By what authority are You doing these things?

 Then they came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men' " -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." 

- Mark 11:27-33

Yesterday we read that the day after His arrival in Jerusalem, when Jesus and the disciples had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.  And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it.  When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."  And His disciples heard it.So they came to Jerusalem.  Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.  Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?  But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.  When evening had come, He went out of the city.  Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.   And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt   in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."

 Then they came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men' " -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."  Jesus is not a Levitical priest.  Having just cleansed the temple (yesterday's reading, above), Jesus is quizzed by the chief priests, scribes, and elders as to His authority to do so.  They are what we can think of as the regulators of the religion and religious practices, the arbiters of its standards and practices.  My study bible says that Jesus confounds them with a different question about John, as he is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, to those who reject His ministry.  Both the elders' question and Christ's question require the same answer -- so it would lead a person to confess that Jesus has come from heaven.  My study bible adds that by not answering them directly, Christ teaches us not to answer people who come asking about holy things with a malicious intent.

What is malice?  What does it do?  My study bible speaks of not answering those who come asking about holy things with a malicious intent.  Malice begins with a particular aim, to destroy or to cause harm.  It is rooted in a kind of evil intention in the first place.  One wonders what an honest approach to Christ would look like.  But in these men, the chance to question or to converse with Jesus isn't approached in such a spirit.  Rather, they feel threatened by the crowds who follow Christ, and so a rivalry is already in place, and motivation is complicated by their sense of threat.  They simply wish to be rid of Him.  The question about John the Baptist is an important one, because neither were these men supporters of John's mission, although John was extremely highly regarded by the common people as a true holy man.  Luke's Gospel tells us that while even tax collectors went out to be baptized in John's baptism of repentance, the Pharisees and scribes did not (Luke 7:29-30).   The thread of conflict and rejection runs steadily between these men and both John's and Jesus' ministries.  Malice becomes an important part of our story because it tells us about our own potential to fool ourselves, to mislead ourselves and to be misled by others.  It focuses attention on intention.  It tells us about the essential importance of self-knowledge as we approach questions of great difficulty whose answers may disappoint and trouble us.  Malice is the opposite of truth-seeking.  It does not hold an open mind, and does not practice self-control.  It seeks to do harm.  We may be outraged and scandalized by things we hear, by conduct that threatens our way of life, but malice never does anyone any good.  It neither defeats a false purpose nor does it save truth.  It cannot reveal truth because it is not a product of the One who is truth (John 14:6).  If these men were asking their question in good faith, Jesus would answer in kind.  Let us consider, then, as we look around ourselves, what truly makes for healing in a world beset by its problems.  Do we approach perplexing circumstances in the spirit of truth, or one of malice?  Prayer is an essential reinforcement of our intention to find truth; it goes straight to the heart and asks us to know ourselves and to seek to forgive, to give things up to the hands of God.  It asks us to honestly seek to know where we ourselves need to change, and what we need to stand up for.  Malice presents us with a stark contrast:  what is it to serve God with our questions and challenges, and what is it to serve selfish purposes instead?  Let us remember we seek to serve the Person who  is Truth, even when that Truth will tell us that we need to let go of something we think we need.  Everything depends on what authority we truly follow.