You Only Get Three Strikes Series

Mark 11: 27-33

You Only Get Three Strikes

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.”

Before we dive into our study today we need to take a look at the Gospels of Matthew and Luke who also record this confrontation between our Great and Holy God and the religious leaders.

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.

Luke 20:1-8, “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.”

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.