ALL THREE OF THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS record the same incident in the temple courts. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus has come into the temple courts and is teaching. It is something that he does frequently, whenever he is in Jerusalem. Much later in his ministry, during his inevitable arrest, Jesus will say, “Every day I sat in your temple courts teaching.” (Matt. 26:55) Here, Luke adds to the other’s accounts that he was teaching the gospel: “One day Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news.” (Luke 20:1a) It was not unusual for Jesus to be found in these circumstances, but as we attempt to track his appearances at the temple courts chronologically, it is clear that the tension is escalating each time.
In John’s gospel, later in Jesus’ ministry, we see a very heightened tension in the temple courts, even outright animosity. Jesus is furious with the Pharisees, and they with him. “Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.” (John 8:43-44) John adds, “At this, they picked up stones to stone him.” (John 8:59) At each incident, the tension builds. All three synoptic gospels also record this very late incident, one that seals Jesus’ fate: As his disciples watch, “He overturned the tables of the money changers and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, ‘Is it not written: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?’” ‘But you have made it a den of robbers.’” (Mark 11:15-17) In the next verse we are told, “The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him.” (Mark 11:18) The overall picture is one of Jesus deliberately escalating the tensions to provoke a response, one that is surely coming.
One of the most significant underlying issues in all these events has to do with the perception of authority. And in this encounter, the Pharisees’ concern over this matter is paramount in their minds, but they must proceed cautiously—they have never encountered anyone like Jesus before. His spiritual authority has already developed an ethos of believers from his performance of miracles as well as the content of his teaching.
Earlier, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the beginning of this reputation is established. “The crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” (Matt. 7:28-29) Here in the temple courts, “The chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. ‘Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,’ they said. ‘Who gave you this authority?’” (Luke 20:1b-2) The question is well-merited in their minds. Jesus is not amongst the religious hierarchy whose central place of authority is the temple, and yet here he is presenting the gospel, something unheard of. His hermeneutic of scripture must certainly be heresy, and no one has given him permission to teach here. But Jesus’ status is already elevated in the popular culture and begins to border on the legendary. Against this one man they find themselves in a quandary.
In the midst of their anxiety, Jesus challenges the religious hierarchy with a question that pinpoints their motivation. “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?” (Luke 20:3-4) Matthews’s version adds “If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” (Matt. 21:24) The Pharisees’ thought processes in arriving at their answer says everything about their motives. “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’” (Luke 20:5-6) Only Luke includes the Pharisees’ fear of the people’s ire, but it is an important point that helps us understand how complex a problem Jesus is becoming for them.
Jesus’ answer, in all three of the synoptic gospels, leaves the Pharisees’ question provocatively unanswered and the tension heightened as a basis for the next encounter to ensue. But the story helps us understand more deeply what is at stake. His dialogue with the Pharisees helps us to clearly see the issues surrounding the question of authority. It is either heavenly or earthly authority that is the critical topic here that must be resolved in what has become an impasse. The Pharisee’s authority stems from the Law of Moses and all that has been built up around it, including the Torah and Talmudic studies as well as Herod’s second temple worship system. The earthly power of kingship as well as the priestly theological power are at stake counterposed against the charismatic personal power of Jesus. His power is not mere words, but has been attested to time and again by miracles, something the Pharisees are incapable of doing. We are awestruck at the vision of one man standing against almost two millennia of the weight of culture. Jesus’ answer, for now, is “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” (Luke 20:8)
One reality is that the Pharisees are incredibly powerful, but the shadow-side of that reality, for them, is that their power comes from the invested might of their earthly establishment. Their earthly power will reach its height and limitation when they put the man from heaven, the Son of God, to death. Another reality is that Jesus, at this time, has no great exercisable earthly authority, but the bright-side of his authority comes from the one who created earth and heaven. The strengths of his earthly power will seem to reach their bottom limits in his death on the cross, but this only releases his heavenly powers. He says in advance, “I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” (John 10:18)
There is yet another reality about Jesus’ authority we take great hope from. The same one who has been given the authority over his own death and life has the authority to give us life. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28) And this is the final reality we need to know about his power—he is the ultimate and final authority: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matt. 28:18)
Q. Is Jesus my ultimate authority?
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