FORMULATING ANSWERS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while He was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer Me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then He said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Matthew 21:23-27

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to Him.

“By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Mark 11:27-33

One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him.

“Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”

He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”

Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Luke 20:1-8

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We all answer questions in life. A lot of them.

In fact, there may not be a day that goes by when we are interacting with others that we won’t be faced with responding to a query of some kind.

Just go to the store for groceries and you may be asked by the cashier, “How are you?” or “Do you have a (fill in the blank with that store’s rewards) card?” or maybe both.

Talk to some on the phone about business and they will usually ask, “How are you doing today?” out of a matter of courtesy.

Talk to a family member and they might ask more personal questions such as, “How are you feeling?” or “What have you been up to lately?” or “How’s the weather there?”

Questions, questions, questions. So many questions, questions that require us to give a reply. We are seemingly always faced with formulating answers.

As we see in today’s scripture passage, we weren’t alone in this as more than 2,000 years ago our Savior Jesus fielded more than a few questions. Such was the incredible curiosity He generated either through His teaching or the things He did.

We read in our verses today, excerpts drawn three of the four Gospels, that Jesus was in a familiar place, the temple courts of Jerusalem where He was teaching the people and proclaiming the good news. While He was doing this, the chief priests, elders, and teachers of the law confronted Him with what else, a couple of questions:

First, “By what authority are you doing these things?” followed by “And who gave you this authority?”

You’ll remember that when Jesus taught, people raved about the matter of authority with which He spoke, like in this moment in His ministry when He drove an impure spirit from a man:

“The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey Him.” News about Him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.” Mark 1:27-28

And after He healed a paralyzed man:

When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. Matthew 9:8

Yes, Jesus had done many, many things and did so with an authority that had not been witnessed by the people since maybe actions performed by God Himself. Indeed, God was revealing Himself through the work of His Son but even the most self-proclaimed God-believing, allegedly righteous Jewish leaders couldn’t put two and two together to see that Jesus had a complete connection with His Father. He was One with God as He had tried to convey over and over.

And yet, the Jewish religious authorities still asked Him by what authority He was operating. They demanded to know who had empowered Jesus to do the things He was doing.

Well, to expose the real issue with the Jewish leaders, their complete disconnection from God in reference to His Son, Jesus asked them questions which were focused on His beloved friend and disciple John the Baptist:

“I will also ask you one question. If you answer Me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

The questions in and of themselves shouldn’t have been hard for anyone who was connected to God. In regard to the baptism of John, all they needed to do was turn to Him while formulating their answers and you would have thought this would have been an automatic for the chief priests, elders, and teachers of the law. But as we see, they never once consulted God. Instead they went against the very wisdom preached from the proverbs and leaned on their own understanding, an action that led them down the wrong path (Proverbs 3:5-6).  

The scriptures tell us that the Jewish religious leaders discussed the matter among themselves and tried to come up with the response that would most benefit them and out Jesus at a disadvantage but as they discovered, neither of the possible answers would give them an edge. And so they chose to give no answer at all, attempting to disguise their motives with purported ignorance while simply saying:

“We don’t know.”

To which Jesus said:

“Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Jesus had answered questions posed to Him by the Jewish religious authorities before but they closed their ears to His answers or else they would have not found the need to ask Him anything else. He tried to point them to the God they professed to believe in but the synagogue leaders were more interested in their position and power than their faith and relationship with God. They above anyone should have recognized the miraculous acts of Jesus as coming from God and God alone. For indeed, anything Jesus did was meant to bring glory and honor to His Father.

So what are we to take from this today? What is God’s word trying to teach us in regard to how we should live a life that is pleasing in His sight?

The answers to these questions are grounded in not repeating the mistakes of the chief priests, elders, and teachers of the law found in our passage today. We shouldn’t ever try to formulate answers based on our own understanding but rather respond from a heart that trusts in the Lord, a heart that submits to Him and His will. When we do this, we can be assured that we will always be given the right words to say at the right time, the proper answers to questions when they are posed to us.

In other words, the only right way to formulate answers to questions is to make sure the Lord is right in the middle of the formula. He will never lead anyone astray but rather will make their paths straight (Proverbs 3:6).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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