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 heaven 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

Yesterday 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 heaven 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 about these things He has been doing.  These things, my study bible says, refers to Christ's Triumphal entry into Jerusalem as Messiah (Thursday's reading), the cleansing of the temple (yesterday's reading, above), and His preaching (verse 1 in today's reading).  My study bible adds that the elders confront Jesus as it was the duty of the priestly descendants of Levi to manage the temple.  Christ was descended from Judah (3:33), but He is the High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110:4), a priestly line which is far greater than that of Levi, as His authority is from God the Father.   We note Jesus' style of argument:  if they don't bother to seek and give a true answer, why should He tell them the answer to their question?

I once heard of a very aged and extremely wealthy (self-made) man whose competence was being challenged in a courtroom.  An attorney for the party who wanted control of elderly man's wealth asked him if he knew what day it was.  He replied, "If you don't know what day it is, why should I tell you?"  Needless to say, there was nothing wrong with his mental abilities.  Jesus' answer gives us a sense in which we are given to understand that those asking the question aren't doing so with an honest intent.  They wish to trap Jesus.  They have their own agenda, and it has to do with the desire to strip Jesus of any sort of authority whatsoever, and restore their own singular authority.  The only reason they cannot do so is because they fear the public.  Consequently, their response to Christ's question has only to do with their fear of the public, their own need to protect their authority, and not an honest search for an honest answer.   Jesus responds in the same way.  If they consider their non-answer good enough to give to Him, so neither will He trouble to tell them the answer to the question they pose to Him.  We might find this a bit petulant.  After all, they are the ones charged with the hereditary duties of managing the temple.  But, looking a bit more closely, we have to come to understand the seriousness of the question, and their complete lack of respect for the true authority they claim to represent.  If it is, after all, God working through John the Baptist, is this not the most sobering question the leaders can be asked?  Does it not require of them something more than an answer made in fear of how the public will respond?  And there, I think, we get to the heart of today's reading.  These men are not assuming the true authority with which they've been given.  They act only out of concern for the face they present to the public, in order to hold onto their positions.  They act consistently with what today we'd deem a public relations perspective, and the nature of the authority of God is somewhere far away from their real considerations.  It is that absence of the grave nature of the question here that deems Christ's answer the only fitting one for those who quiz Him.  It is they who are not taking their own responsibilities for authority in the temple with the true seriousness it requires.  Just like the life and autonomy of the man whose immense fortune was subject to legal manipulation by someone he once trusted, the powerful nature of the true subject at stake here is being overlooked and treated with contempt.  Indeed, the authority of God, the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, is the most serious subject we can undertake.  The reality of the presence and authority of God is not subject to manipulation, like a commodity one wants to cheat out of another, or a kind of treasure one hides and controls.  The truth of the authority and presence of God is as precious as one's life, as important as the true nature of the soul and its need for what God reaches out to give.  Jesus teaches us that those who do not have this deep concern at heart cannot be true shepherds.  Those who wish to take away the compelling presence of the authority of God and diminish it cannot be those who love the flock.  There is one thing required first, and that is the love of God with all one's heart and soul and mind and strength, and this must be particularly true of those who bear authority in the faith, and who are charged with overseeing the spiritual welfare of the people.  How do we know our Shepherd is true?  With whom do we place our trust?   In Matthew's Gospel, amidst accusations about the hypocrisy of the leadership, Jesus tells His disciples, "But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  What this leadership lacks is the sufficient humility to treat the subject of their questions -- God's authority -- with the deference it requires.   Their motivation is not a deep reverence for God, but a desire to protect their places among human beings.  In the first Epistle of St. John the Evangelist, he warns Christ's followers, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,  and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world" (1 John 4:1-3).  Christ teaches us not to be slaves, but intelligent sheep.  We are given the Gospels and His word.  Let us take at least as seriously the question of holy authority as He does, and put the love of God first before everything else.

And Jesus said to them, "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 heaven 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

Yesterday we read that as Jesus drew near to 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 heaven 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."  These things refers to several acts by Jesus that have taken place in current readings:  the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem as Messiah (19:35-38), the cleansing of the temple (see yesterday's reading, above), and His preaching.   The elders come to confront Jesus, as it was the duty of the priestly descendants of Levi to manage the temple.  Jesus is not from the tribe of Levi.  He was descended from Judah (3:33).  But, my study bible points out for us, He is the High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4), which is a priestly line far greater than that of Levi, because this authority comes from God the Father.  (See also Hebrews 7.)  But we note Jesus' response to them.  He doesn't choose to defend Himself with arguments.  Rather, He changes the question to one that answers the theme of authority and whence it comes.  He asks them about the baptism of John.  He also understands that they are afraid of what the people think.  If they can't answer His question, neither must He choose to answer theirs.  Moreover, if they cannot answer in truth, His truth will be lost on them.

 Recently we read that Jesus told the parable of the Minas (see For I say to you that to everyone who has, more will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him).  In that parable, it was the man who related to his Master only through fear who hid away the sum he'd been given, and failed even to ask help of others available to him.  In today's reading, what we see in the actions of the leadership (the chief priests, scribes, and elders) is also that their behavior is purely motivated by fear in their response to Christ.  They won't directly answer His question, because they fear all the people who believe that John the Baptist was a prophet.  While fear is a normal human feeling, one that indicates helpfully the presence of danger and an understanding of reality, and even used as a positive factor in a certain sense when it comes to God, fear as primary motivator for a choice is limiting, dangerous, and takes us away from our faith.  It speaks to us of a lack of courage, a lack of confidence in truth, and a lack of trust in God.  It is quite normal and helpful to estimate risk.  But if our motivation in life is to be trust in God, then we may find we are called upon to place that faith and trust and confidence before everything else we might be feeling or understanding.  When Jesus set out to cross the Sea of Galilee with the disciples, and a great windstorm came upon them, even the seasoned fishermen among them were terrified they were all going to die (see this reading).   But Jesus was asleep, and after they woke Him, and He rebuked the storm, He simply asked them, "Where is your faith?"  On a number of occasions Jesus says to those whom He would encourage, but who are also facing real fear, "Take heart" or "Be of good cheer."  But this word in the Greek text (θαρσείτε) really means to take courage, be emboldened, be infused with confidence, such as when He tells His apostles at the Last Supper, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).  The call of faith is really to place His confidence -- that which is shared with and extended to us -- before the normal and natural fears we face, and particularly before the fears we have of how others may respond or think about us.  This is how truth works in the world; it doesn't obey the boundaries that selfish motivations would set for it.  That is why we have confidence in His truth, how we gain confidence through faith.  It is a not a question of asserting our own wills or authority, but rather a question of His calling to us for our faith in Him that overrides anything else.  We choose how we will grow or take courage, or what we will place our trust in.    We are not called to eliminate our feelings, but we do have a choice to make.  We note the choice of the man who hid his mina in his handkerchief (in Wednesday's reading), and the choices of the leadership in the temple (in today's reading) who ask Christ questions of authority but fail to answer, for their lives are governed by something other than the kind of faith Christ asks of us.  We're reminded that John's Gospel tells us that "everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:20), which also gives us insight into a particular kind of fear of God which is wholly negative.   Above all, of course, we note Christ's courage, and His wisdom, and that He conducts Himself in the world with not only discernment but absolute and complete trust in God the Father.  If we might strive to be like Him, even in the smallest of ways, we will be proponents of an integrity sorely needed in the world.  Even His refusal to answer the leadership in today's reading is one that is filled with truth and power, in which grace is at work to enlighten.  Let us endeavor to be like Him.