Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things

 

 Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him and spoke to Him, saying, "Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things?  Or who is he who gave You this authority?"  But He answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me:  The baptism of John -- was it from haven or from men?"  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,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."  So they answered that they did not know where it was from.  And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." 

 

- Luke 20:1-8 

 

On Saturday we read that as Jesus drew near Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."  Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  And He was teaching daily in the temple.  But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

 

  Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him and spoke to Him, saying, "Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things?  Or who is he who gave You this authority?"  But He answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me:  The baptism of John -- was it from haven or from men?"  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,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."  So they answered that they did not know where it was from.  And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."  The chief priests, scribes, and elders confront Jesus and ask Him, "Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things?"  My study Bible says that "these things" refers to Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem as Messiah (in Friday's reading), the cleansing of the temple (Saturday's reading, above), and Christ's preaching (see the first verse of today's reading, in which we're told that He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel.  The elders confront Jesus, my study Bible says, since it was the duty of the priestly descendants of Levi to manage the temple.  While Christ was descended from Judah (Luke 3:33), He nevertheless is the High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110:4), which is a priestly line far greater than Levi.  The authority in Christ's case is from the Father.

Let us ask ourselves, where does authority come from?  This is an important question, because depending upon whether or not we have faith, our answers will be different.  Does authority come simply from coercive power and might?  A state might have authority simply from its material power.  On the other hand, there are worldly systems of representative democracies, which vary in form and organization, but nonetheless declare their authority to come from the people, the voters.  There are monarchical systems in the world, systems of aristocracy, in which power or authority comes from some sort of aristocratic lineage, and to one degree or another are supported or accepted by the people, the subjects of the country.  We live in a world where there are dictatorships which hold powerful sway over the people through all kinds of coercive means and systems of harsh repression for dissent.  Nonetheless, they also proclaim their authority to lead and to govern, even in the most corrupt circumstances.  So, we might well ask ourselves, in all kinds of situations, where does authority come from?  Whether we are speaking of whole countries, or international organizations, or whether we are speaking of smaller and more intimate groups -- such as within a civic organization or even within a family -- authority remains an important consideration and subject.  For authority to be recognized and assented to it has to come from somewhere, and we have to consider on what basis we believe something to be authoritative.  As far as our faith is concerned, the ultimate authority is from the Father.  We might consider wrong choices, abusive decisions, unjust and exploitative power to be against the teachings of Christ and therefore against what we know and understand of God's will for us.  Constitutions are written which base a sense of guidance on what is generally good for people and society, such as certain freedoms or liberty, or an economic system that works well, a defense against predatory enemies, good governance, and whatever is best for the welfare of the people.  But an ultimate authority remains essential to us, as all human systems remain imperfect, and human problems do not disappear with the authority of ideology or organization, even the blessings of great prosperity or great taxation for social welfare programs.  The problems of injustice remain with us, of imperfect freedoms or the use of our freedom, of criminality, and of the right-relatedness (or righteousness) with one another.  These problems of human societies persist despite well-meant laws, systems, philosophies, courts, and the great efforts of human beings.  But where does ultimate authority come from when we consider these problems, and especially the problems with which Christ concerns Himself as we read the Gospels?  Where does our higher sense of justice or righteousness come from?  That higher authority is God the Father, from whom we have received so much that informs us about what we consider to be just or righteous.  What is compassionate behavior, or a compassionate code of righteousness that governs how we might view our own or others' actions?  Where does the authority come from that helps us to address something that might adhere to the letter of the law, but falls short in terms of what is truly just or fitting?  To what higher authority do we appeal when the works of the state are not just, or are corrupt?  Christ has presented the problem of authority through questions that involved the welfare of human beings.  There was first of all the issue when He and His disciples walked through the fields on a Sabbath, and ate from the heads of grain, and were challenged by some Pharisees on the basis that this was considered work (see Luke 6:1-5).   At that time, Jesus declared, "The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath," a clear statement of authority.   But Christ's greatest challenge, upon which rests the disputes with the religious leaders that would come later, were over healing on the Sabbath.  In building up a body of teachings around the holiness of the Sabbath, the Pharisees declared healing to be work.  Just after being challenged over taking the grain on the Sabbath, Jesus healed in the synagogue on the Sabbath, which outraged the Pharisees (Luke 6:6-11).  At that time, Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?"  On the second incident in which He offended them regarding questions of authority, the issue was again healing on the Sabbath.  There was a woman bent over in infirmity who had suffered for eighteen years, and Christ healed her, to the indignation of the ruler of the synagogue.  Jesus answered as follows:  "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"  (Luke 13:10-17).  In each of these cases the challenge to authority is raised over issues of the well-being of human beings; that is, essentially questions of human life, even its quality of abundance which Christ has promised in Himself (John 10:10).  Jesus calls Himself Lord of the Sabbath as Son of Man, and makes a clear appeal to the higher authority of God on these matters of healing.  This is additionally made explicitly true of the affliction of the woman He healed, as He names that infirmity a bondage from Satan, and so gives it the context of spiritual battle.  Every question of authority appeals back to the Father, and what we know of as declared good through faith, especially through what has been given by the working of the Spirit of God in the world.  How do we understand a higher authority regarding the dignity of human beings, what true well-being and the quality of life for human beings can and should be?  Ideologies claiming to be concerned with righting injustice and economic inequality have been tried and found wanting, and frequently involve tremendous suffering and abuse of worldly power and authority.  Even under the best of circumstances, or the least corrupt government, injustice still happens, strange forms of coercion evolve, well-meaning rules become oppressive and unfair; even what is meant for public health becomes injurious to public welfare.  The desire for control of public discourse becomes all the more important as well.  For all of these imperfections and flaws in our world, we need a higher authority from which is revealed to us a better sense of what love asks for and demands, how truth can function, and how we can reach for what is truly good.  For without this higher authority, where does blessing come from, or justice, or the truth of the value of a soul and a life?  In the Crucifixion of Christ, the power of the greatest empire, and the religious leaders of Israel will combine to show us how even our "best' systems can fail extraordinarily.  This is especially true when we come to consider our potentials for corruption, lies, selfishness, manipulation, and all manner of serving desires we don't want to examine if they interfere with self-serving motivation.  So when we consider authority, we must come back to God.  St. James writes, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James:17).  But even beyond this understanding, that all good and perfect things come from God the Father, we know this to be true, that God is love, as St. John tells us, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).  God is the ultimate authority as love, which teaches us something powerful about how we know what is good, and how we know what is best.  For love wants what is best for us, best for our world, and love -- as God -- is the place where we go to learn what is "better" and "more perfect."  Let us consider the authority we choose to honor, and where the authority we honor takes us in life.  Those who seek to abuse this concept of authority do so with ulterior motives, and therefore Jesus does not answer directly but in a roundabout way.  His method is designed to keep those who would abuse His truth from its grasp, but to allow in those "with ears to hear," who will understand.  To what will we give authority, and the highest honor?