Neither will I tell you by what authority I do 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 Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, when they 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."  The chief priests and scribes and elders seek to know by what authority Jesus has cleansed the temple (see yesterday's reading, above).  Jesus is not a part of the priestly class, nor does He hold a position as a student of a famous rabbi.  Only the Messiah could have such authority, and they still want proofs.  Instead of arguing within the basis of their queries, Jesus turns the tables, and set down the argument on His own terms in order to teach something.  He asks about the authority of John the Baptist and his baptism.  John was revered among the people as a holy man, widely recognized as a prophet.  My study bible comments that Jesus is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, but both the elders' question and Christ's question require the same answer -- and would therefore lead a person to confess that Jesus has come from heaven.  It adds that by not answering them directly, Christ teaches us not to answer people who come asking about holy things with a malicious intent.

This is an interesting question.  How do we respond to people who have malicious intent with regard to our faith?  Maybe the question comes up also in different forms.  These days, when in most nominally Christian countries many are also non-believers, we might find it quite easy to come up against people who either do not share any faith at all, or whose faith is in opposition to Christianity.  So in this context, how do we respond to questions or matters that regard our faith?  Jesus gives us one clue in today's reading, when He refuses to directly answer people who ask with an ulterior motive of opposition.  If someone's heart and mind are not open to an honest answer, there is no need to submit to fruitless oppositional argument over our faith.  If there is one certain thing about Christ and His teachings regarding faith, it is the absolute sense that God treats our free will as a kind of boundary within which we are allowed to operate.  God forces no one to love God back, although God loves each one.  So Jesus does not force the issue here.  But on the other hand, Jesus goes on to teach each of us about the intelligence and skills with which we're gifted by God.  We are meant to use them and to make the best of them.  By posing the question about John the Baptist, Jesus uses all of His tremendous skills as orator and also as opponent to set the terms of dialogue on the proper basis and maintain His stance in the truth.  He asks them a question they cannot answer.  And we see that their fears of the crowd trip them up as well.  In standing for the truth, we need to be careful of needless entanglements where hearts aren't truly requesting an honest answer.  And yet, there is a way to respond here, and it's not only a response to the people who ask Him the direct question, but also a teaching example for everyone present in the temple, and for all those who will read this story in the Gospel, as we do today.  Jesus uses every bit of the human capacities He has for wit, intelligence, and logic skill.  And so should we.  Everything in our lives comes for the use of our faith and especially within the context of our own relationship to God.  We cannot force anyone to faith, for that is a true matter of the heart, just as one cannot force another to love.  But we can represent ourselves and our faith within particular parameters of how we seek to live our lives, and to the fullest extent we can.  Jesus' answer makes people think, and moreover He upholds John the Baptist and his place as the Forerunner.  So, we use our skills in the ways that are presented in order to express our faith, but that involves particular guidelines which Jesus displays here.  His vigor in responding is not diminished simply because He cannot give the same type of answer He would give to His disciples, or to an honest questioner.  Instead, He uses His wits to avoid a particular platform for dialogue which is inappropriate, and asserts things in a correct way and for a correct understanding.  In Jesus' example, we really see that although there might be restrictions on what is appropriate, we still see that we are encouraged to use our skills to the fullest of our abilities at all times.  There is no halfway measure in serving our faith.  Also, we can compare the fear of the leaders with Jesus' fearless way of answering.  He does not avoid direct conflict out of fear, but only out of genuine motivation to serve God the best way and in ways that are proper.  This is quite a different picture of a way of being in the world than the one that the religious leaders show in this context, and it is the product of a purified desire which puts serving God first above all else.  That is, in all things we seek God's guidance for what we do.  Prudence is something also on full display in Jesus' behavior in the Gospels, as there are times before His journey to Jerusalem when He avoids the religious leaders, as it was not the right time for this confrontation, it was not yet His "hour" (see, for example, John 2:4, 7:6).  Perhaps another important thing we can understand from Jesus' response is that we also use our skills with the aim of strengthening and helping to shore up the faith of those who do believe.  We really can't estimate the impact of a few who believe, even out of a population many times greater than they.  Let us remember God's word to Abraham in Genesis 18, that even if there were to be found ten righteous in the city God planned to destroy, it would not be destroyed for their sake (Genesis 18:22-33).  So let us look at Jesus' example and think to ourselves what good we can do with our skill in regard to expressions of our faith.  We do not need to confront those who hate what we are or the One in whom we have faith.  Jesus avoids this kind of argument altogether.  But we do need to be able to express with skill the things that are given us to do, even if we simply serve as a those who shore up the faith of the ones who already believe in Him.  Let us understand in this context Jesus' concern for the "littlest ones," the most humble.  We do not seek to give cause to scandal, but we do seek honesty and straightforward courage.  We stick to what we know, and not what we do not know.  We do not speak from fear, but from love of God, love of Christ, love of the Church He has left us for the life of the world.    Our authority comes from Him; let us honor all He does and do as He does.