This morning we look at the last “Tuesday” in the life of Jesus before his crucifixion. There are many encounters on this day and so the devotion is lengthy. However,
I have divided it up into sections so that you can read as much or little as is convenient.
The Issue: By What Authority?
When I taught at Covenant High School in Tacoma, well into the first semester one of the parents told me that her daughter had a learning disability. I was thankful
that she, the mother, was letting me know. For proof of her daughter’s disability she gave me this example: “Have you ever given her homework and told her that she had to do it…and she didn’t?
I said, “Yes ma’am, in fact that is pretty much the case all the time.”
“See…” she concluded, “I told you.” She had concluded that her daughter’s refusal to submit to the authorities in her life, including mom and dad, let alone a teacher,
was proof, not of sin, but of a learning disability.
When you remove all the smoke and mirrors the issue of authority strikes at the heart of life, not just the Christian life, but at the heart of life, period. We encounter
this all the way back to the garden of Eden. God was the authority. It was HIS world, HIS garden, HIS word and He graciously put man in it as a blessing to him. And then comes the attack, the attack of evil, the attack of the “anti-word” that said, “Throw
off authority. You should not be made to submit to any rules, any structure, any way of life that has been placed on you by another, anything that you did not choose for yourself.”
The fallout from that encounter has been evident down through the ages as men strive and kill for power, for the right to be in authority and to exercise that authority
over others. And the world still wonders, and without many answers: Who has authority? Who is in authority? To whom are we to listen, to bow, and to serve?
Jesus, in love and with tears in his eye, has gone into the temple and made clear his holy anger against the hypocrisy, the self-centered, self-calculated activity
of the Holy Place. Now the chief-priests, the scribes and the Pharisees want to know by what authority he does and says the things that he does. “What gives you the authority, Jesus, to come in here and do such a thing, just who do you think you are?”
Jesus Challenged by the Chief Priests and Scribes—Mark 11:27-33
The chief-priests, scribes and Pharisees, made up the Sanhedrin which was the ruling council of the Jews. So, this was an official deputation that approached the Lord
in the Temple Courts.
People who have authority are often very concerned about others who feel free to exercise an authority that the first group of people had not conferred on them. To
put it simply, they are threatened. They hadn’t “given” Jesus this authority. He hadn’t asked them for it and he hadn’t submitted himself to them. He didn’t fill out a form, nor had he gone through any formal training, or the right process to draw such attention
to himself.They had been bypassed altogether, and this, more than his throwing out the moneychangers, offended them. But there is more.
Jesus exercised an authority that was completely different than anything of his day, the leaders recognized this AND, they recognized that the common man knew this
to be true as well. Jesus spoke with his own authority. He didn’t cite rabbis or the experts. Rather, He claimed, in essence, to be citing God and He was doing so while by-passing all social and religious convention. And what has he shown them?
Jesus has demonstrated his authority over the created order, speaking to wind and waves and they obeyed Him without hesitation. He had authority over blindness; The
Pharisees themselves had questioned a man born blind that Jesus made to see. There was demonstrated His authority over disease, authority over demons where the minions of hell are left with nothing but to submit to the power of His authority. And then of course,
authority over death itself, raising a little girl, Lazarus and in only a few days hence, even Himself.
Jesus answers their question with a question.
“I will ask you one thing, and answer Me: The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men?” Someone might say, “But what does any of this have to do with John, I mean, why bring HIM up at this time?” The ministry of our Lord has always been bound
to the ministry of John the Baptist. The Pharisees and companions may have forgotten about John, but Jesus hasn’t. The authority of John and the authority of Jesus came from the same place. This is not an evasion…this is a direct challenge. Jesus says, “I
am with John…what do you say about John. For what is true of him, will be true of Me.”
Jesus returns the question, with a question. Make no mistake about it, the religious leadership knew how to answer Jesus. They did not give two hoots about the ministry
of John. They did not think him a prophet from God, and neither would they acknowledge that he had any authority from God. John’s baptism, as far as these leaders were concerned, was from men, no question about it. But they were politicians. They couldn’t
say such a thing publicly when their constituency thought just the opposite. John had been very popular and was still somewhat of a hero in the mind of the common man, to deny that he was a prophet from God, would anger the crowds. So they play dumb and say
that they don’t know, they can’t answer the question Jesus asked, but what they meant was they WOULD not answer the question, at least not in the hearing of others.
And so, Jesus doesn’t answer their question about His authority…or does He?
The Parable of the Tenants—Mark 12:1-12
No first century Jew would have needed to be told that the owner of the vineyard was representative of Yahweh or that the farmers were Israel and the messengers were
the prophets. The meaning of the parable is not hidden and Jesus doesn’t need to explain it as he had often done in the past. Everyone who heard it knew exactly of whom Jesus was speaking.
The vineyard owner has sent messengers to the tenant farmers but to no effect. And so, He sends His own beloved Son, sends Him with all the authority of the Owner
and they take him out and kill him. Put yourself in the courtyard; Don’t sanitize this, there is an emotion of anger and one of urgency. This is a tense moment for the leaders who knew Jesus was talking about them!
Jesus says, “Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.” In Luke’s
gospel we read that those listening interrupted Jesus and said in essence: “No, you are wrong. He will not give it to others, that is not what is going on here. We are not rejecting the one sent from heaven, and the kingdom will never go outside the walls
of Israel, what are you talking about?”
They know exactly what Jesus is saying and what He is accusing them of. And they hotly deny that it is so. But Jesus is not done yet and he takes them to Psalm 118,
and to add insult to injury quotes their scripture to them, “What then does this mean?”
“The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone…this was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes?”
They are asking about authority and Jesus is making it plain that while they fight for prominence, they are rejecting the authority of God Himself!
Application: It is easy to see the demise of our culture and to be left dumbfounded at the extreme examples that are all around us but we must not shake
our heads in some self-righteous disgust at everyone else. We, all of us, have the same problem. We exalt ourselves over our authorities all the time. We tell ourselves that they have no right to speak into our life, when in fact, they do have that right,
given to them by God.
We console ourselves that if the authority in our life is stupid, wrong, or foolish from OUR perspective, (not sinful, that is a different issue), just not doing things
the way that we think it should be done…that we, for some reason, are not required to submit to or honor them.
Every one of us is tempted to exercise our self-will, after all who knows better than “I do”? “I know more than the elders. They are doing it wrong and owe me
an explanation! My interpretation of the text has every bit as much validity as does the pastor’s.
But more to the point, every one of us struggles to set the authority of the Lord Jesus in its proper place in our lives. We often fail to do, to be, to think, to
react as our King, our Authority has called us to. And I don’t mean out of ignorance, that is another thing altogether. I mean do we submit to His Lordship over our lives? Do we acknowledge that we are those UNDER authority, not with our lips, but with our
lives? We too often fight what He says, what He has called us to because we don’t want to do it…we don’t want to embrace the cross as He has modeled for us, we get tired of washing feet. We, like Eve before us, want to be our own authority, we want to make
our own rules, we want to do what we want to do! Sadly, we are rebels in our hearts; rebels against authority, against Divine Authority, which is made manifest whenever we refuse to submit to the lawful authorities that HE has placed over us.
Paying Taxes to Caesar—Mark 12:13-17
If Jesus won’t answer the question about his authority as it pertains to the temple and his religious work, how about a political one! Is it in keeping with the
law of God to pay taxes to Caesar? They know that either answer will put Jesus in a bind. If he says yes, then he angers the Jews who resented the taxation. If he says, “No”, then he would bring down the wrath of Rome as an insurrectionist, teaching the
subjects of Rome that they do not have to pay taxes to the government.
And notice in verse 14 the way they come and do this: They come speaking flattering words, “Oh Jesus, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion.
For you are not swayed by appearances but truly teach the way of God.”Jesus knew their hypocrisy and no doubt flattery was a great weapon with THEIR teachers, with those who are easily filled up in their pride with the praises of men. But such attempts
are lost on Jesus. He is not filled up with the empty flattery of men, he sees right through it.
Jesus puts them on the defensive and calls them to produce a coin. This coin not only would have had a picture of the emperor, but it would have had writing on it
proclaiming the emperor to be divine, and even the son of god. Give to Caesar what is his…give to him what he deserves. But more importantly, give to God that which HE deserves, that which is His, and it is here that the rebuke stings because this is the very
thing that Jesus has been maintaining these people would not and were not doing.
What does it mean to give God that which is God’s? What does it mean to give unto our Savior the things which belong to Him? What belongs to Him? What does HE deserve?
How far does His authority extend? What is there in this world, from all that is seen to all that is not seen, that God does not look at and say, “It is mine”? What does that look like in your life? Do you give to God that which is God’s? You say, “But
that is everything, there is nothing that I would not submit to Him, nothing that is not his, nothing that I should allow to be independent of His Lordship. This means everything!!!” Ok then.
The authority of Xp Jesus stretches into every aspect of what we do, what we think, how we love, how we work, what we say to our teachers, our parents, our elders,
our friends and the policemen. Is that the way you think about the words of Xp to you? Is that your response? Do you look at your circumstances and say, Jesus is in authority over all of this…therefore I will trust what He says?
To truly understand the authority of Jesus is to be left hanging on the promises that the One in authority speaks to us. Empty in ourselves but literally filled with
the glories and blessings of God in Christ Jesus
Why would this question of authority be a part of Christ’s last week of life? Because Jesus, the Messiah of God, is to be vindicated as King of the Word, through His
resurrection. The greatest event in human history is about to take place and it concerns authority…authority over sin, death, and hell itself…are our hearts ready for it?
“The reason my Father loves me is that 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. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:17-18
Prayer: Gracious Father, forgive me for the many times I reject your authority in favor of my own selfish and arrogant thinking about life. Give your grace that
I might joyfully submit myself to all that my Savior has revealed, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ, knowing that true freedom, peace, joy and rest is found only in submission to your holy will. Through Jesus Christ my
Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Who is This So Weak and Helpless
1 Who is this, so weak and helpless,
child of lowly Hebrew maid,
rudely in a stable sheltered,
coldly in a manger laid?
‘Tis the Lord of all creation,
who this wondrous path has trod;
he is God from everlasting,
and to everlasting God.
2 Who is this, a Man of Sorrows,
walking sadly life’s hard way,
homeless, weary, sighing, weeping
over sin and Satan’s sway?
‘Tis our God, our glorious Savior,
who above the starry sky
is for us a place preparing,
where no tear can dim the eye.
3 Who is this? Behold him shedding
drops of blood upon the ground!
Who is this, despised, rejected,
mocked, insulted, beaten, bound?
‘Tis our God, who gifts and graces
on his church is pouring down;
who shall smite in holy vengeance
all his foes beneath his throne.
4 Who is this that hangs there dying
while the rude world scoffs and scorns,
numbered with the malefactors,
torn with nails, and crowned with thorns?
‘Tis our God, who lives forever
‘mid the shining ones on high,
in the glorious golden city,
reigning everlastingly.