What Authority?

On one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him, and they spoke, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?” Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell Me: Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” Luke 20:1-8


The chief priests, scribes and elders were working hard at trying to find something that would condemn Jesus. They constantly schemed, plotted, questioned and tried to trip Him up in His daily temple ministries. They were so consumed with getting rid of Him they couldn't listen to the truth He taught. This is so typical of the politico-religious mindset. The debater isn't interested in the point being made by the opposition. He is too busy formulating his own preconceived argument to pay attention to the logic being presented.

These leaders saw Jesus as a threat to their comfortable positions in the system. They were right, of course, because they were using those positions to control and intimidate God's people, getting rich off the people's superstitious obedience to manmade rules and traditions. They were so greedy for power that they dared to defy God's Messiah as He lived and worked in their presence. They could have been, should have been teaching God's people the truth and preparing them for the coming of the Kingdom. Instead, they were using them for monetary and political gain.

So, the question: "by what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?"
This tells me they recognized His authority, just were not willing to acknowledge it. This is downright scary. These were the men who were supposed to be representing that authority. Jesus' counter question to them exposed their ignorance of God's truth as well as their own hypocrisy in religious practice. "Who authorized the baptism of John?"

They were always reasoning among themselves, calculating, figuring the angles, hedging their answers, so as not to entrap themselves with their own snare. They couldn't answer Him, because either way they were caught in the magnificent logic of God. If they try to appease by crediting heaven with John's baptism, why didn't they believe John? If they say it was humanly devised, they feared the people would stone them, for the people respected John. There they were with their faces hanging out and with no answer for the One they were trying to trap. He didn't answer them, because they, of all humanity, were supposed to know by what authority He worked. If they didn't know, it was to their own shame. If they did know, it was to their eternal condemnation, for they were openly rejecting the Only Savior.