By What Authority

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

BY WHAT AUTHORITY

Matt 21:23-27

23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this authority?" 24 Jesus replied, "I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John's baptism — where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?" They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 26 But if we say, 'From men'-we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet." 27 So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Then he said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 

NIV

It is interesting why the chief priests and elders asked Jesus by what authority he was going such great miracles, or teachings although Matthew simply records, “these things”. They were priests by the authority of Moses, being of the tribe of Levi. As far as they were concerned, He had no civil or ecclesiastical authority as a Jew. Although he was indeed seen as a prophet, the chief priests and elders were not satisfied with that, so they questioned him by what authority is he doing these things. Of course, because Jesus was having such an influence upon the people, it would be natural for those who are supposed to be the influencers would be jealous and even filled with hatred toward Jesus. We do not know the tone of their voices when they questioned him. But it would seem right to believe their tone was not friendly, but with an indignant, superior attitude. We should not be too judgmental of them, as it is but the human nature which drives their question. We have been faced with the same situation and might face it more often than we want to admit. We have been the authority in our lives before meeting Jesus. We decided what we would do, and how and when we would do it throughout our lives. We have been the number one influential person of ourselves. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior that should have changed, just by the fact we are calling Him Lord. That alone should indicate that He has become our Master or Lord, and now He is the one who makes the decisions in our lives. He has become the influential person in us. The problem is that we may, at times, ask by what authority are you changing me, or keeping me from doing what I want to do when and how I want to do it? It may also be that at times we simply do not recognize His authority and we go ahead with our plans, listening to our own heart and mind, our own desires. When Jesus asked the chief priests and elders whether John’s baptism was from heaven or man, they were stumped, again because they did not want to admit it was from heaven, but because of their fear of losing the authority over the people, they could not say it was from men. So, they said they did not know. Once again, their human nature trumps the truth. We must be aware when our nature wants to take charge over the authority of Jesus. How do we combat our human nature? How do we force it to listen to the voice of the Spirit within? How do we avoid asking by what authority, by implication, ignoring the authority of Jesus? No, we must be aware of His supreme influence in our lives, and listen to the truth, for He is the light, the way, and the truth.