Monday
What Authority You have
Public questioning and debate between religious teachers was a popular sport in Judaism. Yet, it is likely that these representatives of the Sanhedrin were more into entrapment than debate. In seeking to identify the authority by which Jesus exercised his ministry, they were hoping to gather further evidence for a charge of blasphemy.We get hit with a question and we waffle rather than answer the question honestly because we fear the consequences of being truthful.
“Honey, what do you think of my new hairdo?” “Wow, that certainly is different.”
“Do you think we can win the big game?” “I’m sure you’re going to give it your best
shot.”
“Did you like my sermon?” “It gave me a lot to think about.”
We waffle to be kind. We waffle so we don’t look stupid. We waffle to protect ourselves.
We waffle because we don’t want other people to know what we really think and believe.
At first glance you might think Jesus is waffling in today’s Gospel lesson. Jesus isn’t waffling. He agrees to answer their question, but first, they must answer a question. And it is a simple question with two possible answers, “from heaven” or “from man.
Jesus’ question is no simple debating tactic. He’s not buying time so he can think of an answer to their question. Jesus’ question gets to the heart of the proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah.
John’s whole ministry was about preparing the way and pointing to the one who would come after him; Jesus of Nazareth. After all, John had proclaimed that Jesus was the Lamb of God. So if John’s Baptism was from heaven, well then his words must have been from heaven too. If John’s words had heavenly authority, then Jesus must be the Christ.
They couldn’t admit that John’s baptism was from heaven; otherwise Jesus will ask them why they didn’t believe him. They couldn’t say from man, because John had been immensely popular with the people, and they were afraid of the crowd.
The interrogation of Jesus by the leaders of the Jews demonstrates their prideful hearts. It is a lesson to us to be careful so that our own pride doesn’t let our authority outweigh that of Christ. Martin Luther wrote that ‘ambition is the mother of all heresies and sects.’ We also learn from this text that what we need is humility before Christ, not our own self-esteem.
Public questioning and debate between religious teachers was a popular sport in Judaism. Yet, it is likely that these representatives of the Sanhedrin were more into entrapment than debate. In seeking to identify the authority by which Jesus exercised his ministry, they were hoping to gather further evidence for a charge of blasphemy.We get hit with a question and we waffle rather than answer the question honestly because we fear the consequences of being truthful.
“Honey, what do you think of my new hairdo?” “Wow, that certainly is different.”
“Do you think we can win the big game?” “I’m sure you’re going to give it your best
shot.”
“Did you like my sermon?” “It gave me a lot to think about.”
We waffle to be kind. We waffle so we don’t look stupid. We waffle to protect ourselves.
We waffle because we don’t want other people to know what we really think and believe.
At first glance you might think Jesus is waffling in today’s Gospel lesson. Jesus isn’t waffling. He agrees to answer their question, but first, they must answer a question. And it is a simple question with two possible answers, “from heaven” or “from man.
Jesus’ question is no simple debating tactic. He’s not buying time so he can think of an answer to their question. Jesus’ question gets to the heart of the proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah.
John’s whole ministry was about preparing the way and pointing to the one who would come after him; Jesus of Nazareth. After all, John had proclaimed that Jesus was the Lamb of God. So if John’s Baptism was from heaven, well then his words must have been from heaven too. If John’s words had heavenly authority, then Jesus must be the Christ.
They couldn’t admit that John’s baptism was from heaven; otherwise Jesus will ask them why they didn’t believe him. They couldn’t say from man, because John had been immensely popular with the people, and they were afraid of the crowd.
The interrogation of Jesus by the leaders of the Jews demonstrates their prideful hearts. It is a lesson to us to be careful so that our own pride doesn’t let our authority outweigh that of Christ. Martin Luther wrote that ‘ambition is the mother of all heresies and sects.’ We also learn from this text that what we need is humility before Christ, not our own self-esteem.
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