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."  

Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.  Have you not even read this Scripture:  

'The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the LORD's doing, 

And it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away. 

 

- Mark 11:27-12:12

 

 Now the next day after arriving in Jerusalem, when they had come out from Bethany where He and the disciples spent the night, Jesus 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.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive 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, scribes, and elders ask Jesus, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  By these things, they are referring to the cleansing of the temple.  See yesterday's reading (above), in which we read that Jesus drove 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.'"  Since Jesus is not a Levitical priest (that is, a priest in charge of the temple by heritage), the chief priests and elders challenge His authority to cleanse the temple.  My study Bible comments that, as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, He confounds them -- instead of a direct answer, He asks a different question about John the Baptist.  Both the elders' question and Christ's question ask for the same answer, which would therefore lead a person to confess that Jesus has come from heaven.   By not answering them directly, my study Bible says, Christ teaches us not to answer people who come asking about holy things with a malicious intent. 

 

 Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others."  My study Bible says that in this parable, the man represents God the Father, and the vineyard refers to God's people.  The vinedressers are the leaders of the Jews, who are entrusted to care for the people.   (It is they who stand in front of Jesus now after demanding to know His authority to cleanse the temple).  Each servant sent by the owner stands for an Old Testament prophet who comes to call people back to God, while the beloved son refers to Christ Himself.  When the Son is cast out of the vineyard to be killed, this is understood on two levels.  First, that Jesus was killed outside of Jerusalem; and second, that Jesus was crucified by foreign soldiers, and not by those of His own "vineyard."  The others who later receive the vineyard are the Gentiles brought into the Church.  

"Have you not even read this Scripture:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"  And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away.  Jesus quotes from Psalm 118:22-23, a psalm notably about the upendings of worldly power opposed to God.  My study Bible comments that "that stone" is Christ.  In Luke's Gospel, Jesus adds, "Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder" (Luke 20:18).   

 

Let us take a closer look at these verses from Psalm 118 which Jesus quotes.  To give it context, we understand the Psalm was crucial to the Feast of Tabernacles, also called the Feast of the Coming Kingdom.   Also known as Sukkot, the people waved palm branches as another verse was read in the last, great day of the feast, "Save now, I pray, O Lord" (verse 25).  Ostensibly the Psalm addresses the people's return from seventy years of exile in Babylon, and their preparation to return to worship of the God of Israel, and rebuild the temple, recovering and re-establishing faith and identity, fulfilling the will of God.  But Christ uses the verses from Psalm 118 to indicate something very serious about Himself as Messiah:  He has come to establish true faith and true worship, and those who now manage the temple and run the affairs of Israel have abandoned their spiritual responsibility to the people.  They have no response to this visitation of the Messiah, and they in fact plot to put Him to death.  So, in that context in which Jesus uses these verses, He is prophesying the establishment of the Kingdom through His Church, a New Covenant with a faithful people who will be the descendants of Abraham and the fulfillment of God's promise.  Again, as in our commentary on yesterday's reading, we must note that there are several layers of meaning happening here, several contexts.  There is first of all the temporal present moment of Christ standing before the leaders of the people, the ones responsible for their spiritual heritage and fruitfulness.  They approach Christ with indignance, as One who has no authority to speak as He speaks and to do as He does (particularly the cleansing of the temple in yesterday's reading).   But then there is the perspective of Christ, full of faith and confidence, the One who equates the mission of John with that of Himself, both sent by God, both given from heaven.  Upon that we layer the history indicated in the words of the Psalm, the repeated upendings of pretenders and worldly power by God in order to establish God's kingdom and God's people, even bringing them back from exile -- and before that, taking them out of slavery in Egypt toward the Promised Land.  This is layer upon layer of spiritual understanding -- but yet the same intervening spiritual action and energy understood to be from God and for God's purposes.  Jesus stands in the fullness of that reality, as true Messiah, the One who brings life extraordinarily into the world in order to establish God's Kingdom, in yet another renewal and resurrection of the people of God.  Speaking of Abraham, and referring to this long evolving history of the people of God, St. Paul writes, "Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore" (Hebrews 11:12).  When Christ refers to Himself as this stone that was rejected, and which has become the chief cornerstone, He speaks as the One whom St. Paul said "speaks from heaven" (see Hebrews 12:25-29).  We might therefore add one more layer of meaning upon those we've already discussed, and that is in Christ's role as Judge, of which He surely speaks -- and warns -- made explicit in the words added in Luke's Gospel regarding two ways of destruction, indicating either repentance or judgment ("Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.")   In faith, we learn of these promises made so long ago to Abraham, and of their continual process of fulfillment even today in the Church and among the faithful.   In all of this spiritual history, God's word is true, and action runs like a thread through the effort to receive these promises through faith.  Let us keep in mind that in all of these meanings it remains true that we serve the chief cornerstone, and form a spiritual house of living stones (1 Peter 2:5), and we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses who live to Him (Hebrews 12:1).  We enter into this reality, into this history and this meaning, and each of us, through our own righteousness, may join and have a role to play.  But faith is the key, even to this Man who stands before the leaders in the temple, and who remains faithful to us.  We may be tempted by worldly power to wonder how we could ever prove that authority, but we must remember that He did not need to prove His authority, but set the example by faith.