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1 On one of those days, while Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, and announcing the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came up with the elders, and said to him, 2 ‘Tell us: by what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority?’ 3 ‘I’ve got a question for you, too,’ said Jesus, ‘so tell me this: 4 was John’s baptism from God, or was it merely human?’ 5 ‘If we say it was from God,’ they said among themselves, ‘he’ll say, So why didn’t you believe him? 6 But if we say “merely human”, all the people will stone us, since they’re convinced that John was a prophet.’ 7 So they replied that they didn’t know where John and his baptism came from. 8 ‘Very well, then,’ said Jesus. ‘Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’ ~ Luke 20:1-8
The cleansing of the temple was an event that both captured the attention of the common folk and aroused the contempt of the Jewish religious leaders.
And, it was the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy found in Malachi 3:1-3 which reads, "1 Look, I am sending my messenger who will clear the path before me; suddenly the Lord whom you are seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you take delight is coming, says the Lord of heavenly forces. 2 Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can withstand his appearance? He is like the refiner’s fire or the cleaner’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. They will belong to the Lord, presenting a righteous offering."
In Matthew 28:18 the Lord Jesus said, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and earth.” This is what it means to be absolutely sovereign. To have all authority means you have no human outside yourself to answer to. Of course, the Lord Jesus was in submission to His Father who gave Him the authority in the first place..
The Greek word that is used translated “authority” in this text is used three times. It means "the right to do something." To have all authority, then, is to have all power and all right to do everything and anything one wills to do.
Now, to teach as the Lord Jesus did and to confront legalistic religion, and to have no human authority outside Himself was outrageous to the religious leaders. He went after everything they considered sacred and He quoted no Rabbi which was common for all Rabbi's of that day. He was not ordained in the way all rabbis of that day were ordained. Nor was His theology checked and approved by the Jewish religious leaders.
The Lord Jesus was His own authority. He had to be. He had to be God because He could not be our savior without being God. He spoke prophetically. He rightly interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures. The religious leaders even admitted such. He forgave sin and He healed the sick. He raised the dead and He cast demons out of the possessed. And He did these things without ever seeking permission from any human authority. This outraged the Jewish religious leaders.
Here in Luke 20:1, it is now Wednesday. The Lord Jesus returns again to the temple to teach. Mark tells us He did it while walking in and around the courtyard of the temple. He moved among the vast crowd, teaching. And, the religious leaders were always there following Him around. This was a rabbinic way to teach, walking about and interacting with the people.
In v.1-2 we read, "1 On one of those days, while Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, and announcing the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came up with the elders, and said to him, 2 ‘Tell us: by what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority?’"
The Jewish religious leaders had much difficulty containing their frustration and outrage. They restrained themselves by forming a question that masked their real hostility. In the end, they all collectively were overcome by their growing hatred of the Lord Jesus. This is what happens when we feed the flesh, it destroys us (See Galatians 6).
In v.3-4 we read, “‘3 I’ve got a question for you, too,’ said Jesus, ‘so tell me this: 4 was John’s baptism from God, or was it merely human?’” All good teachers always answered a question with a question to force the student deeper into the subject at hand. The Lord Jesus is not evading the question of the answer, He is just unmasking the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.
Brilliantly, the Lord Jesus took the religious leaders back to John the Baptist. He did this for two reasons. First, John had pointed to the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So, their rejection of John was actually a rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as Messiah. Second, was this truth: if we do not respond positively to the truth given to us, God will not reveal new truth to us. They had refused John’s message, so they were given no more revelation at that point.
The question the Lord Jesus asks is pretty simple. Was John's baptism the work of men or was it of God? The religious leaders were stuck between either admitting the Lord Jesus is the Messiah, or they deny that John the Baptist is a prophet of God.
In v.5-7 we read, “If we say it was from God,’ they said among themselves, ‘he’ll say, So why didn’t you believe him? 6 But if we say “merely human”, all the people will stone us, since they’re convinced that John was a prophet.’ 7 So they replied that they didn’t know where John and his baptism came from.”
The religious leaders were deceitful in asking their question and dishonest in the way they avoided answering His. They were so steeped in deception, they could not receive or tell the truth. So, they give no answer. They self indicted themselves by being unwilling to answer the question of the Lord Jesus. They were fixed in their unbelief.
In v.8 we read, “Very well, then,’ said Jesus. ‘Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’” At this point the numbness of the religious leaders hearts prevented them from appreciating any truth the Lord Jesus could have given them. They were to the point of no return which is the most scary place anyone can be.
The religious leaders had missed the point of the word of God: to meet with God every time we read it. The Bible is meant to be like a pane of glass, designed for us to look through it and see God. When we come to the Bible, we must come looking for Him. The problem is most want to analyze the Bible to the point that they do not see God through it. In fact, they end up analyzing the window and subsequently become etched. The Bible is not first a blueprint for Christian living but a revelation book of the Lord Jesus who is the answer to all our questions and longings.
