Scripture reading for March 4th: Mark 11:26-12:17, Psalms 47:1-9, Proverbs 10:24-25
“They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” (Mark 11:27-28)
Jesus had just cleansed the temple, overturning the tables of the money changers and teaching the people about God’s house being a house of prayer. This caused the religious authorities to begin looking for a way to kill Him. They feared Him because all the people were amazed at His teaching and were drawn to Jesus. They did not understand why Jesus felt that He had authority to take charge in their assigned domain of the temple. They were insecure and felt threatened and their worldly way of handling this was murder! This was in the face of the Son of God and directly opposed to the commandment of God that told them “Thou shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)
These men came to Jesus and asked Him where He got His authority. “Who do you think you are?” would be a modern day translation of this confrontation. Jesus answered them with another question and told them He would reveal His source of authority if they could or would answer His question. “”John’s baptism, was it from heaven, or from men?” Tell Me.” (Mark 11:29b) These leaders discussed their possible answers. They could say “from heaven” and Jesus would ask them why they didn’t respond to John and believe John that Jesus was the “lamb of God”. They feared saying that it was from men, because the people all believed that John was a prophet who spoke from God. So they simply avoided an answer and Jesus refused to give them an answer directly.
Jesus was really probing what they really believed and getting at the root of all faith. Who do you really believe that Jesus is? Where do you think Jesus got His authority? It comes down to a matter of faith and God will give us all the evidence we need to believe if we open our hearts and want to know. If we are really plotting Jesus’ destruction, even the truth standing in front of us won’t matter! Have you settled this question in your heart? Today is a good time!