Mark 11:27-33 Under Who’s Authority
Good morning! Here we are again in the Gospel of Mark, this morning we are going to look at chapter 11, verses 27-33, page 848 in the pew Bibles.
This account takes place on Tuesday of Holy Week, and it is certainly no accident that we are studying it together on the Sunday before the election.
As you remember from last week, Jesus, on the day before had cleansed the Temple and cursed the fig tree, the day before that triumphantly entered the holy city of Jerusalem on a donkey to the shouts of “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”
Peter had pointed out the withered fig tree on the way to the city that morning, and now, Jesus had arrived in the city and was walking and teaching in the Temple.
27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” 31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Let’s pray.
It’s important for us to understand before we get too far who the parties in play are here. This group described as, “the chief priests and the scribes and the elders,” is not just a nebulous group of unhappy Jews or Jewish leaders. Maybe your flannelgraph pictures, like mine, just paint them as a bunch of cranky old men that just don’t like change, telling Jesus to get off their lawn.
Well it’s a little more serious than that. This group is also called the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council that had jurisdiction over matters of civil and religious life in Israel. These were the guys that were in charge of pretty much everything for the Jewish people, under the Romans, and they were pretty used to people submitting to their authority.
But then along comes Jesus…
Jesus did not just come along with new teaching, he taught as One with authority, and the people were listening. So much so that Jesus had become a threat to their authority over the people, the more people listened to Him, the less people would listen to them. It was all very political.
And so, after seeing the city in an uproar, and the usual way of the Temple courts literally overturned, they decided to ask Jesus just exactly who He thought He was.
28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Now I have to ask you before I go any further, do you think they knew the answer to their questions?
I think they did, all evidence points to the fact that they knew that Jesus was sent by God. Not only did He teach the way of God with authority but His teaching was accompanied by miracles. He was also clearly declared to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by none other than John the Baptist!
And that’s how Jesus responds to their question, to which they already knew His answer, with a question, to which He already knew their answer.
28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.”
This was a well established Hebraic form of debate, but the answer to the question was the same: heaven.
“By what authority do you do these things, miracles, triumphal processions, upending the money changers and the pigeon guys, by who’s authority do you do these things. And the answer is, by heaven’s authority, by God’s authority. They knew that, it was undeniable.
And was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Was John sent by God or sent by himself?
As the Gospel of John records in John 1:6-8, 19-27
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
This group knew the answer to Jesus’ question, it was no secret to them who John was and who sent him. They didn’t like it but they knew.
29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.”
So the answer to Jesus’ question was that John’s baptism, whether you take that to mean his entire ministry or just him baptizing people for repentance, it’s the same either way, John’s baptism was from heaven. But that answer would cause considerable problems for this group of questioners. The ramifications of their answer were quite serious, it wasn’t just a theological debate they were having.
So they have a little pow-wow. They got together and said, “Ok, guys, how do we answer this?”
31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. Luke’s Gospel records that they were afraid that the people would stone them if they said John wasn’t sent from God.
They were trapped. They were trapped by fear and by pride, they were trapped by a desire to keep up appearances and a humiliating truth.
If they said that John’s baptism came from God, that John was sent by God as one crying in the wilderness, “prepare the way of the Lord,” they would also have to accept that his testimony was true that Jesus really is Messiah. “If John came from God why don’t you believe what he said about me? He said that I am the Lamb of God, why didn’t you believe him?”
It would be impossible for them to recognize that John was sent from God without recognizing that Jesus was too, and they weren’t about to do that.
But… If they denied that John was sent from God, they were afraid that the people would revolt and stone them to death because it was common knowledge that John the Baptist was truly a prophet from God.
Motivated by envy, trapped by fear and pride. They knew the right answer but refused to give it. Since they were not concerned with the truth and only concerned with their own reputations and safety they simply answered, “we don’t know.” Which, of course was a lie.
33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Jesus knew the answer to their question and they knew the answer to His. They didn’t answer because they were dishonest, Jesus didn’t answer because of their lack of faith. Their refusal to answer Jesus’ question showed that they rejected both John and Jesus, the messenger and the Messiah, which was completely consistent with most of the leaders of Israel throughout history, as Jesus will point out in our text for next week.
So… all that is really interesting, so what? We are not on a fact finding mission here, we are on a disciple making and maturing mission. So what application can we pull from this text?
I agree with Alistair Begg when he said that, “it’s an authority issue.”
If the Sanhedrin had answered honestly, if they had said, “Yes Jesus, John’s baptism came from heaven, from God,” Jesus most likely would have asked them, as they suggested, “Then why didn’t you believe him?”
If they believed John, they would have to believe Jesus. If they believed in Jesus, they would have to submit to Him, to lay down their own authority, whether real or imagined, at His feet.
Jesus will say, in Matthew 28, after His resurrection, “All authority, in heaven and on earth, is given to me. Therefore, go, and make disciples…”
All authority.
All authority over our minds, over our morals, over our attitudes, over our politics, over our mouths, over our keyboards, over our votes…
People reject Jesus today for the same reason that the Sanhedrin rejected Him on that day, because they will not submit to His authority over their lives. Even those of us that declare Jesus as Savior many times reject His authority over our lives as Lord.
Jesus is King.
Supreme over nature.
Supreme over presidents and politicians.
Supreme over us.
And He loves us, and we can trust Him.
The question that only you can answer is: will you submit to Him?
Amen.
