had ministered alongside each other.
Adoni Yahweh’s Holy Son, our Lord Jesus’ final refusal to answer because of their failure would win the crowd over to His side even more, for they were disillusioned with the answer they had heard. And His reply held within it a certain level of contempt. These ‘authorities’ had shown themselves not worthy to be given an answer on such matters, for they were not willing to face up to what all knew to be true. By His reply our Lord Jesus was setting Himself up as a higher authority, answerable only to God, because they had demonstrated that they were incapable of judging. The whole incident was reminding the people of what John had said about Him. It was a veiled reminder that He was the Coming One, a reminder that He then goes on to amplify in the parable of the wicked tenants and vinedressers which we will discuss in our next study.
