By What Authority

Luke 20:1-8
1 And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,
2 And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?
3 And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me:
4 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?
5 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?
6 But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.
7 And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.
8 And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

Here we have a discourse between Jesus and the “learned men”, the men of the temple, the ones who studied, wrote and taught the word of God. They were at it again ,questioning Jesus. They were not questioning Him because they wanted to learn from Him. They were questioning Him to trick Him to get anything at all that they could use against Him.

Jesus isn’t a fool. He knows all things. He knows the heart of man. What’s fair is fair and Jesus said you asked me and I’ll ask you. You want to know where I get my authority, well where do you get the baptism of John, from God or man?

Can’t you just see them all standing around scratching their heads. How on earth are we going to answer this Man. If we say one thing we are doomed by the people but if we say something else we will look like we are in agreement with Him. What a dilemma! What do we say? Whom do we please? After a few minutes of going back and forth they decide to say “we don’t know”.

They knew His authority came from the same One that gave Him wisdom. Admitting it was the problem. Pride kept them from accepting His Authority. Pride kept them out of His Kingdom.

When we try to use our own reasoning we often fail. It is the word of God that gives us the answers and the hope that is within us.

Have a blessed day.
Donna