Wrong About Authority

“When [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ Jesus answered them, ‘I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?’ And they discussed it among themselves, saying, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “From man,” we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’” [1]

What is amazing about the passage before us this day is the exposure of the rank hypocrisy embraced by many of the religious leaders even when they witnessed the power of the Son of God. What I mean by this startling statement is that these religious leaders recognised Jesus’ authority, but they were unwilling to acknowledge His authority! They were fully aware that Jesus repeatedly demonstrated His right to demand their fealty; but they would not give Him their loyalty, because should they do so it would mean that they would need to surrender their pretension of holding power. The religious leaders would be exposed before the people as frauds if they didn’t continue insisting that they were the powerbrokers for Israel. What happened, therefore, is that these religious leaders chose to live a lie—a lie that they knew would condemn them as traitors to righteousness—rather than honour the God Whom they professed to serve! And what was true of those religious leaders in that distant day holds true for a tragic number of religious leaders to this very day.

I’m not condemning all religious leaders; nevertheless, it is tragically true that religious hypocrisy is sufficiently widespread that one could almost be persuaded that all religious leaders are contaminated to a greater extent than any of us would care to admit. As a follower of the Christ, I accept that Muslim imams, Buddhist monks, and Hindu priests are generally hypocritical even if they do not intend to be hypocritical; but what they are is of no particular concern to me. I am concerned about the conduct of Christian leaders. Professed Christian leaders, presumed spokesmen for the Faith, especially professed Christian leaders who demonstrate themselves to be hypocritical false teachers, are an immediate concern to me. Far too many of us who claim to speak on behalf of the Risen Saviour struggle to live consistently with what is written in the Word. And in a mistaken effort to be gracious, we often give cover to wicked deceivers who demean the Faith of Christ the Lord and turn many from following the Righteous Lord of Glory.

What I mean by this is that we who are behind the sacred desk often excuse religious frauds, or worse still, we ignore those same fraudulent charlatans. Our cowardice, our negligence, our failure to provide oversight to those who depend upon us leads unwary parishioners to give credence to the religious charlatans.

THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY — “When [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority’” [MATTHEW 21:23]? Those associated with this world imagine they can demand that the righteous answer them. By demanding that the one following the Master answer them, the worldling is attempting to assert their authority, which they suppose they possess.

It wasn’t just the fact that Jesus was teaching, especially that He was teaching in the Temple, but it was the totality of events leading up to Him teaching in the Temple! It was bad enough in the eyes of these religious leaders that this rude Galilean dared teach as though He was a rabbi, but to do this in the Temple was simply the final straw. There had been all those other events as the tension built over the past several years. The pressure had grown until the legitimate religious leaders had to do something.

What events had irritated these men so much? Well, let’s look at the record to discover what was going on. Jesus hadn’t merely travelled to Jerusalem; He had dared enter the city as though He was a king! And the people were stirred as He came into the city. Levi records this event in this way. “When [Jesus and His disciples] drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, “The Lord needs them,” and he will send them at once.’ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,